crookedlyherengineer

[anigrim]

So i’ve been on a trip in Oregon for the past few days, and had the chance to see the Oregon Vortex (which is where a lot of inspiration for the design of the Mystery Shack came from). I had no clue that there would be anything Gravity Falls there, but there was a ton of Gravity Falls stuff in the gift shop (not actually being sold, just on top of a shelf over the cashier) and a display board right next to the entrance with Gravity Falls fanart in it. I quickly made a sketch to put in the display case, and while asking the employee to put it in, she said that Alex Hirsch had been there, and told a few facts about the inspiration for the show (that I already knew of course, but there was really no need to mention that :)). Overall, it was a great experience, definitely recommend!

[disneydarlin]

Confusion Hill: The Inspiration for Gravity Falls

In 1930, The Oregon Vortex opened to tourists. The roadside attraction is located on Sardine Creek in Gold Hill, Oregon, in the United States. It consists of many interesting effects, which are gravity hill optical illusions. However, the attraction's proprietors propose this is the result of paranormal properties in the area.

Due to this, the place inspired the Disney channel series, Gravity Falls. Attractions include the House of Mystery, the Mountain Train Ride, the Gift Shop and the Shoe House.

[virtkha]

went to the oregon vortex today

[preventthefuture]

DO YOU DARE?

[paranormal-playground-podcast]

The Mystery of the Oregon Vortex

The mystery of the Oregon Vortex has fascinated visitors for decades. Located near Gold Hill, Oregon, this site defies the laws of physics. Strange phenomena and eerie experiences abound, making it a hotspot for paranormal enthusiasts. The Discovery The Oregon Vortex was discovered in the early 20th century. It quickly gained attention for its strange occurrences. People visiting the area…

[basementofthebizarre]

Into the Mystic: Journeying Through the Marvels of the Oregon Vortex

Tucked away in the picturesque town of Gold Hill, Oregon, lies a mysterious and captivating phenomenon known as the Oregon Vortex. This enigmatic place has fascinated visitors for decades with its gravity-defying illusions and unexplained anomalies. Let’s delve into the depths of this intriguing vortex and explore its secrets. The Oregon Vortex gained fame in the early 20th century when it was…

[spookyoregon]

So You Found Yourself an Energy Vortex

This next entry will require a little exposition to set the scene. An "energy vortex" is a spot believed to have strong energy swirling either into the earth or out from the earth. One theory amongst the metaphysical researchers is ley-line intersect at these points, creating the powerful feelings of energy in the area. Places like Sedona, AZ, Stonehenge, England, and Mt. Shasta, CA are purported to be such places. A smaller, less known place, is snuggled in the hills of Southern Oregon - The Oregon Vortex.

Legend goes that the vortex was labeled a forbidden place by the local native tribes, where horses refused to go, insects do not venture, and birds avoid. In 1904, the Old Grey Eagle Mining Company established an assay office on what would become known as the Vortex. Interestingly enough, within a few years the building and others around it had slid from their foundations, coming to rest at an angle. In 1914, the land was purchased by John Lister who set to research the paranormal phenomena in the area. In 1958, the road side attraction was sold to it's current owners.

It is believed by John Lister that there is a ley-line under the vortex that connects it to other places of power, including the Bermuda Triangle, Crater Lake, and Stonehenge. The vortex draws energy into the earth, explaining why animals avoid the area. Gravity is warped in the area, adding to the unsettling aura of the area.

One should take the above with a grain of salt. After all, building codes in the 1900s were non-existent and the area is subject to a gravity-hill optical illusion with the heavily tilted buildings. The oddities of the buildings will create a forced perspective, making people appear to grow or shrink depending on where they stand.

Or perhaps that's all part of the vortex energy.

sources: Wikipedia, Atlas Obscura

[prophetofthemuse]

I do think it’s interesting that my three most recent photographs (these are not saved images, I took these myself) represent Sydney, Jedidiah, and I quite well. Deer antler bones, an old stopped clock, and chinaware cup-and-saucer pairs….

[januscorner]

Gifs I Made pt 2

P1 P3

[violetreminder]

Salem is a hellhole, and its not even a unique hellhole.

I need to get out of this fucking city. My mother admitted recently that our moving here to Salem was probably the worst thing that happened to my life. Lately this has made me reflect more about just how I really feel about this city, and while I've never liked it, really taking time critically thinking it over more just makes me livid over this dump. While I cant and dont blame this place for *every* bad thing and inconvenience ofc, it cannot be understated how much of a fucking HOLE this city is. All the big employers that arent State work are mostly Caretaking or Medical, and failing that? Well I hope you love serving drinks and/or sliding into sub-mediocrity in any number of dead-end underpaying jobs. Once you get off that dead-end job and want something to do with your night? Well you get your choice of dive bar in which to play pool and hear the same people sing karaoke to the same overplayed country songs every night. Beyond that? Well practically everything that isn't a bar closes by mid-day since this place is packed to the brim with geriatrics, so really you can go do meth and jump off the pedestrian bridge into the Willamette for all the city seems to care. The city is also INCREDIBLY car-centric, which is already bad enough before you actually *drive* on the roads and realize the street grid may as well have been designed by a committee of 4th graders. Blind turns and piss-poor lane management abound. Wanna take a bus instead? Good Luck. To say public transport is underutilized and chronically underfunded is a MASSIVE understatement. Despite living just an hour south of Portland, home to one of the most comprehensive and effective public transport systems in the entire country, Salem only recently started running weekend service for buses after DECADES of not even doing that much (seriously it was 2019 for Saturdays, 2021 for Sundays, a reminder that this is in a CAPITAL CITY). Which stings so hard because in the early 20th century, like many cities of its time, Salem had a functioning and effective electric streetcar system that was totally ditched in favor of carving out these godforsaken roads ans suburbs in the 50s for a deluge of personal automobiles and the aforementioned underfunded buses. Yet more examples of rational and sustainable city planning absolutely destroyed by fossil fuels. Now, a moment of peace, because of course being here for basically my entire life has meant I have met many wonderful friends here. Even someone so filled with impotent rage as I am can take a moment to recognize that there are good things here, usually smaller, subtle delights, but I cant help but see a lot of those happening in spite of this foggy bog, not because of it. I cant help but feel some kind of helplessness typing this out though, because while these complaints are (roughly) valid, theyre far from unique. You can easily find this exact story told in hundreds of cities across America, especially in smaller capitals. The same destruction of public infrastructure, the same awful car-centric design, the same slow death that is living in a geriatric alcoholics paradise. Not to even mention the same homeless problem that plagues not only the entire nation, but the West Coast especially, and in this regard Salem *IS* actually a little more unique. You see not only do we have your standard homeless masses abandoned by the city to be swept into the clutches of religious organizations that just want to put more seats in their pews over actually aiding their community (or into the cold clutches of death if the churches dont like them), but *in addition* when the state closed its mental asylums it just threw the populations of those facilities into the streets of Salem, where they remain to this day weaving in and out of the State Hospital or the State Pen. Man if this had any organization or other ultimate point than "Salem sucks and will drain the life and joy out of you while calling you a bitch" I've lost it by now. I'm just so tired and angry.

[iggysmice]

you have six fingers???

Nope, weirdest thing about my hands is the bright red splotches that show up when I'm flushed, and that's skin damage from when I almost died!

But I did once.

This is a picture of me as a toddler being gently restrained so they can take an xray of my hand to determine how extensive of a surgery the amputation of that lil extra nub finger will be.

I'm mixed race and polydactylism is really common among certain ethnic groups, like West Africans. Most African Americans have roots in West African slaves, because for the trade it was the easier coast to get slaves from. Geography and history tend to work together that way. My black mom was also born with extra fingers, as well as my younger brother!

I was unique because I also had extra toes, which is the strongest expression of the gene in our family yet. It's a dominant gene, so when me and @alys-gay-parade have children someday they'll be six fingered too!

[kelev9]

dog clubs for the sports i'm interested in are so freaking hard to find in oregon wth

[auraeseer]

Yes stir!

[fatehbaz]

Some updates from the past twelve-ish months:

-- Late 2022: Portland and its mayor (Wheeler) started a major push to ban "street camping". Headlines in major media outlets also described "Portland's first sanctioned mass homeless camp" and how "Portland moves forward with $27 million plan to build mass shelters". In December 2022, Portland-area authorities used the so-called "aggressive landscaping" tactic, installing hundreds of hostile architecture boulders to prevent sitting/sleeping. Also in December, homeless advocates and Disability Rights Washington advocates attempted to halt Spokane's (Washington) clearing of a major camp for hundreds of people, and a federal judge sided with advocates to put a temporary restraining order on the sweep.

-- January 2023: Even in the immediate aftermath of historic cold as far south as Miami and Monterrey, sub-freezing temperatures across the Deep South, and sub-zero-Fahrenheit blizzards sweeping North America for a week or longer around Solstice/Christmas 2022, convenience stores "in Texas, California, New York use classical music to shoo homeless".

-- By March 2023: "Portland Mayor Wheeler unveils first location for city-run homeless camp".

-- April 2023: San Francisco and Mayor Brand announce a major "five-year plan" costing over 600 million dollars "to cut the number of unsheltered homeless in half". (Not a plan to put people in homes or find stable housing, but just to technically put them under the roof of shelter, keeping them out of sight, therefore qualifying them for the strange designation of "the sheltered homeless".) At the same time, San Francisco opened a "long-term homeless shelter on Treasure Island", pushing homeless people onto an isolated island mostly composed of concrete and asphalt.

-- Summer 2023: In May, the city of Phoenix (Arizona) began its project to clear and eliminate its largest homeless camp, known as the Zone, a refuge for hundreds of people. During the record-breaking heat of the summer of 2023, Phoenix cleared the camp systematically, block by block. At the beginning of September 2023, as "Phoenix breaks heat record as city hits 110F [110 degrees Fahrenheit] for the 54th consecutive day", the city cleared the block of the camp where most seniors and the elderly lived.

-- January 2024: About one week ahead of winter holidays (Solstice/Christmas), the City of Edmonton pursued plans to sweep 130 homeless encampments as part of what has been described as a "shocking" eviction plan. In January, the city was clearing camps amidst sustained deadly severe weather, during a polar vortex event with temperatures of negative 50 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime highs of negative 25F. When a court case presented by Coalition for Justice and Human Rights tried to slow the sweeps, a judge sided with them and shut down the evictions.

-- March 2024: Florida's governor signs a new law. NPR describes: "law that seeks to move unhoused people off public property altogether and into government-run encampments".

-- April 2024: The U.S. Supreme Court begins hearing a case from Grants Pass (Oregon) with major implications and potential to incite nationwide "banishment race" and "homelessness crackdown". Lower courts have previously said that city policies (like Grants Pass, Boise, and others) were "cruel and unusual" for fining and/or jailing people for sleeping on public land if no adequate accessible shelter is available. But now?

[selineram3421]

🎩

You're Off-key

Prologue

Reader X Gravity Falls

Warnings ⚠

⚠ The Book of Bill SPOILERS HERE! Do NOT read if you don't want any spoils of the book. Other than that, enjoy. -mentions of madness, blood, cryptids, italics= thoughts, ya know..the usual. Oh! And for our old pal Stan, some swear words. ⚠

You missed this.

Being one of the weird kids who loved the supernatural, interested in solving puzzles, uncovering secrets. Of course you ended up watching Gravity Falls.

Never really growing out of it, you'd still watch videos about ghosts or getting a heavy duty flashlight and a pair of brass knuckles for whatever made a noise in your apartment.

Ghost or not, they'd learn not to mess with you!

At some point you got The Book of Bill.

It was so cool! Little funny and silly at times. There was also the triangle's descent into madness. Man those pictures were good.

Also an axolotl?

You don't know but it looked cute.

As you kept reading, the more you wanted to experience everything you didn't get to when you were younger.

So you decided on a road trip!

A road trip to all the places that inspired the creator of the show and the final stop would be Bill's statue!

Best friend in the passenger seat! Sun glasses in the glove boxes! And snacks to last you a while before the next gas station stop!

You even brought a camera!

"Ready for the time of your life?", you asked excitedly.

"In this heat?", your best friend fanned their face with the paper map. "It'll be meh but yeah, I'm ready for the car AC."

You both were in the car, ready to begin the adventure to Oregon, but you were just double checking before it actually began.

"Ok, ok. I'll start the car.", you said and put the key in the ignition, turning it and starting the car.

Immediately putting the AC on high, both of you were ready and you slowly backed out the driveway.

"Let's get that fucking pie!", you said and put on the sun glasses.

It was really bright today.

First you went to the famous diner with the pie. It was a give in, honestly but the pie was really good. Next to the Oregon Vortex. Now that was a really weird shack! Everything was leveled but you were standing slanted a bit. Then you both went to every roadside attraction that you could and got some key chains for souvenirs. It's been really clear weather since you started the road trip, which was a bit of a surprise. It was supposed to sprinkle at some point.

Finally, the last thing on the list arrived.

Playing the song "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn as you drove to the parking area and both of you were singing along to it before you had to turn off the car.

You brought The Book of Bill for fun.

Deciding to joke around, you bought some spaghetti to go and went to park the car before venturing into the woods where Bill's Statue was.

"Are you seriously gonna try it?", your best friend laughed.

"Why not?", you smiled while putting a water bottle in your pack. "It's ok to be silly. Mabel says so. Trust the silliness!"

"Yeah, ok.", they agreed with a smile. "If we get mauled by a bear, I'm sacrificing you first."

.....

"Fair."

Camera, spaghetti, book of Bill, and water! (Also a flashlight.) You were ready for a photo shoot with the oh so famous Dream Demon!

Looking back to see the sun, you guessed that you had about two hours to find Bill's statue before it got too dark. Your best friend had a map they downloaded off the internet that would lead you straight to it. Of course, with you having some attention issues, you'd get sidetracked by anything you found interesting, hence needing the two hours.

⯅

You were right!

The two hours were needed because you were still trying to solve one of the codes in the book, while also getting distracted by some cool looking bugs around the area.

"Did you try the Caesar cipher?", your friend asked.

"Yeah, but this is new. It's something else.", you sighed. "I should have tried the website before leaving.", you grumbled sadly.

"Hey, it's totally fine!", they said and patted your back a few times. "You'll get to do that when we go back home.", then they pointed towards the right with their thumb. "By the way, Bill statue is next to us, over by those bushes."

"WHAT!?", you screeched and ran over, whispering a few ouches as the branches of the bush scratched your legs.

That's when you saw it.

In all of its odd glory was the Bill statue with its hand out, waiting for a hand shake.

"Eeeeee!", you cheered as you got closer, hearing your friend laugh behind you as you did so. "I gotta give him spaghetti!"

Opening up your bag, you took out the take-out box that held the noodley deliciousness and took a quick forkfull for yourself before putting it in front of the stone triangle.

"I really thought you were joking.", says your friend as they watch you take out the book and camera from your backpack.

"Nope!", you smile, snapping a quick picture of the statue with spaghetti. "Ok, now for the silliest part."

You take out Parmesan cheese and a cheese grater.

"Oh this is fucking hilarious.", your best friend says and takes pictures of you with their phone.

The sun hits the horizon and the sky is slowly darkening, you start grating the cheese and when you think it's enough, you stop.

"Hey, take a pic with me shaking his hand.", you say and get closer to the statue, reaching out to touch it.

"Sure thing jellybean.", they say and lift their phone up. "It's my turn after you."

"Ok!", you say and put a thumbs up as you put your other hand on the statue's.

As you look to where your best friend is, all you can see is darkness.

You call their name in confusion. "Are you there?", you ask. "Turn on the flashlight, its really dark out here."

But you get no response.

And then you hear something odd.

Kinda sounds like someone with a weird sound filter over their laughing.

"Ok, ha ha.", you roll your eyes. "Quit playing the Bill audio and take the picture already."

When you try to get a better hold on the statue, you realize you weren't holding anything at all.

"What?", you say and look at your hand. "Wait.. Why can I see my hand perfectly fine when everything else is-"

"Well, well, well!", says a familiar voice from behind you.

What?

Turning around you see a floating, glowing Dorito chip with a fancy bow tie and a top hat.

Holy shit.

"Here we are at last! I've been waiting an eternity to meet you."

How is this happening? Was one of the snacks you ate expired? Did you eat the wrong brownies!?

"Thanks for reading my best seller kid!", Bill says and twirls his cane into existence in his hand. "And for the handshake.", he blinks. Winks?

"Wait, hold on! I-!", you start.

"See you in Gravity Falls!", the triangle snaps his fingers and suddenly there's a hole beneath your feet that reveals a cartoon animated forest.

"Wha-"

"Don't break your neck on the way down!", the one eyed demon waves.

And you begin to fall.

ZKDW D QLFH VXQQB GDV

~Seline, the person.

Part 1

Taglist@

@+?

YO-🎹 | GF List🏞️

[busket]

gravity falls rant, cw sexual assault and harassment

seeing the gf fandom do a full 180 on billford is so odd to see and kind of infuriating because I had so many nasty rumors and lies spread about me in 2015-2018 because I liked them as bitter exes. a callout google doc was made and I never read it, but I know it framed me as a creep and an abuser. all because I thought a cartoon nerd and a triangle had a fascinating dynamic that was dark and compelling

in 2017 or 2018 someone sent like 70 messages to my curiouscat just repeating RAPIST RAPIST RAPIST RAPIST over and over again. I'd never even had sex at that point, and I had just cut my dad out of my life for actually being a pedophile and a rapist. so that was traumatizing! that really hurt me!

I also know it was because I had a NSFW account where i drew porn (i was an adult, i was clear i only wanted adults following me. and I still do draw nsfw, I'm not ashamed of that now but these folks made me ashamed of it for years) that included some porn of trans men, like Stanley or Stanford as trans men (NEVER together bc I've always been staunchly against incest or pedophilia ships) and these people framed me as a transphobe and a transmasc fetishist

well obviously I'm a trans man now and I didn't know it at the time but those drawings were a way to explore my own relationship with gender. I even look like Stan and Ford now, obviously i latched on to them as trans men because I wanted to BE them. but I believed it when people called me a piece of shit, I assumed all trans people would despise me too and I'd committed a horrible sin and it forced me back in the closet for another 5 years.

the people doing this were teenagers at the time, a few I thought were my friends/mutuals, and they made that part of my life kinda miserable. I was already miserable with other shit going on in my life. I ignored most of the harassment to make myself uninteresting and to avoid the possibility of becoming a lolcow but it involved anonymous messages both on tumblr and curiouscat, I even got a few emails just mocking me. even in 2019 when some people were like "oh yeah she's moved on to moomin, this is what her art looks like now, I can't look at it without thinking about how much she loves rape :/" which was NEVER true!!! I liked Ford and Bill as bitter exes but it was always consensual in my mind.

Anyway I don't ever expect or even want an apology. I'm sure they don't realize what an effect that harassment had on me during literally the darkest years of my life. to them they were just teasing a weird girl on the internet for fun, or very seriously warning their friends against whom they'd been lied to about being an abuser, but I was a closeted trans man trying to finish college, my home life was abysmal and abusive, I hated myself, i hated my body, my only friends were online, and when I'd log on for some escapism I was met with another message like "hey, you should block this person. they're saying some really cruel things about you on their account. I know it's not true but it looks like some people are believing it."

gravity falls was so important to me as a show since oregon is my home and it felt so authentic to my own childhood being interested in cryptids and going camping and visiting shit like the Oregon vortex as a child. but the fandom was the worst I've ever been in. it ruined my enjoyment of media online for years. so idk. I guess I feel somewhat vindicated but it would also be nice to get those years back and not be harassed and bullied online about something so stupid and unimportant