Mystery Hill

Although the staff are incredibly nice, it can’t surpass the fact that this place is overpriced and very outdated. As there isn’t much to do here, you won’t spend much time and will be done in a breeze.

I really like Mystery Hill. This is probably due to the fact that it hasn’t changed much in the thirty years since I first visited. I would give it five stars, but the tour portion was a little short and not quite as entertaining as it use to be. The last guide I had spent a great deal of time explaining the hill etc. My sons both eight enjoyed this stop. Don’t think you will be here for several hours it is a 1 – 1.5 hour thing. The staff is very sweet and the attractions are fun.

Overall, fun for all ages. Could charge less though as $ 9 for adults & $ 7 for kids is steep. especially since everything seems to be from like 20+yrs ago.. No updates (ie; signs etc). This price does include the heritage museum next door thankfully

I was excited to go here, as we were staying at a local B&B and I *love* me some tourist trappy goodness, but the reality was a pretty big letdown. It feels like this might have been a pretty popular attraction in the mid 80s-​90s, but little to no work has been done to stave off the ravages of time and disinterest, while, conversely the ticket prices are all too happy to make the ol’ inflation climb.
To begin with, I was expecting $ 7 a person — tickets have gone up to $ 9 a person for adults, which is a little crazy… came to over $ 20 for my husband and I to get in. Our ‘guide’ was a sweet young man that was entirely superfluous to the experience and could have his job replaced by a voiceover speaker or a few plaques. My guess is that the position’s kept in to give you a feeling of getting something for your money. You walk by a few grade school-​esque collage wall cases with faded photos, over-​xeroxed news clippings and other paraphernalia that supposedly highlighted Mystery Hill’s heyday, including a troubling tendency towards structure-​wrecking fires. Essentially, we were given a list of all the cool things the place USED to have, but were either destroyed by time, fire or closing… uh, yeah… thanks. I’m super excited now.
Cue a walk up a ramp lined with rusty farm tools and a ‘moonshine still’ that looks more like a few paint cans stuck on top of one another. Bad mechanics wiggle some feet in a grave, and you get to peek in an outhouse where an unrealistic and weathered ‘grandpa’ mannequin is doing his business. Then a loop around more upward ramps with open-​and-​close riddle flaps before you get to the mysterious slab that supposedly makes people shrink or grow. Neither my husband or I noticed any difference on the slab — maybe a *tiny* difference when we were standing away from it and looking at two other people, but kinda… not really. The slab is level, the ground nearby is not, so forced perspective is the culprit here.
Onward to the «vortex» — I guess they’re counting on people not noticing that they just climbed a whole bunch of upward ramps. The trick here is that the house is on a much more significant slant than you initially think. Stare at the astroturf ground in the «vortex» and your equilibrium instantly rights itself — that’s how you know. I will give them this — the room does screw with your sense of balance a LOT. We had to scoot out of there pretty quick because it was making us sick.
Exit the vortex out to a small dark corner with blacklight-​reactive plaques of familiar optical illusions (which line is longer, etc). A few hands-​on things like a ‘human kaleidoscope’ you can stick your head in, an air current tube that makes plastic balls hover, things like that. A blacklight-​responsive ore and mineral case. The bubble room was pretty awful, even though I was really looking forward to it — everything reeked of mildew and the bubble solution was obviously a homemade blend because it didn’t work for beans — all the bubbles were ‘heavy’ and either didn’t form or instantly plummeted to the ground. My husband and I both tried the hula hoop thing where you put the bubble around yourself, but it didn’t work and made our hands smell like mildew. They screwed two drawer pulls into the front of a hula hoop so the hoop’s all off-​balance as you’re trying to pull it up, plus the same mediocre bubble solution makes it more trouble than it’s worth.
I’d pay $ 4 for it, maybe, if I was offered the chance to go again. I would not pay $ 9. I guess that’s the most concise thing I can say here — the whole place needs a serious re-​do, re-​imagining and refreshing — especially in the bubble room.

Meh. I was really excited to see the vortex but was pretty disappointed. The cost of the tickets includes some cheesy illusions and such. It might be fun for some children but I think it’s probably an insult to children to say they’d enjoy it. We were only in the vortex a few minutes and didn’t get to do or see very much. I suspect (and the inclusion of the illusion room seems to support my theory) that the «vortex» is nothing more than an optical illusion since the house was built on an angle. The admission price also included two museums, which we didn’t bother with so I gave 2 stars in case those were good. The guide was kind of a weirdo and I think he was on drugs. The other workers were kind of strange also… Or maybe the vortex made them that way.

Fun for all ages. No one in our group was under 28 and we had a blast. Ticket counter folks were very sweet and helpful as I wasn’t able to show the Unilocal 20% off coupon until after the transaction was complete and they insisted they make it work.
The tour guide was not great. His presentation was mumbling «here’s some stuff». You’re not really here to listen to his tour, though. The best part of the tour is the wonky room. We could have spent all day in there with the group we were with. Adults and kids will have a blast goofing off in this room and the crazy angles you’ll stand at. Don’t be in a rush to move on as there isn’t much else.
Be sure to hit up the bubble room so you can be encased in a bubble and visit the Native American artifact museum and fossil museum.

The guide was less than enthusiastic. Over priced and I agree that it’s worn out and needs updating. Price was higher than what it should be as the whole walk through takes only 12 to 15 minutes.

Fun fun fun for the kids! Only 4 stars instead of 5 because we did think the price was a bit much for what you get. The place is small and not much to the tour, therefore your done pretty quick. They have a gift shop, old time photo, gem mine, heritage museum and cabins for a place stay. The price wouldnt be so bad if it included one of the other places mentioned above. Staff was nice though. I would recommened them.

As we were planning our trip to Banner Elk for the weekend i happened upon a Triangle Dealsaver coupon for two adults and two kids admission to Mystery Hill, and at 16 $ for the whole family it was money well spent!
The tour guide gives you some history and fables about his grandpa who is still buried there. (Look closely at his feet) Next is the platform, which is actually level, but depending on what side you are on, one is definitely taller, hard to explain but fun to try with everyone in your group. On to the main attraction, the Vortex Room. Warning if you are prone to motion sickness, you have been warned. This room is hard to explain, it seems everything is working backwards here, water flows uphill, balls roll up the walls, and swings swing in negative motion, suffice to say we spent and good bit of time in this room. (Okay, we went through twice). Upon exiting the Vortex room you arrive at another room with a few puzzles, some cool rocks complete with some Kryptonite. (Superman be ware) Cast your shadow permanetely on the wall in this room. Finally, on to the bubble room, where you can play with all things bubbles, even enclose your friend completely in a giant bubble!
All in all we had a great time at Mystery Hill, and would suggest anyone in town to stop in and visit.

We should’ve borrowed a couple of kids. Optical illusions and motion-​sickness inducing rooms would’ve been more fun with little people who aren’t professionally trained in brain teasers.

Nice fun place to bring kids (or even adults who are kids at heart!) It’s a small place but the main attraction — Mystery House — is well worth the tip! Laws of gravity seem to be out of whack and everyone seems to enjoy the craziness. This is a really cool experience (unless you have problems with dizziness!!) There are other science related activities for the kids to enjoy such as Mystery Platform, The Shadow Wall, Optical illusions, and BubbleRama. If you have very young kids, they will love this place!

It would be a blast for kids. My family went and I think I’m a little too old to really enjoy a lot of the fun zones, but if you want to come enjoy the kid in you, or if you have younger kids (maybe 13 and under) they would really like it. It’s kinda like a country-​fied Ripley’s upside down house in Orlando, FL. They have a really wacky room where it like defies gravity some how-​it started to make me dizzy after a while, but it’s pretty cool-​the rest is kinda sciency and fun for kids to do cool things with. If you have young kids-​they would love this place.