HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A historic city cemetery on Grand River Avenue in Farmington famous for its 'gravity hill,' where cars left in neutral near the west gate appear to roll uphill on their own — a widely shared optical curiosity wrapped in local ghost-lore.
34200 Grand River Ave, Farmington, MI 48335
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public city cemetery owned and operated by the City of Farmington.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved cemetery drives over gently rolling ground
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1800 · City of Farmington historic municipal cemetery · Michigan historical marker site · Well-documented Detroit-area 'gravity hill'
Oakwood Cemetery sits along Grand River Avenue in the City of Farmington, in Oakland County in the Detroit metropolitan area. It is a municipal cemetery, owned and maintained by the city, and bears a Michigan historical marker reflecting its long use as the community's burial ground.
The cemetery's wider fame, however, comes from a quirk of its terrain. Near the west gate is a sloping drive where, by long-repeated local tradition, a vehicle put into neutral will appear to roll backward up the hill rather than down it. The effect has been documented repeatedly by Michigan media — including 99WFMK, WCSX radio, and Ultimate Unexplained — and captured in widely shared online videos.
The phenomenon is a classic 'gravity hill': an optical illusion in which the surrounding landscape obscures the true slope of the road, so that a slight downhill grade reads to the eye as uphill. A 2007 investigation referenced in the lore found no evidence of any supernatural cause, and the consensus among observers is that the effect is a perceptual trick rather than a haunting. HauntBound presents Oakwood as a dark-tourism curiosity grounded in a real, harmless natural illusion rather than a documented paranormal site.
Sources
The Oakwood Cemetery legend, as documented by 99WFMK, WCSX, and Ultimate Unexplained, centers entirely on the gravity-hill effect near the west gate. The traditional version told for years held that a car put in neutral while leaving through the west gate, which sits on a hill, would be mysteriously 'pushed' up the slope and out of the cemetery. A commonly repeated refinement is that visitors should instead drive in the west gate, coast to the base of the hill, and then shift to neutral to watch the car back up the rise — a sequence many say they have repeated dozens of times with the same result.
The phenomenon is real and repeatable, which is exactly why it draws visitors. It is best understood as a gravity hill: the layout of the surrounding ground and treeline tricks the eye into misreading the true grade, so a gentle downhill reads as uphill. A group that investigated the claim in 2007 reported finding no evidence of anything supernatural, and no record of any specific tragic event tied to the effect.
HauntBound presents Oakwood Cemetery as a genuinely fun and well-documented dark-tourism stop, while being clear that the 'pushing' force is a perceptual illusion rather than a ghostly one. Visitors should keep the cemetery's primary purpose in mind and behave respectfully toward graves and other visitors.
Visit Oakwood Cemetery on Grand River Avenue in Farmington and experience its well-known 'gravity hill': enter near the west gate, stop at the base of the slope, shift into neutral, and watch the car appear to roll backward uphill. A widely documented Detroit-area curiosity. Treat the cemetery and its graves with respect.
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