5 creepy things you never knew about North Carolina

These lesser-known facts and stories about North Carolina will make your hair stand on end. 

Learning more about the state you live in is never a bad thing. The pursuit of this knowledge allows you to open yourself up to stories you’ve never heard before, some of which may be creepier than the ones you usually engage with.

The tales I’m about to share with you definitely fall into a strange category of their own creation. Some of these are facts in the traditional sense (i.e., they’re true/actually happened), whereas others feel true to the people who experienced them.

Regardless of where these tales fall on the truth spectrum, each has a historical element and highlights a specific area of the state. Even if you don’t believe that some of these things are real, I do hope these five creepy tales about North Carolina amuse, entertain, or enlighten you. Sometimes you really don’t know what might be lurking in your backyard until you grab a flashlight (metaphorically) and head out to see what’s really causing that rustling …

1. Nothing grows on the Devil’s Tramping Ground 

In western Chatham County, approximately 10 miles from Siler City, is the Devil’s Tramping Ground. Stretching 40 feet in diameter, this path is the breeding ground for some seriously spooky theories … and not much else. As NCpedia puts it, “Normal vegetation surrounds the circle, but only a wiry grass grows inside it, and no plant life of any kind can be found on the path itself. Locals have been unsuccessful in trying to transplant the wiry grass to other soils. Visitors have attempted to anchor sticks and other obstacles in the barren area, but morning always finds these obstacles cleared away.”

Given how odd it is that nothing grows in this specific spot, local legends have cropped up over time to explain why this might be the case. The most prominent of those is a story dating back to 1882 about how Satan himself heads there every night to walk, pacing around and around while thinking about his wicked plans—hence the name the Devil’s Tramping Ground. The theory is that various obstacles are always mysteriously cleared away overnight because the Devil is cleaning up his treasured thinking spot. I also feel like I can think more clearly when my house is decluttered, so there may be something to this idea.

Other explanations exist that are slightly less sinister. Native American tribes may have created this bare circle of earth while holding ceremonial dances, or horses may have tramped down the spot with repeated circular treading while they were being used in old molasses mill operations. NCpedia thinks the most likely reason as to why nothing grows on this particular patch of land has an even simpler explanation, though. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture took samples of earth from the Devil’s Tramping Ground and found that it “proved to be sterile due to an extremely high salt content.” (I’ll use this moment to point out that salt is historically used to deter evil spirits, but do with that information what you will).

Not sure who, or what, to believe? The Devil’s Tramping Ground is located on private property, but if you feel like investigating the area yourself, you can book a possibly paranormal camping trip here.

2. There’s supposedly a siren in the French Broad River

The story of the Siren of the French Broad River dates back to 1845. This North Carolina myth has been passed down for generations, with some versions incorporating more details than others. Here’s one of the most commonly told variations: There is a beautiful, dark-haired, dark-skinned woman who appears in the dreams of male hikers traveling along the shores of the French Broad River. Once she has properly enchanted them, she steps out of their subconscious and into the real world.

She then calls to the men until they move closer and closer to the river—they move almost without thinking, as if they’re under a spell. Once the men reach the water, the siren emerges fully formed and reaches her hand out toward them. It’s only after the men close their hands around hers that they see her for what she truly is: A scaly, cold-skinned monster who pulls them into the river to their deaths.

So, where did this ghostly tale come from? According to North Carolina Ghosts, it was first recorded in the 1845 poem by William Gilmore Simms called “Tzelica, A Tradition of the French Broad.” However, Simms’s poem was further transformed by Charles Montgomery Skinner’s 1896 retelling, titled “Myths and Legends of Our Own Land.” It’s unclear as to whether people have actually dreamt about the siren, or if this is simply a case of a word-of-mouth narrative having staying power over the years.

Like the Devil’s Tramping Ground, there’s really only one way to find out whether this is a true fact, or fiction told as fact, and that’s for any man reading this to head to the French Broad River to see if a beautiful woman appears to you in a dream. It’s probably best to have someone come with you to wake you up from your reverie before she pulls you into the water, never to be seen again.

3. The mystery of the moon-eyed people 

Our next fact is one that’s more firmly rooted in historical context, so you may have read about it in a textbook before. There’s even an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to these extremely pale creatures who supposedly lived in the southern Appalachian region in the 18th century.

Local Cherokee tribes reportedly saw people with pale skin who were unable to see in the daylight. They dubbed the mysterious, nocturnal beings the “moon-eyed” people, and the name has stuck ever since. Cherokee stories state that the moon-eyed people lived in stone structures and underground caves, and many of the structures can still be found in Appalachia today.

Like the other items on this list, there’s a question of whether these people (who sound a litttttle bit like vampires to me) were real, and what happened to them if they were. The Cherokee oral history of the moon-eyed people says they were cast out by the tribe. Many historians now believe that the group may have been albino, and that the folkloric aspect of their interactions with the Cherokee may have contributed to long-held confusion about their people.

Click here to learn more about the history of the moon-eyed people.

4. The Biltmore pool is reportedly haunted

Would any list of creepy facts about North Carolina really be complete without at least one mention of something being haunted? The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is considered one of the most haunted places not just in the state, but in the US as a whole. If you want to learn more about the general history of the Biltmore Estate, including details about the man who constructed it, William Henry Vanderbilt II, click here. For our purposes, I’m going to focus on telling you about the pool at the Biltmore, specifically, since it appears to be a beacon for paranormal activity.

The indoor pool at the Biltmore Estate (pictured below) has been the source of numerous firsthand stories about supernatural occurrences. Many visitors reportedly feel a growing sense of unease when they tour the pool area, with some even claiming to hear splashing, despite the fact that the pool has been empty for years. Others have said they heard the sound of laughter coming from the drains. These experiences may have actually happened, or they may be a psychological side effect of a story that’s apparently been debunked. There was a rumor that someone had drowned in the Biltmore pool during one of the Vanderbilt family’s lavish parties, but I haven’t found anything to prove this is true.

If anything, it just shows that words have immense power, and that sometimes believing something is true is enough for your brain to conjure up ghostly sounds you may not have heard otherwise.

5. Two nuclear bombs fell in Goldsboro in 1961, but they didn’t detonate

On January 24, 1961, while traveling near Goldsboro, a Boeing B-52 that was carrying two nuclear bombs lost control, and the plane broke up in the sky, dropping both bombs in the process. Remarkably, neither nuclear weapon (which were dubbed Weapon No. 1 and Weapon No. 2) detonated.

Weapon No. 1 was more easily accessible, and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams were dispatched from the nearby Seymour Johnson Air Force Base to disarm it. Weapon No. 2 had broken apart when it hit the ground, so EOD technicians were tasked with recovering the pieces to ensure there wouldn’t be a subsequent explosion. The details of what caused the B-52 to lose control, and how these particular bombs were disarmed and disposed of, are numerous. A more in-depth account of the harrowing event can be found here.

If you’re wondering how the nuclear weapons managed to crash to the ground without causing horrific, widespread destruction, the answer is eerily simple. Physicist Dr. Ralph Lapp, who participated in the Manhattan Project, said in his book “Kill and Overkill” that “only a single switch prevented the 24 megaton bomb from detonating and spreading fire and destruction over a wide area.” The switch that Dr. Lapp is referring to is the MC-722 Arm/Safe switch, which was found to be in the “Safe” position, despite the fact that “One of the weapons … went through all of its arming steps to detonate, and when it hit the ground, a firing signal was actually sent.”

And it truly was this one tiny detail that prevented a complete catastrophe.