- The castle was built at Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks of North Carolina
- The dunes are believed to be thousands of years old and are deepest on the east coast
- The castle was created from an attempt to develop it on the dunes in the 1970s
A mysterious castle has appeared on a North Carolina beach after being covered for years by a historic sand dune.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks are a tourist hot spot every summer. There’s even a Netflix series called “Outer Banks” about treasure hunting in the region.
The dunes at Jockey’s Ridge are the largest on the East Coast and are a must-see for thousands of visitors each year who want to hang glide and snowboard. There’s plenty buried under 1,000 acres of sand.
Because the dunes move due to the sun, wind and other influences, all kinds of things often rise up from the sand, as if a sand castle has been formed in the summer of 2024.
It’s not exactly royal, and it’s not exactly sand either, as it turns out to be the remains of a miniature golf course from decades earlier.
A mysterious castle has appeared on a North Carolina beach after being covered by a sand dune for years
The castle still stands, but erosion has done its work: dead plants grow on it, pieces are crumbling away and the colours have faded.
The tower is still 2.5 to 3 meters high and has survived on the dunes for almost 50 years. This is evident from a marking that indicates that the tower was built in 1978.
How did this castle and golf course end up here?
Against the wishes of local people and environmental activists, developers tried to start building on the dunes in the 1960s and 1970s, according to WRAL.
One of those developments was the construction of a miniature golf course to entice fun-seekers to stay on the dunes.
However, Mother Nature had her way: by the 1980s the track was completely enclosed by the shifting sand.
Eventually the developers gave up and sold the track to the state of North Carolina.
This year the castle hole was exposed and many are wondering what happened to the rest of the golf course.
The castle originates from a miniature golf course that opened in the dunes around 1978
The dunes at Jockey’s Ridge are the largest on the East Coast and a must-see for thousands of visitors each year who want to hang glide and snowboard. There’s a lot buried under more than 1,000 acres of sand
However, Mother Nature had her way, as in the 1980s the track was completely enclosed by the shifting sand
Photos from the Library of Congress show that there was once a hole around a giant sea monster and other holes containing a ship, a giant octopus and a cobra.
Reportedly, it is not known whether these structures have been demolished, and their whereabouts remain a mystery.
The natural shifting sands of the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge may one day expose them, as it did the castle.
Because the dunes are thought to be thousands of years old, it is likely that they will determine what emerges from the depths in the future.