  Mystery
This week: Edited by: Fyn  
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“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”------ Albert Einstein
“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”----- Oscar Wilde
“No object is mysterious. The mystery is in your eye.”----Elizabeth Bowen
The mystery is in your eye...and that of your reader. Why not set a mystery in an already mysterious place, one where seeing is not always believing and yet how can you not believe what your eyes are telling you? I'm Fyn and I am guest editing the Mystery newsletter this week.
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In a few weeks, I'll be going to Irish Hills, Michigan. While the main purpose in our trip is to go to a wedding, we are planning to stop at several other places in the vicinity. One of these, an admitted 'tourist trap,' is called Mystery Hill. Across the United States, in France, Scotland, Australia, England and Italy, there are many of these 'mystery spots'--areas where gravity seems not to work, where the laws of physics seem suspended, where water flows uphill and where our perception is distorted and stomachs feel very strange.
Purported to be gravitational anomalies or geophysical vortexes, enhanced by masterful (in some cases) tilted architecture built into the side of a hill or, as in some cases, pure illusion designed by Mother Nature herself, mystery spots offer a plethora of possibilities for the mystery writer.
The main drawing point of these mysterious places is that we are faced with forced perspectives that do not allow our mind's eye to adapt to the optical illusions presented. Pretty much every 'mystery spot' has a structure, usually something resembling a shack, built slant-wise into the side of a hill and camouflaged by bushes and plant growth to disguise the fact that it is built on said slant.
The building itself is called an Ames Room which is a specific type of 3-d optical illusion. Appearing to be a horizontal floored building with parallel and perpendicular walls, it is actually a trapezoidal shape with slanted walls and the floor on an incline. These rooms have been used in movies such as 1971's 'Charlie and The Chocolate Factory' and in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy to make the hobbits sizes seem true when standing next to Gandolf in some of the Shire sequences.
Now, the informed mind knows this is an illusion. And, this is utterly beside the point! Your senses reel, your stomach clutches and why is everyone standing, or should I say leaning, at a 45 degree angle? Perception.
I can vouch for the truth in that in these places, those prone to car sickness will wish they had not eaten lunch. A blind friend of mine says she went to one once with her grandchildren. She experienced the same feelings of car sickness when approaching the building (although she never went inside.) With no visual illusion to 'play' with her mind, her body still experienced the phenomena.
There are 'mystery hills' where a car set in neutral will seem to roll uphill. Again, it is all an illusion and this one is a prank played by nature. Standing in the middle of the road, you’d swear the road in front of you is going UP hill. It is a perceptive trick played on us by a combination of factors, including landscaping, a hidden horizon and tall trees. When the elevation is measured at both the top and bottom of the hill, the 'top' is a number of degrees lower than the 'bottom,’ hence the car appearing to roll uphill. If you spill water into the road, it appears to flow uphill as well. Now envision the rookie cop following the blood the wrong way....
All of these experiences can fall into play within the framework of a mystery. Imagine someone hiding in an Ames Room. Could the supposed geophysical anomalies have affected the mind of the killer who lived in an abandoned mystery spot for twenty years? What would be the reaction of the detective discovering the shotgun standing up in the middle of the floor or trying to figure out why the driverless car apparently ran uphill over the body? What if no one realized this spot was one of those visual misconceptions? What better place to have the hapless victim fleeing the murderer? Where else can you literally climb the walls?
Knowing beforehand the intricacies of a mystery spot can allow an author to work it into the fabric of the storyline, revealing a bit at a time as the plot unfolds. Readers well aware of mystery spots will approach the storyline eagerly while wondering if they recognize the particular one described. Always remember though to do your research and have it be where or near one that exists.
Setting a mystery in such a spot can add a touch of mystery to the mystery. And, of course, research always going part and parcel with writing, it never hurts to have a reason to check out a local 'mystery spot' near you!
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Painting a mystery...
Flag this one!...
Beware of what you seek! ...
The eyes have it!...
Who is that strange wanderer?...
Puzzling...
This one's just nuts!...
The journey...
This one is for the birds!...
A garden delight...
A couple of activities too...
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As this is my first newsletter, I do not have any feedback or responses. However, I have included a survey where, if you like, you may send me your ideas regarding your impressions of this newsletter.
This has been a lot of fun and I look forward to writing many more newsletters! I hope I have provided you with some new and useful ideas.--fyn |
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Mystery: August 01, 2007 Issue [#1857]
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