Local news
Compasses "go haywire" in northern woods, say hikers
Walkers in the woodland north of ████████ say their compasses have been behaving strangely, with needles spinning or pointing the wrong way for minutes at a time.
Reports have been trickling in for more than a year, mostly from hikers using the old logging road. Most describe the effect as harmless, if a little unsettling.
One regular walker, ████ ████████, aged ██, said: "I've walked those woods since I was a boy and I've never needed a compass. But I took one with me last month out of curiosity, and it just spun. Round and round. It settled down once I got back to the car."
A second hiker, ███████ ██████, aged ██, described a similar experience further into the woods. "The needle wouldn't sit still. There was a low sort of hum as well, like a fridge left running somewhere. My friend said it was power lines, but there aren't any out there."
A geography teacher at a local school said magnetic rocks or buried scrap metal could easily throw a compass off, and that the hum was "most likely wind in the trees".
Walkers are reminded to stick to marked paths, carry a map and let someone know their route before setting out.