North Carolina's Ancient Barren Circle and the Legend That Predates It
Devils Tramping Ground Rd, Bear Creek, NC 27208
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Day visits free. Overnight camping $15/person through the landowner's online booking at theoriginaldevilstrampingground.com or by phone (919) 769-8029. Max 10 campers.
Access
Limited Access
Dirt path approximately 150 feet from gravel pull-off. Wooded trail, uneven ground.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1800 · North Carolina State Folklore · NCpedia Documented Heritage Site · William G. Pomeroy Foundation Marker · Pre-Revolutionary Oral History
The Devil's Tramping Ground occupies a clearing in the pine and hardwood forest of western Chatham County, North Carolina, roughly ten miles east of Siler City along State Route 902. The physical feature that defines it is simple: a barren, foot-wide path forming a nearly perfect circle 40 feet in diameter. Normal vegetation — grass, wildflowers, forest understory — surrounds the ring and grows inside it. Nothing grows on the path itself.
Written documentation extends to the early nineteenth century. Oral accounts, documented by North Carolina folklorists and historians, reach back before the founding of the United States — making this one of the older continuously described phenomena in the American South. A William G. Pomeroy Foundation historical marker has been placed at the site, formalizing the circle's place in the state's documented cultural heritage.
North Carolina writer John Harden wrote about the Tramping Ground in the mid-twentieth century, drawing broader public attention to the site and helping cement it as a recognized piece of state folklore. The NCpedia — North Carolina's state encyclopedia — maintains an entry on the location as part of its documentation of Chatham County history.
Several theories have been proposed for the circle's origin. Some accounts suggest it was an ancient gathering place for local Native American peoples. Another tradition links the area to the legend of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, with accounts holding that the region was called Croatan and named for a fallen tribal chief — and that tribal gods preserved the circle as a memorial. A more prosaic theory attributes the barren ring to a natural phenomenon, possibly soil chemistry or historical land use.
The site is on private property. The landowner maintains a booking system for overnight camping and approaches the site with a philosophy of respectful stewardship.
Sources
The legend is consistent across two centuries: the Devil paces the circle at night, wearing down the path underfoot. The vegetation on the path itself does not grow back. Objects placed inside the circle are removed by morning — a detail that has been tested repeatedly by visitors who anchor sticks or leave weighted items within the barren ring. The obstacles are always cleared by dawn, and the mechanism of their removal is never observed.
Dogs brought to the site are reported to refuse to enter. They stop at the edge of the circle, unwilling to cross onto the bare path. Accounts of this behavior appear independently across multiple periods of documentation — early folklorists noted it, and contemporary visitors continue to report it.
Those who have slept within the circle's boundaries describe a night that does not pass normally. The specific nature of the disturbances varies — sounds, physical discomfort, a sense of being watched — but the consensus across accounts is that the circle does not function as ordinary ground for sleeping purposes.
The Chatham Magazine published an account of a reporter who spent the night at the site. The experience was described as memorable in ways that resisted simple explanation.
Atlas Obscura, which has documented the site, notes its physical particularity: the barren path is genuinely barren, even by the standards of a southern pine forest where ground cover is aggressive. The absence of vegetation is not subtle. It is visible immediately upon approaching the circle, and it is the feature that has sustained the legend across hundreds of years of oral and written tradition.
Walk 150 feet down a dirt path from the pull-off on Devils Tramping Ground Road to reach the 40-foot barren circle where nothing grows on the foot-wide path itself. A historic North Carolina marker stands nearby. Day visits require no booking.
The landowner operates a booking system for overnight camping and paranormal investigation at the circle. Visits are $15 per person, capped at 10 guests per night. Campers report that objects placed within the circle are found outside it by morning. Check-in 2pm; checkout 12pm. Book online at theoriginaldevilstrampingground.com/booking or call (919) 769-8029.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Gatlinburg, TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves 522,427 acres of southern Appalachian terrain across Tennessee and North Carolina. The land was the heart of the Cherokee Nation before forced removal in 1838 along what became the Trail of Tears, and home to Appalachian Scots-Irish and English settler communities through the early twentieth century. Congress authorized the park in 1926; it was formally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Linville Falls, NC
The Linville Gorge Wilderness in Burke County, North Carolina is part of the Pisgah National Forest and contains the deepest river gorge in the eastern United States. The Brown Mountain Lights — unexplained luminous phenomena visible from Wiseman's View and other overlooks near the gorge — were first reported in published accounts around 1910. A 1922 investigation by USGS scientist George R. Mansfield attempted to explain them as reflected headlights and brush fires but could not account for all reported sightings.
near Morganton, NC
The Brown Mountain Lights are an intermittent light phenomenon visible from the Burke County, North Carolina, side of Brown Mountain, a low ridge along the Burke-Caldwell county line. Sightings have been documented since 1833. The U.S. Geological Survey investigated the lights in 1913 and again in the 1920s, and the phenomenon has been studied repeatedly by academic researchers since.