Center of the Universe . Acoustic anomaly in OK

[davidmash]

We were watching a video series on You Tube hosted by Charlie Sheen and this was mentioned on one of the segments.

I have not done any research on yet to see how this works to see is its a natural accident or intentional creation.

Apparently if you stand in this circle that is about 8' in diameter, you can make a sound and i will be echoed back to you several times louder and the people around you, out side the circle, will not hear it or it will be severely distorted.

Has anyone here ever been to it?

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-center-of-the-universe-tulsa-oklahoma

This site postulates that the echo might be caused by the planters that surround it.

https://www.iflscience.com/this-is-the-center-of-the-universe-a-sound-anomaly-found-in-tulsa-61313

[Idle]

When I lived in Oklahoma I had a client in the Williams Tower. This is a 52 story building in downtown Tulsa. I would park on one side of the rail yard and walk over an old bridge to get to the tower. This spot is on one of the bridges, just off to one side.

The bridges were built in the 30s over the rail yard. They are rather long and arched. Most have been closed to traffic but act as pedestrian bridges. This is how this spot was discovered.

The effect is real. And while there are those that say they can explain it the truth is no one car.

[Mxfrank]

In NY's Grand Central Terminal, there's a "Whispering Gallery". You can stand on one side of the station, and if you make so much as a whisper, you will be heard on the other side.


https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grand-central-terminal-whispering-gallery

[Idle]

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

In NY's Grand Central Terminal, there's a "Whispering Gallery". You can stand on one side of the station, and if you make so much as a whisper, you will be heard on the other side.


https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grand-central-terminal-whispering-gallery

The US capitol building has such a spot. Lawmakers quickly learn not to hold conversations there.

[Idle]

What makes the Center so weird is there is apparently no reason for it. There is a 52 story building one one side, an empty lot on the other, a rail yard underneath and a few brick buildings from the 20s and 30s scattered around.

And if you move a foot away from the spot the effect is no longer there.

[davidmash]

Originally Posted by Idle

The US capitol building has such a spot. Lawmakers quickly learn not to hold conversations there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMt7x3o9C5o&ab_channel=LaOrizont

[Air&Road]

Large, Quonset hut type hangars have a similar phenomenon. At certain points one side, you can hear a whisper from a long way as if the were standing next to you.

[Idle]

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Large, Quonset hut type hangars have a similar phenomenon. At certain points one side, you can hear a whisper from a long way as if the were standing next to you.

I can see that. If the hanger is empty of movement then it is just like a big concert hall.

I noticed this effect once back in the 60s at Navy Dallas when they had a big hanger from WW2 still close to the front gate. And it was not an echo. I did think it was strange you could hear small sounds so clearly.

And if someone dropped a wrench it was like you were in a large bell.

[cmac2012]

Atlas Obscura FTW. My niece gave me one a few years back, I don't remember seeing this in there, but then I never have read it from start to finish. I open it at random. This one might be from the new edition, I'll check.

[Air&Road]

If you’re calling the North the front, I don’t remember a big hangar at the front of NAS Dallas. I only remember an F86 on display until Clinton’s military cutback, then it disappeared. I think though, that the front to people that frequented the place may have been at the East and back from Jefferson to the South a ways. You could als po be talking about the East side of the flight line.

I only remember going on base twice. Once when I was about four or five with my uncle who was a Korean Vet and was in the National Guard. We went to a large, indoor, or at least a covered swimming pool. The other time was just after I got my draft notice and a friend who was in the Navy, drug me kicking and screaming to the Naval Recruiter. I was defiant until he asked me if I had anny interest in flying. I was all ears then. I took some tests and it looked like I was headed to flight school until the physical. In their vision test I needed glasses to see 20/20 and that was the end of that. I went another twenty years thinking I couldn’t even fly civilian, so I didn’t start flying until I was 42. Sure would have liked an earlier start.

[Idle]

The big hanger I was referring to was just before you got to the main building, on the west side of the entrance road, and just past the BX. And you are correct that the main door faced to the east. There was a door on the west the aircraft came in through but it was usually closed.

I have been in that pool many times. It was incredible. I saw a photo of it some years ago and it is a disgrace the way it has gone to seed.

A strange story... Once I was behind the main building and headed for the pool. There was a service road back there. Parked behind the dining hall was an ambulance, a Navy ambulance. This was the one that carried Kennedy to Love Field for his trip back to DC. I tried to tell the Navel guy I was with how historic thing was and he just blew it off. This would have been in the mid 60s. And I seem to recall it was a battleship gray Pontiac.

But someone did save it. Today it is on display at some museum where it shoud be.

I was not in the military but I had to spend some time on the base doing research on something. I did get to fly the C-130 simulator which I crashed on a regular basis.

I never went beyond the eastern edge of the main area. The flight line, and those hangers they built later, just south of Jefferson, were off limits to anyone who didn't need to be there.

[t walgamuth]

There is a place like that in Cincinnati at the terminal. Whole building is architecturally cool and worth a trip.