ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO - (RUTTERS) Roswell is a city in Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, due south, is the little town of Winfrey. This small piece of worthless dryland is home to a very unusual phenomena. Winfrey Canyon, posses strange acoustics which silences and delays its own returning echo. Drs. Maxine Yahootie & Britney Lohan, research scientists from the Dick Cheney Institute of odd ball stuff, have been studying this for seven years.
I followed both researchers up into the valley. Half way up one of our hosteses, Britney Lohan, tires out from the climb and has to go to the little girls room, leaving Maxine & I to complete the climb. The view from up here shows off the mid-morning desert color. Maxine points between the steep walls of the canyon. "Go ahead and say something LOUD!', She says. I take a deep breath and yell out , "Hello?!" I eagerly wait for the returning echo, instead I get silence.
Maxine gives out a giggle, sounding like a small girl with a secret. Maxine continues, "now listen to this!, And begins to holler, "Animals, Big Brother, Britney Spears, Christmas, Dick Cheney, Drugs, Food, Football, George W. Bush, Hollywood, Iraq, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Music, Paris Hilton, Religious, Saddam Hussein, Science, Sex, Space, TV, Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Super Bowl, NFL, IRS and Oprah!" Seconds pass.
Then we hear the hills give up there echoes. We hear, "Animals, Big Brother, Britney Spears, Christmas, Dick Cheney, Drugs, Food, Football, George W. Bush, Hollywood, Iraq, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Music, Paris Hilton, Religious, Saddam Hussein, Science, Sex, Space, TV, Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Super Bowl, NFL, IRS and Oprah!", and then, again, "Animals, Big Brother, Britney Spears, Christmas, Dick Cheney, Drugs, Food, Football, George W. Bush, Hollywood, Iraq, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Music, Paris Hilton, Religious, Saddam Hussein, Science, Sex, Space, TV, Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Super Bowl, NFL, IRS and Oprah!"
"That is amazing. The echo did not start for at least 20 sec...", I was interrupted by the echo once more. "Animals, Big Brother, Britney Spears, Christmas, Dick Cheney, Drugs, Food, Football, George W. Bush, Hollywood, Iraq, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Music, Paris Hilton, Religious, Saddam Hussein, Science, Sex, Space, TV, Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Super Bowl, NFL, IRS and Oprah!"
I turn to Dr.Yahootie for an answer to this remarkable trick of nature. "Well...it beats the hell out of me!" Dr. Lohan returned and joined us at the plateau. I had to tell them that they had discovered something that flies against all understanding in acoustical reverberation & sound technology.
I stepped out closer to the edge of the cliff and began to scream once more, "Animals, Big Brother, Britney Spears, Christmas, Dick Cheney, Drugs, Food, Football, George W. Bush, Hollywood, Iraq, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Music, Paris Hilton, Religious, Saddam Hussein, Science, Sex, Space, TV, Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Super Bowl, NFL, IRS and Oprah!" No response. No sound
Dr. Britney, scratching her neck & clearing her throat, states for the record, "Some days are better than others".
Apparently so...Apparently so.
