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Devil's Tramping Grounds : Haunted NC

by Liv | Published on July 23rd, 2006, 4:41 pm | Greensboro
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Lydia's Bridge, a real-life ghost story in Greensboro. At the time I must confess I had alot of fun going out and exploring, bringing back images to the Internet that had never really been posted before. It's these stories, you'll find from time to time on the news or in newspapers, but then are lost and forgotten, only to be renewed by when urban legend leads some reporter back to regurgitate past stories.

But it got me thinking. There must be other scary tales of ghosts, and urban legends in North Carolina. Sure the Internet has some good information, but for the most part, what little is posted, is pre-digital camera age, and lack the ability to really describe the story. So here it is my adventure to the Devil's Tramping Grounds:


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So here I am, cruising down US-421 South at 70MPH in search of the Devil's Tramping Grounds. What is the Devil's Tramping Grounds you might ask? Good question.

Legend says that this is the very place the devil himself can rise from the depths of fiery hell, and come to earth. It's at this place, the devil walks in circles on certain nights and brings his evil into this world.


In other-words it's the Devil's thinking circle.

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Weather looked good when we left the Guilford County line and sped our way down through Randolph County, then finally Chatham County. As we grew closer, the sky grew dark, and we knew we were closing in on the Devil's Tramping Grounds.

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Since I was given the GPS coordinates for the Devils Tramping Grounds, but didn't have a hand-held GPS device, a little bit of searching was needed to find it once we got to the general area. Thinking it was possible to reach it by vehicle, I tried several roads which would have certainly looked right at home in the middle of an X-files episode.

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Once we were on the outskirts of the woods surrounding the Devils Tramping Grounds, we started to discover signs of Satanic torture and devil worshiping, as you can see by these bones. While the picture didn't come out to well, I do have the bones in the back of my car. Can someone give me an Ebay? (What does Satanic Alien bones go for now-a-days?)

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Weather began to decline very quickly, and most of the woods began swelling around where I knew I would have to hike down a path to get to it. We're not talking a normal amount of rain, we're talking buckets. With the car possibly sinking in the mud, and No-Trespassing signs posted on all the trees, things didn't look so good.
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Through the following woods is the Devil's Tramping grounds, and only a short walk from the car. But it's dumping water on us and my son Chance is refusing to jump out of the car and be swept away from the rising waters. This is after all, Siler City not Los Angeles and I don't think they have a swift-water-rescue team. Not that anyone would even notice us out here in the middle of creepy redneck land.

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The Devil's Tramping Ground - It is a patch of land in a perfect circle- 40 feet across, the perimeter of which is a path about a foot wide. It's said that the devil himself walks that path every night pacing as he spins his evil deeds, no one has ever been able to spend the night there, and nothing will grow on the path, it is said that anything placed in the circle will disappear by the next morning.

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At some point, my better judgement got the best of me, and my four-year old was begging for a Happy Meal. With no sign of the rain letting up, we headed back towards God country. I promise to return, better equipped to explore the Devil's stomping grounds. If I would have gotten there I would have seen this:

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This picture is one of several available online. This particular one came from here.

I have some curiosities as to if the Devil's tromping grounds even exist any-longer. While it did appear there was a vast area open in the middle of the woods, it did appear a large scale construction project was afoot, and may be building upon the Devil's Tromping Grounds. Can someone say "Full Disclosure" when buying a home there? Needless to say if your adamant about exploring the Devil's Tromping Ground's the GPS co-ordinates are:

Code: Select all
+35° 35' 3.54", -79° 29' 13.26" (35.584317, -79.487017) @35.584317,-79.487017


Or for the human based directions:

The Devil's Tramping Ground is approximately 50 miles south of Greensboro. It is not easy to find and be prepared for mild hiking, rural driving, and super-natural phenomenon.

Take 421 South Approximately 38 miles.
Turn Right onto State Route 902 Follow For about 7 Miles.
Turn Left of Devil's Tromping Grounds Rd. (Not Marked) Follow for 1.7 miles.

You should see a gravel pull off on the left. The Devil's Tramping Ground is about 150 feet down the dirt path.


 
Fascinating and intriguing piece.
Bob Boyd
 
I have vague memories of going there years ago. It's quit underwhelming. ;)
User avatar
Sanjuro
Expert...on everything...
 
I'm from the Siler City area, and about 3 years ago, I went with some friends to check it out. Nothing happened, althought we only stayed about an hour and a half.

It's pretty stupid, come to think of it, and nothing really happens, so it's not worth while.

Mainly I think young people go there to get smashed, and perhaps that's why there are stories to begin with. It's really nothing spectacular...
mirettesvertes07
 
Oh, I saw your Devil's Tramping Ground blog but could not find it on your home page. You did not find the DTG but you did find the site of a new and apparently very large development that is going in just down the road. In fact, the road is now called "Devil's Tramping Ground Road." If you go to Siler City on 421, just follow the local signs to the airport (these are the little green signs with an airplane on them) and keep going past the airport on Airport Road. About 7 or 8 miles it comes to an intersection and turns into DTG Road. Another mile or two and you will see a very shallow turn out on the right with what looks like an old logging road leading up to a small clearing. There is always burnt sticks and campfire remnants in the center as this is a local beer spot for the locals at night. It looks pretty trashy these days. Check out this Myspace blog for some fresh details:


Have a great day!

[email protected]
rockplanet12
 
I'd like to be there.
movromka
 
Just so you know. The dirt roads that your pictures are from are of a hunting range. Not anywhere close to an X-Files episode.
SilerCityNative
 
Liv wrote:Image
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OMG! Didn't you notice the spirit orbs in your photos?

Interesting photos and road trip story, Liv. This is why I enjoy the internet. I'll have try this sometime, if I go anywhere interesting.

About those bones. Does anyone know the proper way to handle them, given the rabies epidemic? In my car in a Ziploc baggie I have some bones I picked up a couple of years ago. Should one soak the bones in chlorine bleach to kill the suspected virus? Will the virus die on its own once the animal is dead?
User avatar
Nfidel
 
the devil's greatest weapon is making people believe he does not exist
omertahonor187
 
Nfidel wrote:About those bones. Does anyone know the proper way to handle them, given the rabies epidemic? In my car in a Ziploc baggie I have some bones I picked up a couple of years ago. Should one soak the bones in chlorine bleach to kill the suspected virus? Will the virus die on its own once the animal is dead?

The virus won't survive being dried - or cooked. If the bones are clean and dry there is no danger. If you are worried you could bake them at 300F for 30 minutes
User avatar
A Person
 
A Person wrote:The virus won't survive being dried - or cooked. If the bones are clean and dry there is no danger. If you are worried you could bake them at 300F for 30 minutes


Thanks. Another question: In my head the howls of my victims are constant, even after my work is finished. How does one mute this? *











*Happy Halloween
User avatar
Nfidel
 
Nfidel wrote:
A Person wrote:The virus won't survive being dried - or cooked. If the bones are clean and dry there is no danger. If you are worried you could bake them at 300F for 30 minutes


Thanks. Another question: In my head the howls of my victims are constant, even after my work is finished. How does one mute this? *

*Happy Halloween


:laughing-rolling: Stop it! You guys are killing me!!
User avatar
Sanjuro
Expert...on everything...
 
Sanjuro wrote:
Nfidel wrote:
Thanks. Another question: In my head the howls of my victims are constant, even after my work is finished. How does one mute this? *

*Happy Halloween


:laughing-rolling: Stop it! You guys are killing me!!


Exactly. I hear that all the time and we don't like it.
User avatar
Nfidel
 
Nfidel wrote:
A Person wrote:The virus won't survive being dried - or cooked. If the bones are clean and dry there is no danger. If you are worried you could bake them at 300F for 30 minutes


Thanks. Another question: In my head the howls of my victims are constant, even after my work is finished. How does one mute this? *

I expect the same method would work here too. Depends how big your oven is, you may have to do it in batches*.

*No Royal Diadem, this is not an ad-hominen attack on you.
User avatar
A Person
 
A Person wrote:The virus won't survive being dried - or cooked. If the bones are clean and dry there is no danger. If you are worried you could bake them at 300F for 30 minutes


Better be careful when opening the oven. Dem bones (dem bones, dem dry bones) may have had some spirits hiding out in 'em. My friend baked a Zuni fetish doll who had come to life and attacked her. So the dumbass opened the door to check and see if he was dead... His spirit needed somewhere to go when she opened the oven... :doh:
User avatar
Serendipitous
This is my world and I am the world leader...pretend.
 
I'll bet he's really popular at parties now...
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User avatar
A Person
 
A Person wrote:I'll bet he's really popular at parties now...


I swear, those are the greatest dolls! No batteries needed... just take off the lil gold chain and the chase is on! He sure does love to use his spear... and his teeth!
User avatar
Serendipitous
This is my world and I am the world leader...pretend.
 
Serendipitous wrote:
Better be careful when opening the oven. Dem bones (dem bones, dem dry bones) may have had some spirits hiding out in 'em. My friend baked a Zuni fetish doll who had come to life and attacked her. So the dumbass opened the door to check and see if he was dead... His spirit needed somewhere to go when she opened the oven... :doh:


Part 3 of 3.
User avatar
Nfidel
 
Nfidel wrote:Part 3 of 3.


I wonder if he has da rabies... :?
User avatar
Serendipitous
This is my world and I am the world leader...pretend.
 
Nfidel wrote:
Liv wrote:Image
Image

OMG! Didn't you notice the spirit orbs in your photos?

ummmm it's raining those aren't spirit orbs.....wow, those don't exist....
Guest
 
Guest wrote:OMG! Didn't you notice the spirit orbs in your photos?

ummmm it's raining those aren't spirit orbs.....wow, those don't exist....


I know, Guest. It was sarcasm. I'm a skeptic and photographer, so I have lots of experience with "orbs". I'm always glad to have another skeptical person onboard though. If you want read some first class sillyness here, go to the thread about Payne Road, a road in my area purported to be haunted.
User avatar
Nfidel
 
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Happy Halloween, y'all.
A year later, this thread still cracks me up... well, all except for that doll. :evil: SOMEONE invited him to celebrate my birthday and wouldn't you know it! HE SHOWED UP and resides in my living room closet. :cry:

No worries. He's in a box and his chain is on. At least I think it is... :?
User avatar
Serendipitous
This is my world and I am the world leader...pretend.
 
ok..i live near this..and in school we always talked bout the DTG..i all depends on in wut u believe and how suceptable you are to things of this nature. many ppl will tell u many different things bout the area and u can hear alot of diff stories bout the grounds. we always visited the area on HALLOWEEN around 10pm and camped out in the middle of the area. we had a hard time gettin our fire to stay lit and wen we woke up most of our things were scattered around our camp site. our things being moved. noises at nite, ones that we culdnt explain like growling, howling that didnt sound like just an animal or human but a mixture of both a female screamin and an animal. and just other minor things to add to the creepy feeling you got while being in that particular spot in the woods. i cant say for sure if its true. that its the devils tramping ground. but it is true that its not just a clearing in the woods. whether it be the hauntings of the devil, or just the attempts to scare made by the youth or land owners near the property its no ordinary place to visit on october 31st. good place for a good scare on the ol hallows eve.
Guest
 
Nfidel wrote:
Guest wrote:OMG! Didn't you notice the spirit orbs in your photos?

ummmm it's raining those aren't spirit orbs.....wow, those don't exist....


I know, Guest. It was sarcasm. I'm a skeptic and photographer, so I have lots of experience with "orbs". I'm always glad to have another skeptical person onboard though. If you want read some first class sillyness here, go to the thread about Payne Road, a road in my area purported to be haunted.


Glad to see other good-humoured skeptics, for lack of a better word, on here. I think things can happen or exist until one shows proof they don't.
Daniel_Lee
 
It's here. Here in North Carolina. A Portal, a gateway that exists due to a rift in space and time directly over Chatham county that allows passage of demons and devils to come to earth each night at between 3am, otherwise known as the devil's hour. Think I'm joking? Greensboro journalist John Harden stated:

There, sometimes during the dark of night, the Majesty of the Underworld of Evil
silently tramps around that bare circle-- thinking, plotting, and planning against
good, and in behalf of wrong.


I've attempted to go there before and couldn't find it. In fact it's been over 4 years since any recent pictures have been taken of the Devil's Tramping Grounds, and the area around it has been logged, and much has changed so I found it very interesting we could even find it. But we did, and here's the story:

For at least the last hundred years, nothing has grown within the 40 foot ring and the phenomenon is thus far unexplained. A United States Geological Survey team could uncover no scientific explanation for the lack of growth within the ring.

Stories about the ring are well known in local communities. These include the disappearance of objects left within the ring overnight, and strange events occurring to those brave enough to spend the night within its boundaries.


    DSCF7839.JPG

    On a lonely stretch of two lane highway in Chatham County North Carolina exists a place sacred to the followers of the dark arts, the devil, and satanic religious followers. Ten miles south of Siler City, North Carolina on our way to Southern Supreme, a fruit cake factory, our travels became sojourned when we accidentally stumbled upon a single street sign labeled the Devil Tramping Grounds Road. I had been here before, I knew what went on here. This is where the Prince of Darkness, Lucifer, the Devil himself rises and brings Hell upon earth. In an area of religious fruit cakes, where every mobile home has signs with Bible passages in their yard, you have ironically- the sacred ground for their adversaries.

    DSCF7845.JPG


    This is when I turned to Shannon seated beside me and asked "Will you go to Hell and back with me?" She replied with a resounding "Uh, yeah... the cake place doesn't open till nine! What else are we going to do?" So after accessing Greensboring.com via mobile web for the co-ordinates and loading them into the GPS unit, we were off. Within moments we began seeing the signs of evil upon the road as it was littered with dead bodies:

    DSCF7842.JPG


    It was at this moment just feet away from the Devil's Tramping Grounds the car shut completely off, lost all power and required us to get out and investigate this supernatural phenomenon from outside the safety of the car.

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    As we peered upon the horizon, we looked back upon what could be our last moments upon the mortal world. There was no turning back now, there it was.... the Devil's Tramping Grounds, the gateway to the underworld.

    DSCF7838.JPG


    Shannon and I were overwhelmed. We felt drawn to it... after all my mother-in-law said I was the devil incarnate, so this meant I was coming home:

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    The Devil's circle


    Shannon, a good little Christian girl immediately became possessed by the devil and started throwing signs like a demon in Compton:

    DSCF7825.JPG


    Clearly the fiery pits of Hell, BHL refers to is overstated and exagerated:

    DSCF7826.JPG


    The tracks of the Devil himself can clearly be seen:

    DSCF7831.JPG


    In the end we walked around, found a few shotgun shells, and decided it was time to try and escape the evils of this world by getting back on our journey to Southern Supreme. We went back to the car, jumped in and luckily it started. This time we survived, this time we made it back from the lava filled pits of Hell to see another day. It's not every day you go to Hell and back... but we did, and survived. Where is my T-shirt?

    DSCF7829.JPG

User avatar
Liv
Just sit there and watch me!
 
:lol: :lol: That was great.


The place has changed a bit since I went there eons ago, but glad to see the campfire rocks are still there.
User avatar
Sanjuro
Expert...on everything...
 
Perhaps it was my whole "possession" but I thought it was sort of ironic I had to put on a jacket to keep from being chilled. I was kind of thinking standing beside the "abomination of God" in this particular place would be a bit more tropical. I saw the Devil's breakfast and then the Devil's lunch, I looked at Liv and thought we'd better leave quickly because she would make a tasty dinner entree and since I'm so sweet of course I'd be dessert.
User avatar
shannon
Fire up the Quattro
 
Evil. Evil. Evil. Repent!

Nice post! Love the pics.
Silver
 
I have an awesome story to go with this location. My husband had ventured out there before we got together, so many about 8 or 9 years ago. Him and 2 buddies parked their car outside the circle and set up a camp to stay the night. They built a fire in the middle of the circle and started just talking and hanging out. After a while they were getting bored and my wonderful, "smart" husband decides he's going to try to provoke something to happen. He starts yelling and cursing the devil saying that he's a "*****" put whatever expletive you feel like here. (He was trying real hard haha!) Well he all of a sudden got a nosebleed. He used to get them a lot so he thought nothing of it and grabbed a towel to stop the bleeding. After words, yet again not thinking, he threw the bloody towel into the fire. About an hour later they were walking around, searching the area, and he just doubled over with stomach pains. He developed a fast fever, to where his friends say that he was profusely sweating a cold sweat within just a minute or so. He became really lightheaded and delirious and his friends had to carry him back to the car. They were going to take him straight to his mom who was a nurse. About 10 minutes after leaving the circle, my husband was completely fine. No more pain and fever was gone.

Now he did muster up the strength to go back about 4 years ago, I very quickly declined the offer to join them! Of course, this time nothing happened. He's convinced his pissed off someone and they took their anger out on him.
Ashleigh_Tallman
 
Ashleigh_Tallman wrote:
He's convinced his pissed off someone and they took their anger out on him.


He did anger something and just because he returned after 4 years with no bad effects doesn't mean it's over. And don't make the mistake of thinking the entity is bound to that one location. It isn't. With razor sharp hooves and horns, it will hunt him down. Not even your God can help him, now that he's invoked the wrath of THE Evil One.

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Just kidding. The devil isn't real. Have a nice day.
User avatar
Nfidel
 
Oooo.....I think I know what we're going to go do next week! heehee! Thank you! :mrgreen:
User avatar
Jamy
 
Nfidel wrote:
Liv wrote:Image
Image

OMG! Didn't you notice the spirit orbs in your photos?

Interesting photos and road trip story, Liv. This is why I enjoy the internet. I'll have try this sometime, if I go anywhere interesting.

About those bones. Does anyone know the proper way to handle them, given the rabies epidemic? In my car in a Ziploc baggie I have some bones I picked up a couple of years ago. Should one soak the bones in chlorine bleach to kill the suspected virus? Will the virus die on its own once the animal is dead?


You dork... That was from the rain.
juanita5657
 
juanita5657 wrote:You dork... That was from the rain.


Image

If it's from the rain, then why are the spirit orbs ascending to the sky?

Spirit orbs ascend up. Rain falls down. It always happens. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that, you pinhead
User avatar
A Person
 
A Person wrote:
juanita5657 wrote:You dork... That was from the rain.


If it's from the rain, then why are the spirit orbs ascending to the sky?

Spirit orbs ascend up. Rain falls down. It always happens. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that, you pinhead


I assume those who know me understand I was being sarcastic, as is A Person. I can even explain why his orbs appear to go up. A camera's flash can be set* to go off either at the beginning or the end of an exposure. If the shutter speed is too slow, as happens a lot in low light situations, moving objects can appear blurry, smeared or having "light trails". If the flash is set to pop at the beginning of the exposure, the light trails will be ahead of the motion. I know a newbie photographer who believes that her orbs are supernatural. As she learns more about photography she'll discover she can't capture orb images without the flash and will probably quit believing in them.



*Some cameras may not have this setting, which means your orbs will always appear to fall up.
User avatar
Nfidel
 
Interesting. I think what we are seeing is the flash fading as the drop falls giving the impression of upwards movement

I did a bit of digging and it seems that newer flashes vary the duration time of the flash (older ones used to charge the capacitor less or quench the flash to avoid over exposure.

A typical t5 (time for 50% power remaining) is around 1/1000 of a second, the t1 (10% remaining) can be longer than 1/300 seconds

Given that the terminal velocity of a raindrop is 9 m/s, a raindrop can travel 30mm (1 1/4") in 1/300 of a second (0.0033 seconds) and the reflection will fade as the flash power drops
User avatar
A Person