We have observed two novel manifestations of the Weissenberg effect in viscoelastic liquids which are set into motion by the rotation of a circular rod. In the first experiment we floated a layer of STP on water. The STP climbs up the rod into the air and down the rod into the water. The ‘down-climb’ is much larger than the ‘up-climb’, their ratio being roughly the square root of the density difference (STP-air)/ (water–STP). The magnification of the down-climb may be regarded as normal-stress amplification. [dagger] The magnitudes of the up- and down-climbs are simultaneously in good agreement with the predictions of a theory of rod climbing when the angular frequency of the rod is small. In the second experiment, we set the rod into torsional oscillations. When the amplitude of the oscillation is small, the fluid climbs the rod; the climb is divided into an axisymmetric steady mean part and an oscillating part (Joseph 1976b; Beavers 1976). The mean axisymmetric climb dominates the total climb at low frequencies. At a higher critical speed the axisymmetric climbing bubble loses its stability to another time-periodic motion with the same period but with a ‘flower’ pattern displaying a certain integral number of petals.