Believers in the supernatural have long claimed that a New York park contains a strange vortex that magically transports visitors to other areas in the park.
According to myth, Thompson Park in Watertown, NY - designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the chief architect behind Manhattans Central Park - has the power to leave people disoriented, confused and oblivious to the passage of time.
Aside from becoming a local legend, the tales surrounding the supposed vortex are a favorite topic of local news stations on Friday the 13th.
When people go around, they get discombobulated and forget theyre in there, Jim Scordo, a program manager with Watertown Parks and Recreation, told 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 the Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
A sign, put up in 2013, dedicated to the so-called vortex in Watertowns Thompson Park
A spooky set of steps in Thompson Park
Both men grew up in Watertown, with the Dulles State Office Building named after the elder brother.
Allen Dulles, the longest serving CIA 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 base in Nevada, often labeled a UFO crash site by those who believe, has been nicknamed the Watertown Strip, in a nod to Allens roots.
And just as fittingly, the vortex in Thompson Park has been dubbed Watertowns Area 51.
The sign denoting the vortex in the park was put up in 2013, shortly after the first documents acknowledging the real Area 51s existence were declassified by the federal government.
Former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, left, is sworn in as special consultant on foreign policy on April 23, 1959. President Dwight Eisenhower was on hand for the ceremony
Allen Dulles was the longest serving CIA director, his tenure running from 1953 to 1961. In the two years before 1953, he was deputy director of the agency
About 300 people came out for the signs dedication, CNY Central reported at the time.
But locals have been trading stories about their experiences in the park for at least five decades.
A woman had been studying the vortex since the 1970s, believing it to be a portal between two different realities, CNY Central reported. She has said shes seen people disappear for short periods of time.
Time and space within the two realities and in a way between the two realities is very different, she told the outlet.
A group calling themselves Shadow Chasers also visited the park in 2007 to investigate the vortex.
The team of three, which normally hunted for ghosts, walked around the park with what they claimed to be measuring devices as a local reporter followed.
Thompson Park circa 1911 (at left), decades before it would be dubbed the Area 51 of Watertown, and the park today (at right)
Pictured: The Shadow Chasers during their 2007 visit to Thompson Park
What were getting here is some strange fluctuations, one of the Chasers, Phil Creighton, said as he looked down at the devices needle as it bounced back and forth.
The group said it was able to detect a strange electromagnetic grid crisscrossing over a certain area of the park.
Thats why people have reported symptoms of disorientation, the group said.
Creighton said the energy fields at nighttime 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 - featuring a zoo, many scenic trails and even an 18-hole golf course.