Believers in the supernatural have long claimed that a New York park contains a strange vortex that magically transports visitors to other areas of the park.
According to myth, Thompson Park in Watertown, New York, designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the chief architect behind Manhattan’s Central Park, has the power to leave people disoriented, confused and oblivious to the passage of time.
In addition to becoming a local legend, stories surrounding the alleged vortex are a favorite topic on local news stations on Friday the 13th.
“When people walk around, they get disconcerted and forget they’re there,” said Jim Scordo, program director for Watertown Parks and Recreation. WWNY. “You have no idea what time it is.”
Some who are more conspiracy-minded have theorized that the vortex has something to do with former CIA Director Allen Dulles and his older brother, John Foster Dulles, who was Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
A sign, erected in 2013, dedicated to the so-called vortex in Watertown’s Thompson Park.
Creepy stairs in Thompson Park
Both men grew up in Watertown, and the Dulles State Office Building is named after the older brother.
Allen Dulles, the CIA’s longest-serving director, was in charge of the foreign intelligence agency when Area 51 was acquired by the CIA and the US Air Force in 1955.
The top-secret Nevada base, often labeled a UFO crash site by those who believe, has been nicknamed the Watertown Strip, in a nod to Allen’s roots.
And with the same ownership, the vortex in Thompson Park has been named “Watertown Area 51.”
The sign indicating the vortex in the park. was posted in 2013shortly after the federal government declassified the first documents acknowledging the real existence of Area 51.
Former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (left) is sworn in as special foreign policy consultant on April 23, 1959. President Dwight Eisenhower was present at the ceremony.
Allen Dulles was the longest-serving CIA director; His tenure extended from 1953 to 1961. In the two years before 1953, he was deputy director of the agency.
About 300 people attended the sign’s dedication, CNY Central reported at the time.
But locals have been swapping stories about their experiences in the park for at least five decades.
A woman had been studying the vortex since the 1970s, believing it was a portal between two different realities, CNY Central reported. She has said that she has seen people disappear for short periods of time.
“The time and space within the two realities and, in some ways, between the two realities are very different,” he told the outlet.
A group calling themselves ‘Shadow Chasers’ also visited the park in 2007 to investigate the vortex.
The team of three, who normally hunted ghosts, walked through the park with what they claimed to be measuring devices while a local reporter followed them.
Thompson Park circa 1911 (left), decades before it was named Watertown’s “Area 51”, and the current park (right)
Pictured: The ‘Shadow Chasers’ during their visit to Thompson Park in 2007
“What we’re seeing here are some strange fluctuations,” said one of the “Hunters,” Phil Creighton, as he watched the device’s needle as it bounced back and forth.
The group said they were able to detect a strange electromagnetic network crisscrossing over a certain area of the park.
That’s why people have reported symptoms of disorientation, the group said.
Creighton said nighttime “energy fields” in the park would be “ridiculous,” hinting that the effect on people may intensify after the sun sets.
Thompson Park is still just a park: it features a zoo, many scenic trails, and even an 18-hole golf course.