Mount Gilead AME Cemetery in Buckingham

Okay, so our post yesterday may have been slightly altered in the fun spirit of Halloween, but most of the footage is real.  We did REALLY go searching for gravity hill.  What is gravity hill you may ask? Well, rumor has it that somewhere near an old African Methodist Church and graveyard atop Buckingham Mountain exists a natural phenomenon.  According to the legend, if you put your car in neutral on this hill, it will roll up towards the top instead of down.

The legend is surrounded by spooky stories surrounding the nearby church and graveyard.  For years, teenagers have spread rumors associating the church with devil worship, and a tradition even developed-  race around the church “against the devil” and if you win, you will have good luck for a year. If you lose- beware.

We first set out to uncover the truth behind gravity hill on Sunday, 10/24/2010 (this is the footage from the video). Unfortunately, having set out too late in the day, we were forced to abandon our futile efforts in the pitch black of the back roads of Buckingham. (Okay, I admit it, it was also way too scary at night.)

Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal

On Monday, 10/25 we again set out to find the legendary Bucks County hill, around 3pm this time.  We arrived back at Buckingham Mountain (near the intersection of Holicong & Lower Mountain Rd.) and this time, quickly discovered the legendary church and graveyard.  All I could think was, “Thank goodness we didn't find this at night!”

Mount Gilead African Methodist Episcopal church was originally built of logs in 1835 and later rebuilt from stone in 1852. The church was founded by runaway slaves and used as a safe refuge along the Underground Railroad. The graveyard appeared to have a mix of inhabitants, from as far back as the mid 1800s to as recent at the early 2000s.  The scattered, old, and in many cases broken headstones no doubt add to the haunted appeal of the mountain. I felt certain that we would soon discover the gravity-defying road.

But I was wrong. We drove up, over, around the hill for about two hours, randomly throwing the car into neutral in an attempt to uncover the exact location (I'm sure the cars behind me loved this).  Being that the entire area is rather hilly and various articles provided vague directions to the location (only revealing that the hill exists withing 0.5 miles of the church), it seemed an impossible task.

Again, the skies started to grow dark and we were forced to give up our search.  So now all I can do is ask- have YOU found gravity hill?

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