Devil's Tramping Ground (Bear Creek, NC)

If you've lived in North Carolina for any considerable period of time, chances are you've heard of the Devil's Tramping Ground. It's a barren piece of land deep in the woods where nothing can grow, where no man can spend the night without losing his sanity, where an object put inside the circle before sundown will be outside the circle by sunrise, and where the Devil himself stomps around at night. Scary, scary stuff.

So this past weekend, I loaded the kids in the car and we headed out to investigate this mystery and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Devil (this is why Carowinds should be open year-round). Here, my friends, is what we found:

Not really that scary, is it? It's a mostly-barren piece of land, but it's hardly deep in the woods. I mean, you can see my car in the picture!

What we did find were matches, candy wrappers, and broken beer bottles, but no sign of the Devil unless he happens to be a beer-guzzling junk-food-munching pyromaniac. But I guess it's all about perspective. What sounds tame in the daylight might sound terrifying when told by the campfire. A picture taken on a sunny day can look a little bit scary once some effects are added:

Admit it. You're half expecting to see that snot-faced girl from The Blair Witch Project pop up right about now.

All joking aside, when I first came upon the Devil's Tramping Ground, I snapped a few pics and then thought, "Surely, this can't be the right place." So I followed one of the two trails that led from the circle and after walking for a few minutes, came upon this:

It has to be a devil rock, right? While you can't tell by the picture, that rock is about the same size as my hand. So I did what anyone visiting a reportedly supernatural site would do when finding a possible devil rock.

I took it home with me.

Now if I start experiencing a string of Brady Bunch tiki doll catastrophes over the next few days, I'll return to give Satan back his stone. But more than likely, this has been my first and only visit to the Devil's Tramping Ground.