Death Valley, in California, has been known for many things over the years. However, some believe that the area might also be haunted.
Huge rocks, that were originally a part of a rock formation located on the north end of Death Valley, have over the years apparently broken free and slid across the level surface of Racetrack Playa. According to geologists who have examined the so-called sliding rocks, these moving stones have weighed in at as much as 700 pounds.
The dried lakebed of Racetrack Playa, rarely gets enough rain to even partially fill the surface. With luck, this occurs about twice a year. The remainder of the time, the surface is parched and flat; certainly not the typical slippery surface that one might consider necessary for the rocks to slide from one side to another.
Yet, that appears to be exactly what is happening. For reasons that no one can definitively explain, the rocks move; sliding across the lakebed in varying angles.
Geologists who have examined the phenomenon, report grooves in the flat surface where the rocks have cut into the lakebed as they slid. Some of the trails left behind by the rocks have been short, while others are nearly 3,000 feet long.
No one has ever witnessed the occurrence. Suggestions that people have purposely moved the rocks in order to create a mystery, seem somewhat unlikely since no evidence of that can be found on the lakebed surface.
Many of the rocks are very heavy, making it unlikely that humans could them without the assistance of equipment. Yet, the type of equipment needed to move the large stones, would have left behind some surface evidence. No such evidence has ever been found.
Some scientists have speculated that magnetic forces might have caused the rocks to slide. However, the differing pathways taken by the rocks, along with their abrupt turns at right angles, makes this theory seem unlikely; albeit not impossible.
Others suspect that the lakebed surface might “look” flat, but actually have some slope to it. This would easily explain how the stones moved from one end to the other. However, the fact that many of the stones move one direction and then seem to actually turn to complete their pathway would suggest that such movement couldn’t be explained by a straight slope.
Still others think that rainfall in the valley might be just enough to wet down the surface, making a micro-thin layer of mud. They believe that if, that process was followed by a strong wind behind it, this might give the rocks enough movement to cause them to slide across the surface.
Since winds in the Death Valley area have been clocked at as much as 70 miles per hour, this latter explanation has some plausibility. But it begs the question, if this is indeed the case, why has no one been able to “see” the rocks move when the perfect conditions were in place?
A few believe that the thin layer of ice that freezes around the rocks during sudden temperature drops, might make them easier to move when wind conditions are high. Certainly some of the trails suggest that such a theory could be plausible. However, other trails where the rocks shift direction, once again suggest that this theory doesn’t quite hold up.
In 1990, scientists mapped the sliding rocks of Racetrack Playa over the course of several months. The results were interesting in that it appeared that they often followed similar paths to those of other rocks located nearby. This would seem to indicate that the same forces might have caused the move of the stones.
However, not all of the rocks that started in the same apparent location, ended up in the same location on the other end. This adds even more mystery to an already baffling phenomenon.
A few suggest alien involvement. A few more suggest supernatural forces such as ghostly movement. A few more simply throw up their hands in defeat. No one seems to have the answer – – yet!
The truth is that some mysteries can never be explained. They are what they are. Perhaps that is the case with the sliding rocks of Death Valley.
Sources include tourist material from Death Valley and the book entitled Mysteries of the World as well as other sources listed.
