MYSTERY OF THE MERCHANT BALL
in the Marion, Ohio cemetery

The mystery of the slowly rotating black sphere on this monument became more haunting when I noticed the grave site was almost perfectly obscured in shadow during the above photograph.

Coincidence?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

The Merchant Ball  sits atop the gravestone of the Charles Merchant family,  It weighs about 2 and one half tons.  The monument is centered in a semi-circle of smaller spheres marking the graves of individual family members. 

About two years after the monument was established it was noticed the ball had moved.  It was set back on its base (the unpolished spot in the small photo).  It has been allowed to move freely ever since--at a reported rate of about 2 inches per year.

Chillingly, there is no scratching damage to the sphere.

Some folks with a scientific leaning attribute the motion to the Coriolis effect; a phenomenon noticed by both Galileo and Newton with his laws of motion.

Other folks dispute that explanation because the ball appears to move erratically, not in a straight line at a right angle to the Earth's rotation.

Others have offered the motion is due to weather's freeze-thaw cycle and the resultant expansion and contraction of of the monument's parts.

Still others have posited magnetism is the cause.  Or vibration?

And, others yet, point out the phenomenon has been tested by scientists from around the world with no conclusive results.

Finally, some believe a restless spirit is responsible for the movement.

Hmmmm.