By Vurdlak on February 18, 2011, with 125 Comments
Let me tell you one thing – when you receive exactly the same email from dozen of multiple sources, it means there’s definitely something going on. Luckily nothing bad happened, and it was just another video illusion submission. One I couldn’t ignore, unfortunately. If it wasn’t so complicated extracting those clips, and then optimizing them for articles, they would definitely be my favorite part of this site.
So what’s going on here? One thing about Dutch artist M.C. Escher was his ability to twist our brains with his optical illusions. The “Waterfall”, which was created back in 1961 is an impossible drawing showing what appears to be water running uphill before descending back onto a watermill wheel. You can see how the original looks on paper here. But what if we caught a glimpse of it created in real life? Has McWolles really achieved the impossible? Check the video below to see the physical version of Escher’s Waterfall. It is as if McWolles made one that actually works. Being honest, I just can’t understand where is the catch. Does it have something to do with camera’s angle (it never changes during the video), can it be that CGI was used? It almost gives you brain whiplash just thinking about it!
(154 votes)
there acctualy is a place in NC that water will run up hill. every thing about the place is strange, its called mystery hill, as well as balls rolling up hill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7UAyUUL-Fg&feature=related thats a link to a youtube video with it going up hill. no BS.
The “Mystery Hill” videos continue to confuse me. I mean, yes it’s a convincing illusion and I respect that, but why do people always act so surprised when stuff falls ‘uphill?’ You’d think most people would immediately jump to the conclusion that they’re not actually standing upright. I don’t know about you, but I notice when my feet are at different heights.
nah – ive been there and you dont notice your feet are that off… to this day i dont get it…
in the last shot on youtube the ball goes from shoulder high to over 10 feet up… if it was just the viewer at an angle… theyd be at such an angle they would fall – has to be magnets… but they obviously deny it
Actually the “mystery hill” illusion is easily explained. What appears to be uphill is actually slightly downhill. It appears to be uphill because of the angle that we see it, and our brain mistaking it, compared to the rest of the environment.
EVERYBODY, I found a way you can realize its fake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=W5HVXArRjUM
This actually explains it really well
I think I have got it. Look where he pours the water into. It is obviously built up much higher then the rest of the structure The ramps are built on a slight decline as when the water flow coming in is a fast flow.When it reaches the last ramp it has gained enough speed but to flow slows as it runs slightly up hill to give the illusion that the water is dropping from a higher point but it’s not that high. The camera shot is shooting down making it look the way it appears. He also gives it away walking in front and away. Look again and you will see it too!
That is kinda easy. We agree with Pamela. I thought he would pour it on the “top” and it would go “down”, but instead he pured it on the “bottom” and it went to the “top.”
COOLIO!
It’s really cool. But I think that the guy who made it said on Youtube that it was fake. He did it by capturing 3 scenes and Merging them together.
too fun!!! i can spot a couple of tiny flaws in the lineup, but for the most part it gives the appearance of water running uphill–isn’t there a physics problem with that? lol
how did you make it
Here are explenations by the guy who actually bulit the thing: http://www.youtube.com/user/mcwolles
There’s a clue in the shadows. When he walks past it, his shadow goes past the 2 towers in the reverse order. When he walks from right to left, the left pillar gets shadowed first, for instance.
Why didnt he just dump the big buckets instead of the small blue bucket?
I get the bit were the water goes up but I don’t get the bit were the weal turns???
how did you make that? how did you make that? how did you make that, how id you make that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=6TJtJEevqQY
you all no that he could have played the video backwards?…
I think its flat thats why it moves but its in a angle where you can’t see its flat
If you have a good ear, you may have noticed that the sound of the water hitting the floor sounds more like concrete than wood. One of the pillars may very well camouflage a tube that gives a secondary water source. It is a good piece of art, I admit, because so many people come up with so many different hypothesis. See if you can use this same concept with a solid item, such as marbles, or bebes. The liquid water is too hard to track.
yes, well i guess your right about that but if you look closer you can see the the floor is not leveled correctly, see.
If you look at the explanation given my the CREATOR of the video (not some random web comment), he basically took two video clips and merged and editted them to make it look like the illusion…
i.e. It isn’t some funky structure that takes advantage of a 2D projection on the video… he cheated and used software to make it work…
watch the shadows. the middle section is at a different height then the other two. when he walks by there’s no shadow on the middle section, also the top of the left tower is bent
It is the cameta angle!!!!
WHAT!!?!?!?!?!?!?!
it is the cams angle the thing is lying flat on the ground (the wooden thing) and the cams tilted its obvious with some thought!!!!!
no i cant be flat it has a shadow on the wall
its all allong the floor
The structure is actually above ground and the angle of the camera is focused so that it seems like the structure is flowing upwards. There is proof of this by looking at the water reflection where you notice that you can actually see the bottom of the structure
Escher’s Waterfall Brought to Life | Mighty Optical Illusions, seemed to be a terrific post title to
give this article. Exactly where can I actually learn more pertaining to this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6TJtJEevqQY&feature=fvwp
Maybe this is what it is
HEY in this world you obey the laws of thermodynamics
Here is how its done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6OeQtnultc
magnets are the reason why the water went up.
also an infinite way of making electric