Date: April 27, 2024
Location: Bear Creek, NC
Investigators: Chris, Matt S, Ana, Matt K
Location History
The Devil’s Tramping ground (also known as the stomping ground) is a circular patch in the woods where nothing grows. Lore and legend point to a number of varied stories from the Devil himself pacing here in a circle plotting his next evil deeds, to Native Americans using this spot for ceremonial dances, to a prominent Native American chief being buried here, to an alien landing site, to general poisoned or cursed lands. The legends go back hundreds of years and was even described in the 1784 county deed book as “the poison field tract.”
The mysterious spot has garnered a lot of attention over the years and has brought in scientists, adventure seekers, and paranormal hunters to explore the area trying to solve the mystery. To date, there is no proven theory as to why this spot is so peculiar.
Our Experience
Being that the tramping ground is in the same county where we live, we had to go and explore this circle for ourselves. In recent years, the owner of the property has started allowing people to reserve the spot for tent camping. Four of us jumped at the opportunity and spent the night on a nice spring evening.
When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was that the circle was actually not that far from the road. I had assumed that it would be deep in the forest, but a quick 3 minute walk brought us there. My first impression was that the circle really didn’t look all that different from other wooded clearings.
While the claims are that “nothing” grows there and it is a perfectly shaped 40ft diameter circle, I can verify that this is not true. There were bits of grass here and there and there certainly was not a definitive line separating the tramping space from the rest of the natural area. Looking closely, it also appeared there was some old gravel in the central dirt area, then a slow bit of grass growth until it reached the treelines.
But we did our due diligence and thoroughly explored the surrounding area for anything unusual. There was a trail that led off to a swampy area with dead trees, there were frogs and insects chirping, and there were cows mooing in the distance, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
We set up our campsite, built a fire, and settled in for the night. We spent time recording with audio and video. We ran EVP sessions. We searched for any unusual EMF spikes. I even spent some solo time just sitting in the middle of the circle to see if I noticed anything unusual. Overnight we ran a trail camera to take photos of any detected motion and left a REM pod running. We even brought a simple rubber ball to leave in the circle as we slept to see if it moved overnight.
All in all, none of our gadgets detected anything out of the ordinary. The only fear I had was when a car drove by with guys whooping out the windows. I feared it was a perfect opportunity for some bored teens to come mess with us knowing we were there looking for paranormal activity. Thankfully, they did not.
The absolute most annoying part of the experience was a whippoorwill trilling its mating song every 5 seconds throughout the entire night. With no one getting any sleep due to the love sick bird, we abandoned ship at daybreak.
Did we capture Paranormal Evidence?
Nope. Just one annoying bird!
