Known today as Ringing Rocks Park, the rock field occupies 7 acres of an otherwise wooded area, and is over 10 feet deep with boulders.

Only about a third of the rocks ring, and for a long time why the rocks rang at all was unclear. However, in 1965 a group of scientists crushed, broke, and sliced the rocks. After performing numerous tests, they found that while all the rocks do in fact ring, they often do so at tones lower than the human ear can perceive. Interactions between these low tones create any audible sounds. However, the exact mechanism by which they ring still remains elusive, and it may have to with the freeze-thaw cycle that helped created the boulder field in the first place.

Though many are tempted to illegally pocket a ringing rock for later use, it is futile, as the rocks lose their musical ability once taken away from the other stones.

I don’t know what’s weirder. That a rock field had rocks that make tonal music? That we don’t really know why? Or that they only make noise when they’re together?