One of the coolest, most intriguing places I’ve ever visited is the Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In this video you’ll see and hear that some of the rocks–but not all of them–emit musical notes when struck with a hammer. While I was there, another visitor worked out how to play “Happy Birthday” on the rocks.
There are not many of these sites. Ringing rocks are always found in boulder fields. If you break off a piece of one, it won’t ring anymore. There are all sorts of theories to account for this, but the long and short of it is, we don’t know why they ring. Why don’t they all sound the same? We don’t know that, either.
Secrets of nature–never let it be said that God is not a wildly inventive Creator.
I like to trot these out now and then–the “ringing rocks.”
Jambo, everybody, Mr. Nature here. I’ve visited this boulder field in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Probably left behind by the melting of the Ice Age glacier, these rocks yield musical notes when struck with a hammer. No one knows for sure why they do that; and worldwide, there are only a very few places where this happens.
Somewhere there must be someone who has learned how to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or “Happy Birthday” on the ringing rocks.
God’s stuff–He’s left us so many things to think about!
If still haven’t decided which is cooler, ringing rocks or lake guns. Both make inexplicable noises.
Both are easily observable in nature, and both puzzle the dickens out of those who observe them. Lake guns go boom, and no one knows why. Every theory they came up with has a hole in it. Meanwhile, all over the world, for longer than history, the lake guns continue to go boom…
A lot of you weren’t here in 2013 when I posted “The Mystery of the Ringing Rocks,” and now seems as good a time as any to revisit. Besides, by now I’ve learned how to post a video to go along with it, so you can hear the rocks ring.
Yes, they ring: when tapped with a hammer, some of the rocks in the boulder field produce a musical tone. But not all of them! Which is hard to understand. And if you put in the time, you could probably find a way to play a tune on the rocks. “Happy Birthday,” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It’s been done by others.
What makes them ring? After studying them for going on 200 years, nobody knows.
Ringing rocks are found, as far as we know, in only seven places, world-wide: in England, Scotland, Australia, Mexico, Montana, and at two sites in Pennsylvania. Why are they so rare? No one knows. I’ve visited Ringing Rocks Park in Upper Black Eddy, PA, and heard the rocks ring. Back then you were allowed to climb around the boulder field and play with the rocks; I don’t know if you still can.
Just as puzzling as the rarity of this phenomenon, if you break a rock into two or more pieces, the pieces won’t ring anymore. It’s as if something spilled out and was lost. Even more puzzling, if you remove ringing rocks from one of the two boulder fields in Pennsylvania, they won’t ring anymore! Well, they will, sort of–but the sound is too low-frequency to be detected by the human ear. But if you remove a ringing rock from the other field, only a few miles away from the first one, it will still ring.
Something Biblical about it all, isn’t there?
Meanwhile, if you think you’ve got God’s creation all figured out, the ringing rocks should make you reconsider your position. And this is Mr. Nature, signing off for now.
Hi, Mr. Nature here, tackling this report because Mr. Folklore took the noon balloon.
The “Blowing Stone” of Kingston Lisle, Oxfordshire, England, is a rather large boulder with holes in it. One of the holes goes all the way through. And if you blow on it, as on a trumpet, the resulting call can be heard for miles around.
The hole through the stone is apparently due to natural causes. I don’t know how anyone would have ever thought, “I wonder what would happen if I blew on this.” Maybe a freak twist of the wind made it sound, and someone was there to observe it. There’s a legend that whoever blew on the stone so that it could be heard from a famous hilltop, some miles away, would be the next king of England. There’s also a legend that says King Alfred blew on the stone to summon his warriors to fight the invading Danes.
It’s near the White Horse of Uffington, but really, Mr. Folklore will have to field that one, it’s way beyond Mr. Nature’s scope.
Today the Blowing Stone rests beside the Blowing Stone Inn. It was brought there from another location sometime in the 18th century, and first appeared on a map in 1761.
We often talk about the music made by nature, with God as its conductor; but this is the first I’ve heard of a natural musical instrument.
Unless you want to count the “ringing rocks.” But that’s another story.