Anomalies of gravitation

German version

in Italy and Poland

by Grazyna Fosar Franz Bludorf, Berlin

About 60 km south of Rome, at the edge of the Albanian lake, an extinct volkanic crater, the Via dei Laghi runs, a highway, which connects the capital Rome as extension of the via Appia Nuova with the wine region of Frascati as well as with the pictorial sea-landscape of the Albanian mountains. Shortly after the locality Rocca di Papa in the process of this road a strange anomaly occurs. Bottles and other things roll uphill here in a weak upward gradient without additional driving power. Even heavy cars may be up-moved here in the no-load operation with switched off engine.

This phenomenon was presented for the first time in Germany by Rainer Holbe's TV programs "Unbelievable Stories" and "Fantastic Phenomena" as well as by his book "Magic, Madonnas and Miracles". He presented the phenomenon too in the talk-show of Hans Meiser titled "Unexplainable Phenomena".

So far only assumptions existed to the causes of this phenomenon. Scientists stated generally, it had to be an optical deception.

Thus we examined the case in the year 1998 during a research journey to Italy thoroughly.

Fig.1: The Albanian lake south of Rome, an extinct volcanic crater. At its edge runs the via dei Laghi, where a strange gravitational phenomenon occurs

The subjective impression leaves the feeling immediately to the visitor of this strange place that the phenomenon must be genuine. The upward gradient begins in a small valley and leads up to a crest after approximately 200 meters. If one runs up this presumed upward gradient, then he has a strange feeling of acceleration. He doesn't believe to run uphill but rather downhill. No energy expenditure is to be felt thereby. Also a car runs uphill in the no-load operation with switched off engine automatically. This works even with fully occupied tourist buses, as we could see ourselves. Tourism enterprises (mainly from Germany) quite obviously refer this strange place already into their round travels.

Nevertheless it could be still an optical deception, but on the other hand some clearly visible findings contradict to this assumption:

Fig. 2: The anomaly of gravitation at the via dei Laghi at the edge of the Albanian lake

Abb. 3: A bottle with mineral water rolls uphill at the via dei Laghi, without to have been knocked against. Water also flows uphill.

A temporally variable gravity field would be - although it would be purely mathematically conceivable - physically an enormousness, which was never observed.

Nevertheless we were not satisfied from the optical impressions, but accomplished ourselves a number of scientific measurements.

In the land surveying up to today usually leveling instruments are used, which are based on the principle of the spirit level, and so, for a first test, we used an electronic precision spirit level with angle measuring instrument. It indicated a downward gradient instead of the optically visible upward gradient, around approximately 5 %.

Fig. 4: The spirit level indicates a 5% downward gradient in place of an upward gradient. So is it only an optical deception or indeed an anomaly of gravitation, which would then affect the spirit level too?

This might be the principal reason that scientists regard the effect as an optical deception. In truth this attempt doesn't prove however anything at all, because in the case that it would really be an anomaly of gravitation it would affect the spirit level too, forcing it to indicate wrongly, exactly from the same reason, as it forces cars, bottles and other articles to roll uphill instead of downhill.

Since in modern physics today the assumption is generally recognized that all physical basic forces may be combined in a uniform field theory (even if this theory doesn't exist until today officially), in principle it could also be an electromagnetic or radioactive phenomenon. Therefore we accomplished next measurements with the Geiger counter as well as with a mobile field measuring instrument for the employment in the area. Both measurements remained without result. Along the road neither an increase of the natural radioactivity nor any presence of unusual electrical or magnetic fields could be measured.

Fig. 5: Grazyna Fosar performing measurements of the electromagnetic field strength at the via dei Laghi. The measurement did not result in any unusual findings.

Thus only the direct measurement of the gravitation at this place remained as proof-strong indication.

Although geophycisists have nowadays highly sensitive superconducting special devices for the measurement of the force of gravity, for measurements in the area, also for professional purposes, still classical measuring methods are used, as they were already known in Galilei's times. Principal item of such classical Gravimeters is either a spiral spring or a sideric pendulum.

Fig. 6: Franz Bludorf measures the oscillation duration of a pendulum with a mechanical precision stop watch at the via dei Laghi. A possible anomaly may be determined exactly by comparative measurements with a place with normal gravitation in this way.

This concerns accurate physical measurements, which do not have to do anything with the use of a pendulum for radiesthetic purposes. One allows the feather/spring and/or the pendulum to swing at the appropriate place for a certain period of time and measures the oscillation duration. From this time interval the gravitation acceleration may be calculated with a simple mathematical formula.

The only hook with this method is that one would have to know some material constants (e.g. mass of the pendulum and length of the pendulum thread) more exactly for this formula, than it is normally the case.

Geophysicists go around this problem calibrating the pendulum and/or the spring gravimeter at a place with well-known gravitation. That means, at a place, where a normal gravitation may be accepted, a measurement of the oscillation duration is made and noted. Accomplishing now a further measurement at another place, one can determine gravitation deviations with sufficient accuracy, by simply comparing the oscillation times. If the pendulum (and/or the feather/spring) swings more slowly than at the place of the calibration, then the gravitation is smaller. If it swings more quickly, the gravitation is increased.

In our case the calibration took place before our journey in Berlin, from which we may assume normal gravitation conditions. On the average our sideric pendulum needs a time of 0.9629 seconds for a complete oscillation in Berlin.

Fig. 7: At the via dei Laghi the sideric pendulum needed more than 1.5 seconds longer for 100 oscillations than in Berlin. This proves the presence of an unusually strong anomaly of gravitation

At the via dei Laghi however the oscillation duration amounted to the average 0.9788 seconds, whereby the measuring error due to the measuring procedure amounts at the most to only 0.002 seconds. Thus it is proven that a pendulum at the via dei Laghi swings significantly more slowly, which is explainable only by a gravitation deviation, so the gravitation there is around approximately 3.2% smaller than in Berlin.

Thus the optical deception is not only impossible as a cause of the phenomenon, it even became perfectly irrelevant for that question. Even if there would be an optical deception and the road would nevertheless lead downhill unexpectedly, then the siderical pendulum nevertheless proves an anomaly of gravitation, because this does not depend on upward gradient or downward gradient.  It could be present also in perfectly even area. The upward gradient only made the phenomenon visible.

The question is now of course, how that is possible. Are there abnormal geophysical effects, which cause this gravitation decrease in Italy? About this we asked scientists of the Geo Research Center Potsdam (GFZ).

This institute exists already since 1870, and in the year 1909 at the old Telegrafenberg near potsdam the first absolute measurement of the gravitational field was already accomplished as international reference value. The entire area is full of science-historical objects of interest. An example is the famous Einstein tower on the summit of the Telegrafenberg, which was built for Albert Einstein in the twenties as solar observatorium to be able to proof the correctness of his general theory of relativity.

Fig. 8: The Einstein tower on the area of the Geo Research Center Potsdam

Today the Geo Research Center Potsdam is the world-wide only institute, which accommodates all geosciences under a roof. It is further one of several global geodetic points of reference of the world, whose geographical position and gravitation acceleration are particularly exactly presumptuous as international reference values. The gravitation is supervised here daily around the clock with the help of a superconducting gravimeter. It is so sensitive that even the effects of the moon phases on the gravity field of the earth are observable.

Fig. 9 and 10: The Geo Research Center Potsdam is a global reference station for the gravity field of the earth. Here with its superconducting gravimeter the gravitational field is measured exactly on 8 places after the comma.

We discussed the phenomenon of the anomalies of gravitation with the director of the section "gravitational field and shape of the earth", Dr. Peter Schwintzer.

It is not anything unusual for geophycisists that the gravity field of the earth is not everywhere equivalently large. There are in the meantime whole maps of the gravitational field of the world, which were accomplished by complex satellite measurements with the accuracy of a degree of angle (this corresponds to a surface of somewhat more than 100*100 km).

Thus scientists know today that the gravitation has its highest values along the high mountains like the Andes or the Himalaya (because there simply more mass is present), in addition, in the North Atlantic and in Central Europe it is somewhat higher than elsewhere. However one finds the lowest values at the coast of south India.

Fig. 11: Map of the gravitation of the world. The highest values are characterized dark red, the lowest dark-blue (with friendly permission of the Geo Research Center Potsdam)

Local anomalies of the gravitation may result from large underground ore camps, whose specific weight is higher than that of the normal rock. Other causes may be tectonic shifts at the edges of the continental plates or convection currents in the liquid interior of the earth, the so-called Earth's mantle.

These deviations from the normal value of the gravitation are consulted therefore for exploration purposes, thus for finding ores in earth. The largest deviations, which science knows in connection with this are, however, only about 0.1 parts per thousand, thus less than a hundredth of the anomaly, which we had measured in Italy. Dr. Schwintzer confirmed us that today's science cannot explain such a strong anomaly of gravitation.

Thus does a still unresolved secret hide itself in the Albanian mountains? It is nevertheless interesting that completely in the proximity of this anomaly of gravitation Castel Gandolfo is located, the summer residence of the Pope. This castle was built in 17. Century by Pope Urban VIII., thus exactly by that Pope who spoke the judgement about Galileo Galilei, thus about the man, who accomplished as first measurements of the Earth's gravity field.

It is historically secured fact that Urban VIII. before its election to the Pope was even in friendly connections with Galilei, and he was quite exactly informed about the research work of the scientist. Did Galilei have to be made mouth dead, because he knew too much? Not concerning the fact that the earth turns around the sun, because that was not anyway Galileis discovery, but demanded by Kopernikus in former times theoretically and already proven more than 100 years ago and by Kepler. Did Galilei know instead of a secret about the gravitation, which shouldn't become public? Or should it be a coincidence that Castel Gandolfo was built straight at the edge of the Albanian lake, at a place, which at all did not belong to the church, but was given to church by the emperor particularly for the purpose of building this castle?

In order to perhaps find an explanation of the mystery, one must examine whether there are possibly still more such places in the world.

After transmission of Hans Meiser's talk show we received a set of letters of the spectators to this topic too. Several spectators referred to us that also in Poland, more exactly: in the silesian health resort Karpacz (Krummhübel) near the mountain Schneekoppe, such a place would be to be found, and we followed also this track .

Fig. 12: Completely in the proximity of this pictorial torrent near Karpacz Górny (Brückenberg) in Poland is a further anomaly of gravitation.

When we visited the giant mountains, we experienced that this information is obviously correct and that the phenomenon is even much more well-known to the inhabitants than it is the case in Italy. The questionable place here is however not in a similar remote region as at the Albanian lake, but in a local part of a much-visited air health resort, which has the name Karpacz Górny (Brückenberg). Thus for this area exist, for everyone accessible, a large number of maps, on which quite exactly measured elevator data are drawn in. If here should be the same effect as in Italy, it would have to be much more simply provable whether the effect is genuine or is based on an optical deception.

Fig. 13: Layout plan of a further anomaly of gravitation in the Polish health resort Karpacz Górny (Brückenberg) in the giant mountains.

We were surprised nevertheless that we could find an entry on a quite usual city plan of Karpacz, which one may buy there in every bookshop: "Miejsce zaburzenia grawitacji" ("place of disturbed gravitation "). Obviously also the authorities in Karpacz know the phenomenon for a long time very well, and they accept it and use it as an additional touristic object of interest.

According to the city plan the anomaly is placed along "ulica Strazacka" at the southern local edge, completely in the proximity of a wild-romantic torrent. After we crossed the small bridge to the north over the brook Lomnica, we could already off switch the engine and place the gear shift on no-load operation. The heavy Volvo, occupied with two persons and a dog, rolled uphill from now on automatically, and did it even over a distance of more than 400 meters, along several curves, approximately up to the guesthouse "Piecuch" (see fig. 13). The winding road guidance did not permit any optical deception. In addition, as we see, this road is partly cultivated with houses, so that the land surveying office should actually know whether this road goes uphill or downhill. The fact that the Strazacka road is called nevertheless officially "place of disturbed gravitation" is another reasonable proof.

To let a bottle roll uphill along this road was meanwhile the easiest thing for us to do.

Fig. 14: Also at the Strazacka road of the Polish health resort Karpacz Górny (Brückenberg) bottles and cars roll uphill without drive. The winding route as well as measurements of the local authorities exclude an optical deception.

In order to be quite safe however, we accomplished still own elevator measurements. The modern technology offers the possibility to drivers and wanderers to orient themselves in strange terrain exactly with the help of satellite-based navigation and detection system GPS (Global Positioning System). A GPS receiver is nowadays not larger than a handy and supplies at each place of the world exact coordinate data for the position and the height over the sea level. Contrary to conventional measurement methods a GPS measurement cannot be affected by local anomalies of gravitation, since the data are sent by satellites, which are highly over the earth in the orbit, far off from any possible gravitation disturbance.

Fig. 15: Modern GPS satellite navigation devices are not larger any longer than a handy and permit everywhere precise measurements of position.

With help of such position measurements it was possible for us to prove that the Strazacka road actually runs uphill.

Nevertheless we accomplished also the gravitation measurement with the sideric pendulum to determine how large the anomaly was actually in the giant mountains. Our impression had been that it would have to be even stronger than in Italy.

This impression was confirmed by the measurements. In Karpacz Górny gravitation is smaller even around more than 4% than normal. We could not tighten a pulsating effect as in Italy here.

In the district capital Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg) we experienced some interesting pieces of news concerning this, i.e. that scientists of the University of Wroclaw had accomplished extensive satellite measurements during the past years in the whole region. The result was that within the range of the giant mountains enormous underground supplies were discovered by cooking hot water in approximately 2000 meters of depth. The center is in the health resort Cieplice (Bad Warmbrunn - nomen est omen!!), the area extends in addition, into the region Karpacz.

Could that be perhaps also an explanation for the gravitation phenomenon? Now we found a relationship between the two places, because also the Albanian lake is a cooled off volcanic crater. On the other hand the water of the Albanian lake is today not hot any longer. Does this mean that the anomaly remains also after expiring volcanism? Why should this be the case?

Perhaps are there still much more such anomalies of gravitation in the world? Perhaps they are simply undiscovered, because too many coincidences must interact, so that they are noticeable to humans at all:

Perhaps still many anomalies of gravitation wait for their discovery - on an even surface, or on an uneven field, where nobody notices them?

Conclusion: The fact that there are anomalies of gravitation at the via dei Laghi and in Karpacz Górny may be regarded as scientifically proven. But we are still far from an explanation of this interesting phenomenon.

Pulsating gravitational fields are so far unknown in physics. Possibly there must exist something under the road in Italy, which can produce very strange effects, likewise at the place in Poland. It may neither be a well-known terrestrial material nor technology known to us.

The phenomenon of these anomalies of gravitation is and remains a large mystery!

Free for publication with indication of source: Grazyna Fosar, Franz Bludorf, authors and scientists, Berlin.

Contact to the authors:

Grazyna Fosar · Franz Bludorf · Postfach 242 · D-12112 Berlin · Fax: +49-30-79 01 48 94 · E-mail: mail@fosar-bludorf.com

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