Gravity Falls Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Gravity Falls Wiki
Mystery Tour 2013 Oregon Vortex

Hirsch and crew at the Oregon Vortex.

Mystery Tour 2013 was a four-day road trip in early March 2013, led by Alex Hirsch and the Gravity Falls crew to find "the weirdest tourist traps in Oregon and Northern California." Fans were prompted to find drawings of Bill Cipher left on these spots.[1]

Overview[]

With Gravity Falls having been renewed for a second season and series art director Ian Worrel about to have a baby, him and Alex Hirsch decided that they should go on a fun little trip before their lives as they put it, "basically going to be over soon." Together with 12 members of the show's art team, they rented a van and traveled up US Route 101. Over the course of 4 days, they visited various tourist traps, stayed at weird hotels, eating at "Twin Peaks" style diners, taking photos for references in season 2 and basically goofing off as much as possible![2]

Among the places visited included the House of Mystery at the Oregon Vortex (southern Oregon) and Confusion Hill in Piercy, California, which both were inspirations for the Mystery Shack, a Masonic Temple,[3] the Trees of Mystery's Paul Bunyan statue in Klamath, CA, along Route 101, the World Famous Grandfather Tree (Piercy, California), It's a Burl (Kerbyville, Oregon), the Mystery Spot (Santa Cruz, California), and One Log House. The crew stayed at the Benbow Historic Inn for one night while on the tour.[4][5]

The Bill Cipher Drawings[]

Mystery Road

The route of the Mystery Tour 2013.

Hirsch and company left behind several drawings of Bill Cipher in various spots, such as telephone poles, signs and trash cans, and released photos of them over Twitter for fans to find. The fans who took a picture of themselves in the same spots received Mystery Prizes.[6]

As of April 16, 2016, all of the drawings have been found. They are/were located somewhere along the road the Gravity Falls crew took.[7]

Locations[]

# Clue Winner and evidence Prize
1 Pyramid 1 @egoboystudios[8][9] Pyramid 1 Prize
A drawing of egoboystudios with Dipper and Mabel, by Matt Braly.
Pyramid 1 WINNER
2 Pyramid 2 @kimallyn[10] Alex Hirsch and Jason Ritter called the winner on the phone.[11]
Pyramid 2 WINNER
3 Pyramid 3 @wtfanonpencil[12] No prize given, as the location was found in early 2016 after the Bill drawing was no longer there.[note 1]
Bill Proof Collage
4 Pyramid 4 @rhaeme[13] No prize has been given yet.[14]
Pyramid 4 WINNER
5 Pyramid 5 @JoeyMSouza[15][16] Pyramid 5 Prize
A drawing by Alex Hirsch of him and Joey Souza riding on a "Mershaq's" back while holding hands.
Pyramid 5 WINNER
6 Pyramid 6 @thedeetster[17][18] No prize given, as the location was found in 2016, after the drawing had faded due to weather.
Deetster
7 Pyramid 7 linneac (September 2013)[19]
@Gag_Reel_Show (March 2016)[20][21]
No prize given, as the drawing was first found in September 2013, after the hunt was over with. It was later found by another fan in March 2016, completely independently. Neither party had prior knowledge of the hunt, so they never contacted Hirsch about receiving a prize.
Tumblr mt524i3ulX1rn5p3xo1 640|Gagreelshow
8 Pyramid 8 @pianoplayer1537[22] Not known
Pyramid 8 WINNER
9 Pyramid 9 @wtfanonpencil [23] No prize given, as the location was found in 2016.[note 1]
20160416 175047
10 Pyramid 10 None No prize given, because it was eaten.
Not available because it was eaten.[24]

Trivia[]

  • Mystery Tour 2013 group photo

    The instant photo that Alex Hirsch and the crew left at the Oregon Vortex.

    The crew left an instant camera photo at the Oregon Vortex.[25]
  • Jeffrey Rowe made a series of 11 GIFs of the crew and locations that were visited while on Mystery Tour that are still up on his Tumblr page.[26][27]
  • More images were taken by crew members Josh and Justin Parpan, Erik Fountain and Sean Jimenez.[28][29]
  • A visit to the locations of the Bills 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were done by Gravity Falls News during the summer of 2014.
  • Bill Cipher 3, 6, and 9 were not found in 2013. They were located in March and April 2016.
  • Bill no. 3 and no. 9 were found by Twitter user wtfanonpencil by happenstance while on a roadtrip.[23]
  • The group which found Bill no. 6 cataloged the trip on a Tumblr blog called thehuntforbillcipher-blog.
  • As it turns out, Bill drawing no. 7, which was thought to have been also refound in 2016 by thehuntforbillcipher team, was actually found in September 2013 by a fan named linneac.[30] However, unaware of the trip or the fact Alex Hirsch himself drew the drawing, they never contacted him about it.[31]
  • Tumblr o3lqo0m4DG1vns1aeo3 1280

    A Dipper hat that Alex Hirsch and the crew left at Confusion Hill.

    As linneac found Bill no. 7 three years before thehuntforbillcipher team did, they technically were the first and therefore are owed the Mystery Prize for it from Alex while thehuntforbillcipher team still retains the prize for number 6 as they discovered it on the same trip in 2016.
  • Alongside finding the Bills, thehuntforbillcipher team also learned that Alex and the crew had left a Dipper hat at Confusion Hill while on the trip.[32]
  • The currently known status of the drawings is as follows:
    • A visit to the locations of several of the Bills in 2014 by Gravity Falls News revealed that Bill 1 was still on the trash can. Its current fate is unknown.[33]
    • As of 2023, Bill no. 2 was no longer there on the trash can it was drawn on, with a redrawing of him in black marker now remaining.[34]
    • As of 2016, Bill no. 3 was no longer there, as the area it was located in has been renovated since.[35]
    • The 2014 visit by Gravity Falls News revealed that Bill no. 4 had already been removed, making it likely the first Bill lost.[33][36]
    • Bill no. 5's current fate remains unknown.
    • Bill no. 6 was found by Gravity Falls News to still be there in 2014. By the time thehuntforbillcipher found him in 2016, he had greatly deteriorated. His current fate is unknown.[33][18]
    • Bill no. 7 was found to be intact still as of 2014 by Gravity Falls News and still there when American Ride filmed there in 2015. However, he was virtually gone when thehuntforbillcipher team found him in 2016. All traces of that Bill are likely gone now.[36][21]
    • Bill no. 8 was found by Gravity Falls News to still be there in 2014. It's current fate remains unknown however.[36]
    • Bill no. 9 was found by Gravity Falls News to still be there in 2014 as well and again there in 2016 when wtfanonpencil found it. However he likely is no longer around now given the pole it was located on was repainted in 2020.[23] [36][37]
  • As of 2023, the fates of Bill 1, 5, 6, and 8 remain unknown, but given the Bills found in 2016 were in poor condition or gone and no. 2 was no longer there when revisited, it is likely many of them are no longer around either as many were on temporary and movable objects like signs or bins, or in public places that have since been cleaned up, renovated or graffitied over. [38]
  • Despite promising to give prizes to every person who found each Bill drawing first, Alex Hirsch only ever gave out three prizes for the nine possible prizes that could have been claimed.
  • The person who found drawing no. 4 has yet to receive one and drawing no. 8's prize status remains unknown, due to the person finding it no longer being online. Though, as Alex never followed up with a prize tweet for them, it is likely they never got one or did privately. Given the final four were found three years after the trip, it can't be determined whether Alex Hirsch is aware of this or not.
  • The Bill drawing left by Alex and the crew at the Trees of Mystery appeared in the BYUtv series American Ride. In episode 7 of season 8, the host Stan Ellsworth visits Redwood National Park. As he leans on a guardrail, the drawing is visible on the railing.

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Note from wtfanonpencil: This trip was taken in early 2016 before Bill was found. We came within 30 miles of Bill and had none of the books.

External links[]

Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for Mystery Tour 2013.
Click here to view this page's gallery.

References[]

  1. Hirsch, Alex (March 14, 2013). Tweet number 312241513025380352. “MYSTERY TOUR 2013! My 4-day crew road trip to find the weirdest tourist traps in Oregon officially starts... NOW!”
  2. https://mediamikes.com/2013/04/alex-hirsch-talks-about-recent-trip-to-get-inspiration-for-disneys-gravity-falls/
  3. Hirsch, Alex (March 15, 2013). Tweet number 312740815678107648. “#6”
  4. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Benbow+Historic+Inn/@40.0681696,-123.7898463,423m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!3m7!1s0x54d4eb02dec26ae3:0xe211e13acb5cd9ca!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d40.0675152!4d-123.789982
  5. https://jeffrowegifs.tumblr.com/post/46492231971/parpan-brothers-benbow-inn-gravity-falls
  6. Hirsch, Alex (March 14, 2013). Tweet number 312270020661104640. “@_AlexHirsch First person to find one of these guys in real life and photograph themselves with it gets a mystery prize!”
  7. Hirsch, Alex (March 18, 2013). Tweet number 313712496475267072. “Somewhere along this road, Pyramids 3,6,7,8 & 9 still haven't been found! Photo one, win a Mystery Prize!”
  8. Hirsch, Alex (March 15, 2013). Tweet number 312668336842493952. ““@egoboystudios: Found it! ” Congrats to DAMIEN for finding the FIRST secret pyramid! Expect your Mystery Prize soon!”
  9. {Hirsch, Alex (March 15, 2013). Tweet number 312694974032519169. “@egoboystudios: Mystery Prize #1- A drawing of you as a GF character by amazing show designer Matt Braly! Well done!”
  10. Hirsch, Alex (March 15, 2013). Tweet number 312669841855246336. ““@kimallyn: I FOUND THE SECOND ONE! ” Congrats KIMBERLEE! Your Mystery Prize is coming! Everyone else- keep searching!”
  11. Hirsch, Alex (March 16, 2013). Tweet number 313046628649033729. ““@kimallyn: AHHHHHHH @JasonRitter AND @_AlexHirsch JUST CALLED ME!!!!!! ” Congrats Kimberlee on your Mystery Prize for finding Pyramid #2!”
  12. https://twitter.com/wtfanonpencil/status/721031186030538752
  13. Hirsch, Alex (March 18, 2013). Tweet number 313726249153486848. ““@ampereHope: hey i found something! https://rhaeme.tumblr.com/post/45448060377/so-alex-hirsch-tweeted-something-about-redding-and” Congrats! You'll get your Mystery Prize soon!”
  14. https://twitter.com/rhaeme/status/760592850757181440
  15. Hirsch, Alex (March 15, 2013). Tweet number 312740378975539200. ““@JoeyMSouza: Saw #5...also saw some squirrels fighting. ” Yes! You beautiful people have a Mystery Prize coming!!”
  16. Hirsch, Alex (April 9, 2013). Tweet number 321850388477263872. “@JoeyMSouza You win this round Sousa!”
  17. https://twitter.com/thedeetster/status/706316250733944833
  18. 18.0 18.1 https://thehuntforbillcipher-blog.tumblr.com/post/140549464035/stop-3-was-almost-not-really-a-stop-at-all
  19. https://linneac.tumblr.com/post/61248805874/i-was-up-at-the-trees-of-mystery-in-northern
  20. https://twitter.com/Gag_Reel_Show/status/706313355577851904
  21. 21.0 21.1 https://thehuntforbillcipher-blog.tumblr.com/post/140548341750/we-thought-there-was-a-possibility-of-the-statue
  22. Hirsch, Alex (April 9, 2013). Tweet number 321851222237790208. ““@pianoplayer1537: I found another... pic.twitter.com/6t4K9AaZI9” Amazing detective work! Your Mystery Prize: I will draw whatever you desire!”
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 https://twitter.com/wtfanonpencil/status/721741432311013376
  24. Hirsch, Alex (March 17, 2013). Tweet number 313422462446624768. “#10 will never be found (because it's in our stomachs)”
  25. https://thehuntforbillcipher-blog.tumblr.com/post/140615895860/asking-the-staff-about-the-statue-did-provide-some
  26. jeffrowegifs.tumblr.com
  27. https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/jeffrowegifs/45739646245
  28. https://www.parpancreative.com/new-project
  29. https://imgur.com/gallery/5SBGg6g
  30. https://linneac.tumblr.com/post/61248805874/i-was-up-at-the-trees-of-mystery-in-northern
  31. https://twitter.com/forever_gf618/status/1523087710818340864
  32. https://thehuntforbillcipher-blog.tumblr.com/post/140546934865/as-for-the-actual-gravity-falls-connections-there
  33. 33.0 33.1 33.2 https://twitter.com/NewsGF/status/500851015227174912
  34. https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/15oxlmj/remnants_of_a_past_era/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
  35. https://twitter.com/ThePartyLincoln/status/721049548064296960
  36. 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 https://twitter.com/NewsGF/status/500852065308909569?s=20
  37. https://twitter.com/forever_gf618/status/1446913868492689417
  38. https://youtu.be/_lMDP7azRMw
Advertisement