Originally Posted by
Devilwin
Took a trip yesterday with my brother to Bear Creek, a farming community about ten miles south of Siler City. Bear Creek is home to one of NC's biggest legends, that of the Devil's Tramping Ground, a bare circular patch of ground where Satan is supposed to walk in circles plotting against us.
After finishing Mike's business he had down there, we decided to run by the place and check it out. We both had delivered in the area for Fedex in the past, and had taken lunch there from time to time. If you aren't familiar with the legend, nothing grows in the circle (not so) objects left inside the circle are gone the next day, (maybe Satan likes Coors and Slim Jims) and animals won't go near it. People that spend the night there are driven mad...
We arrived, and walked the fifty feet or so into the woods to the circle. We found it looking pretty much like it was when we were there last.
The only thing that grows there is a species of wire grass, a type I have noticed growing in narrow lines near salt licks in the mountains.
Still, this grass is sparse inside the circle. Of course, party people leave their trash and this time there was a goat skull, resplendent with arching horns.
We decided to pick up the aforementioned snack wrappers and beer cans as Mike had a few trash bags in his vehicle. Altogether there were around forty cans. We placed the skull on a nearby stump just outside the circle.
As we were finishing this chore, the wind suddenly picked up, and a good sized limb broke off of a nearby tree, and landed about ten feet from where we were standing, just inside the circle. I know this sounds like a ghost story, but every word is true!
On why not much grows in the circle, maybe it is a salt lick, and the wire grass is the only thing that can grow there. So, being the inquisitive creature I am, decided to see if there were animal tracks leading to the circle. And, if they would go into it.
The ground being muddy from the recent rains, it did not take long to find deer tracks. Two trails were plainly visible. One, a doe, had come straight down the path then did a hard right just outside the circle. A buck had come from the south, and turned left, also avoiding the circle. Mike found a set of canine tracks, (dog or coyote) that had come in from the north, stopped about ten feet outside the circle, then turned east toward the road, also avoiding the circle.
We found no tracks (including human) inside the circle.
There have been many theories about the place, but nothing concrete has been put forward yet. The salt lick theory does not hunt, because if it were a salt lick, deer tracks would be everywhere..Just weird. Although neither of us are superstitious, the hair on our necks was standing as we trekked out of there..
We left and and took a drive by Frances Bavier's old home, and visited her grave site while we were there. She was Aunt Bea on the Andy Griffith show. We had delivered to her home there many times.
Nice trip with my brother, you ought to go check it out if you are in the area..