History Lesson: Thompson Park Vortex - Watertown’s Area 51?

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Watertown’s Thompson Park has a number of well-groomed, well-loved trails.

But among them, there’s allegedly an infamous vortex.

“We’re here at Area 51 at the Thompson Park Vortex,” said Jim Scordo, who’s a program manager with Watertown Parks and Recreation.

Legend has it, those who wander into the vortex transport to other areas of the park or leave feeling disoriented and confused.

“When people go around, they get discombobulated and forget they’re in there,” Scordo said. “You have no idea what time it is.”

Back in 2007, a group called the Shadow Chasers came to investigate and discovered electromagnetic fields forming a grid in the park.

“They think that has something to do with people losing track of time and getting confused,” Scordo said.

Or maybe the confusion is due to the massive layout of the park.

“A lot of the trails are similar, same trees and stuff like that,” Scordo said.

Still, many think it is a vortex and could even have something to do with Allen Dulles, the fifth and longest-serving director of Central Intelligence and, yes, brother to former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, for whom the Dulles State Office Building is named.

Both men were Watertown natives who held significant power in the ‘50s.

Because Allen Dulles was such a key leader to the CIA, Area 51 in Nevada was given the nickname the Watertown Strip.

Could this have any link to the vortex? Is it an electromagnetic grid confusing our senses? Or is it something entirely out of this world right in our local park?

That is for you to decide.

“Just make sure that when you go in, you come back out,” Scordo said.

Copyright 2023 WWNY. All rights reserved.