It is now a tourist attraction "Mystery Spot" where optical illusions occur.

No, one leg isn't shorter than the other.

Ha! — What else could happen?

I built this display case in 1978 age 23 inspired by the one that housed the three alien brain beings called The Providers in the Star Trek original series episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion" (1968). The base snapped apart in two sections for transport and storage. The smooth circular table top was constructed of plastic-coated plywood. It lifted in and out of place. The simulated rock was fashioned out of heavy brown paper coated with plastic to keep it rigid and then spray painted grey. An underlying wood framework supported everything. It was hollow inside and the whole thing was surprisingly lightweight.

The flexible clear acrylic dome measured five feet across and was ordered from an American plastics manufacturing company. I can no longer recall the company's name, but it probably was the same one used by the TV series. I do remember the company had a thick catalog with all sorts of plastic items and equipment. The domes were available in different sizes. I also purchased a small sample box of colored acrylic sheets and pieces from them that could be crafted into various visual effects (control panels, etc.).

The dome arrived in a large, wood-framed, heavy cardboard box by freight truck. The dome was perfectly clear. In the photo there are reflection distortions from the 35mm camera flash. It was rigid and you could knock on it with your knuckles but it would start to flex when you lifted it on one side. I was able to move it on my own by getting underneath and lifting carefully.

I began work after this on a full-scale replica of the time-travel ship seen in the Star Trek episode "The Alternative Factor" (1967), which the year before used the same clear dome, but I had to abandon the project when I moved to Florida in early 1981. I was able to build the base of the craft and center circular section where the chair would go before I had to stop. I also built replicas of an original-series hand phaser and communicator prior to these larger projects. The manufacturer that supplied Velcro to the TV series sent me a sample pack of wide black Velcro for my replicas. The manufacturer of the shimmering optical illusion sheeting seen in the transporter room and corridor ceilings on the original Star Trek series also sent me a folder-sized sample pack in the mid 1970s.

Mystery photo from an unintended odyssey: A wildflower blooms at an intersection in the middle of an old shell-paved road in the Florida wilderness on March 26, 2002. In the background on the right there appears to be something unusual that was not noticed at the time. It is likely an example of pareidolia: recognizing things in vague or random shapes . . . an old palm tree stump, for example. This 35mm film camera photograph has not been altered other than sharpening. Click here for high resolution .png image (4.16 MB). (Permission is granted to republish; please credit photographer: James A. Conrad.)

IMDB NOTE: If used as a still photograph displayed onscreen in an IMDb-eligible documentary, movie, TV program, or video release and you give James A. Conrad an onscreen end credit, please add the credit into the production's IMDb page using the following steps:

Option 1: Cast > Name: James A. Conrad [his current IMDb page will pop up in a list of choices] > Character: Self > Attribute: (archive photo) [include parentheses]. Examples of the (archive photo) credit: 1,   2.

Option 2, Thanks credit: Cast and Crew > Thanks > James A. Conrad > Occupation: thanks [special thanks, or other listed option] > Attribute: [leave empty].

If you elect to use the image onscreen and not give James A. Conrad an end credit, please consider adding a mention in the production's IMDb Trivia section so that the audience can identify the person in the photograph as James A. Conrad. Thank you.