[piano intro] [upbeat music begins] - [Heather] North Carolina certainly has its share of legends and lore.

[television static crackling] - So this rock, we kind of understand now that it actually is a boundary marker between this world and the spirit world.

- [Heather] We explore mysteries like the Rowan Mountain ghost choir.

- So when the hotel was up on this hill people said that they could hear that sounded like a choir or voices - And voices, yes.

- [Heather] Even some Bigfoot sightings and places created just for your imagination.

- Oz has a huge fan following.

- [Heather] It's all on My Home, coming up next.

[serious music] [quaint, gentle music begins] All across the state.

We're uncovering the unique stories that make North Carolina my home.

♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ [quaint, gentle music] [suspenseful music builds] [television static crackling] - I've always had an interest in the paranormal.

Everybody was okay with that.

Everyone had a ghost story they heard from their mother, their grandmother, or something.

The Brown Mountain lights to make in light.

North Carolina's full of legends and all these other things.

Once we start talking about Bigfoot then we cross the crazy line.

Right now we're in the world of being abducted by aliens.

Everyone's got ghost tours.

Very, very few places have Bigfoot stories, let alone stuff happening right now.

My name is Stephen Barcelo.

I'm a commissioner for the town of Littleton, North Carolina.

And we are at the Cryptozoology Paranormal Museum, which I run.

[gentle music] Cryptozoology is a study of creatures not proven to science.

Bigfoot, Jersey Devil, Moth Man, things of that sort.

I'm telling the stories of things that have been around here for well over a hundred years.

And people seem to be enjoying the heck out of it.

- [Woman] They saw a sighting of Bigfoot.

[spooky static] - [Man] Tell us what you saw.

- [Bigfoot Spotter] I know I saw Bigfoot - [Man] Did it scare you?

- [Bigfoot Spotter] Yes [sobbing] - Now since I've been here, and I've only lived here eight years, I've had four separate sightings on Moore Street.

Bigfoot, we're not sure exactly what it is.

Now, we have a lot of folks that come in here who feel they're inter dimensional or they're tied to UFOs.

You know, basically it's sort of like the aliens' pet.

Personally, I lean towards the fact that these things are flesh and blood.

This is the closest we've got to what they're seeing in here.

Now these things are seen to move in family pods.

It's not just one creature.

So, you have some of the large, big prints that got the splayed toes.

And you can see some are just downright kind of odd looking and almost alien looking.

As far as casting the prints, we actually sell the material in the museum.

We have Bigfoot go-bags.

We have evidence kits.

And then of course we give you information on places to go in the area.

So you can go out and do your own investigating.

It's amazing how many people have come out and never done this.

Once they get into it, they're hooked.

They're done.

And next, you know, they're explaining to their wives why they're dropping, you know $800 for a flare scope and buying this equipment.

[gentle music] When we go out, you know, myself, Johnny, George, we take it very serious.

We'll go camping and we're not there to camp.

We're, we're there to investigate all night long and we've caught some amazing stuff.

[crickets chirping] I mean, just look at that.

You just do kind of a general scan.

There's no way you're gonna miss a person or a creature out there.

[crickets chirping] In here, it's up in here where I got that.

They came up my head to my parabolic dish and I could hear movement.

And then with a scope [crickets chirping] I could see some heat once in a while.

And I figure it was a deer or something like that.

And then all of a sudden I could see it was upright.

It just looked too big and it was moving too smoothly in the dark with no headlamp.

It's either a Bigfoot or a really big naked camper.

I guess the moral of the story is don't give up.

There's a whole 'nother world just around the corner that we generally don't see.

We're just telling the stories.

[gentle orchestra music begins] - This, this rock is many things all at one time.

- I don't think there's any better way to illustrate what it means, not just for me but for all of us as Cherokees.

- This speaks to the strength and tenacity in the persistence of the Cherokee people in this landscape, in this place.

[orchestra music builds] [orchestra music fades out] [upbeat music begins] - It is a part of the story of who we are.

It is a definer of what is being a Cherokee.

[upbeat music] - People just called it, that, that Indian rock.

Now there's about 10,000 people a year who come here.

- It's really a mixture of science and art.

[upbeat music fades out] [quaint, cheerful music begins] - My name is Scott Ashcraft.

I'm a forest service archeologist for the Pisgah National Forest, but I'm also a co-director of the North Carolina Rock Art project.

When it comes to general petroglyphs, this is a very, very big one not just for western North Carolina, but for the eastern US.

It's the most densely carved that we know of.

It is one of the most important places to the Cherokee people.

- It's their form of communication in some ways.

So what, what is this story?

What are they trying to tell?

- First of all, there is the namesake of the rock itself.

Judaculla, one of the Cherokee's spirit beings, a giant, well there's his hand print that has a story behind it.

And then the long line, one story is that he did it with his nail and it represents a boundary.

We think it's also a map of not only this local area but also a map for the spirit world.

[quaint, upbeat music] - My name is Jerry Parker and family has been living here, the property where the Judaculla Rock is since the 1850's.

For lack of a better description we have been the caretakers or stewards of this property.

[quaint, upbeat music] - How many acres is the land?

- There's 133 acres.

[quaint, upbeat music] That my father made.

The reason he wanted to, to preserve the rocks, he transferred the rock to the county in 1959.

[quaint, upbeat music] This is my grandfather in 1932 or three.

- [Woman] Okay - Right there.

And that's his cornfield behind him.

- Okay, yeah.

- So the rock was surrounded by the cornfield.

- [Woman] What's your grandfather's name?

- His name was Milos.

- Milos.

- My grandfather's name was Milos.

- I like that name.

- [Jerry] But here is the color postcard.

- [Woman] Oh, wow.

- That that picture originally comes from.

I've traveled many places over the world but I'll always come back here.

And so I look at this as my spiritual lodestone that sort of just brings me back.

[quaint, upbeat music fades out] [gentle music begins] - My name is Thomas Bell and my home is at Qualla Boundary, North Carolina.

This region is our ancestral home.

[gentle music] I am a Cherokee language program coordinator at Western Carolina University.

In Cherokee, the word is pronounced Juthcullah.

The rock here is 10,000 years old.

It tells me who I am.

It tells me where I'm from.

[gentle music] - It's possible to put the entire rock into motion.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I'm Brett Riggs.

I'm the Sequoyah distinguished professor of Cherokee studies at Western Carolina University.

This is a spot that embodies Cherokee belief and embodies the Cherokee belonging to this place.

- It's true.

I thought we are from here.

This is us.

- You've got the line.

And, and then you have the hand print under the line.

- Judaculla, when he jumps he leaves one world and he comes into another world.

To me, that's what makes this thing so special.

This is the linkage that comes right up to the present.

- It gives me a place on the face of the earth that I've been granted to share with my relatives.

It tells me that I'm home.

[gentle music] [gentle music fades out] [suspenseful music begins] - [Heather] For centuries, many have passed down stories of hearing strange eerie noises on the top of Rowan Mountain at the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

Now scientists, folklorists and historians come together to try to find out what makes up the choir-like singing that many hear.

[suspenseful music] [gentle music begins] - If the mountain music or the ghost choir was heard the wind was blowing very hard.

People have reported great fear.

[gentle music] I just love this mountain.

It's actually a part of my soul.

[gentle music] [quaint, upbeat music begins] Rowan Mountain, to me, is an incredibly spiritual place.

[quaint, upbeat music] When you're on top of the Rowan, your cares just lift.

My name is Jennifer Bower and I've lived in Rowan Mountain for 38 years.

[quaint, upbeat music] The state park is all down at this elevation.

The top of the Rowan is all national forest service At Rowan Mountain State Park, my primary job responsibilities were to do programs.

Over the years that I've worked here I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people whose parents, grandparents worked in the Cloudland Hotel in the late 1800's, which was a time where reports of the mountain music and the ghost choir were talked about.

It was huge.

- And everyone is dressed up so fancy to be on the mountain.

- I know [laughing] I think it's wonderful.

- That's great.

- All in these beautiful clothes up here on top of the Rowan.

So right here where we're standing, we're on the Appalachian Trail.

Behind me is North Carolina and in front of us is Tennessee.

During the Cloudland Hotel days, General Wilder who built the Cloudland Hotel, most likely was getting more and more reports of people getting trapped out in storms hearing these strange and eerie sounds.

[gentle, eerie music] I found lots of references to strong wind when I was doing research on Rowan Mountain.

[gentle, eerie music] - So when the hotel was up on this hill, people said that they could hear that ghost choir.

- They did.

Some people felt that that mountain music, that strange eerie sound that would whip around the mountains, were fairies.

Other people thought that the mountain music came from the spirits of Cherokee and Choctaw Indians who many, many years ago fought on top of the Rowan.

[gentle, suspenseful music] So other people felt that what they were hearing was the mountain actually talking to them.

But some people took them as very evil messages and they felt like the devil himself had come up from the depths below to find them.

[gentle, eerie music fades out] [gentle strumming music begins] Other people felt the music was not evil at all.

The ghost choir, the mountain music, they felt it was the sounds of angels, that the Rowan was so blessed.

So in an effort to determine what might be affecting guests at the Cloudland Hotel, I do not know if General Wilder requested that scientist Henry Colton from Knoxville come to the hotel to find out, but he was there.

Mr. Colton had come to do some investigations of a sort to figure out what this was.

- So were they on the the balconies or how were, how were they situated?

- You know, that was never really explained.

They could have been walking.

They could have been standing on the porch.

I think they were just more out and about in this area.

- And that was gonna hurt his business.

'Cause people were getting scared to come to the hotel.

[laughing] - It's possible.

- Yeah.

- And ultimately, Mr. Colton determined that the sounds were being made by friction and the electricity generated by friction, usually at the narrowest ridges.

Now, we don't know that that's the answer but that was the scientific approach to finding out why so many people were frightened when they were out during these serious storms.

- And now if we get to hear the ghost choir that's gonna really be a plus.

- I know.

Well there's no storms.

- There would have to be a storm.

- The folks that lived here then, you know, were very, very isolated.

I can imagine that sometimes fear could be a big part of a person's life.

[suspenseful music] [gentle, eerie music begins] - So where are we going now?

- Well, we must go into the storm cellar, because there's a storm coming.

- Okay.

- A twister - I've heard.

[door creaking] So I've heard.

- [Cindy] Pay no attention to that woman behind the curtain.

[laughing] - What's behind the curtain?

We don't know.

[wind whooshing] Oh my goodness.

There's a storm.

Oh my goodness.

[wind howling] - Give us a minute to warm up here.

[dramatic wind whooshing] [cheerful music] - Well, good morning and welcome to Oz.

Are you ready to follow the yellow, brick road?

[cheerful music] - [Woman] Are you gonna click your heels when you get up there?

- We are.

- [Woman] If you have to go home.

- We are.

We came all the way from Florida.

[cheerful music] - We actually saw an advertisement on Facebook for it and so we looked it up.

Tickets sold out in 15 seconds, but you know, we were lucky and got 'em, so... [cheerful music] Flying monkeys would be awesome, but [laughing] they're probably not gonna be there.

- I hope you don't see flying monkeys today.

- That's, they would be a little just disturbing [quirky, cheerful music] [chaotic, upbeat music] - Last call!

11:30 tour through Oz.

[chaotic, upbeat music] [knocking] - Who rang that bell?

Nobody gets in to see the wizard.

Not nobody, not no how.

[chaotic, upbeat music] You know your line?

- No - But I'm Dorothy from Kansas.

- I'm gonna have to do better.

- What do you think, munchkin?

So far so good?

My name is Cindy Keller and my home is in Kansas.

This is the Land of Oz, or the Kansas portion of the Land of Oz on Beech Mountain.

"As mayor of the Munchkin City in the county and the Land of Oz, I wish to welcome you most regally.

And we're all here to verify it legally."

I came here 20 something years ago to help with the development of this property.

I am caretaker or self-appointed title of the keeper of Oz.

[upbeat music] - We've gotta getaway.

We've gotta run away, quick.

Oh, hello.

- Hello.

Let's see... - [Heather] In the 1970's, it was a little mom and pops theme park that brought jobs and opportunity.

The Land of Oz was in operation from 1970 to 1980.

It was created by the same family that ran Tweetsie Railroad.

Mr. Robbins, Grover Robbins, passed away six months before the park opened.

- He had to have a lot of gumption.

I would imagine.

- Well I, the word that I have heard him described as a number of times was visionary.

[upbeat, playful music] - We'll gaze into the crystal.

Ah.

- [Cindy] This is our third summer doing the family fun Fridays.

- Now why are you running away?

- You will take the chairlift as you did in the 1970's to the top of the mountain and you will be greeted at the old fountain of youth.

Well, there were a number of artifacts purchased from MGM back in 1969.

We've got little munchkin slippers, we have the gatekeepers cloak thing.

What probably stands out in more people's minds than anything is the cyclone.

This is the original 1970's film that was made for here in the park.

They remember going in and getting disoriented and tossed into an upside down house.

[upbeat, playful music] - Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

We must be over the rainbow.

[upbeat, playful music] - There are 44,000 yellow bricks.

I am told that they were made in Winston-Salem and they were glazed and fired four or five times to give them the enamel.

I mean when the sun hits those yellow bricks, it's quite impressive, you know?

[gentle music begins] - Do you see that?

That's how much longer you've got to be alive.

And it isn't long, my pretty.

♪ You sleepy head ♪ ♪ Rub your eyes ♪ ♪ Get out of bed ♪ ♪ Wake up the wicked witch is dead!

♪ - I use the word hokey, but I've grown to appreciate the word hokey.

People like simple things and family things.

♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪ - I would hope that at the end of the day that everyone has sung a happy song and leaves with a smile on their face.

[gentle music fades out] [cheerful music begins] - If you've traveled down Highway 12 you've probably seen something out of this world in Frisco North Carolina.

It's called the Frisco UFO or the Futuro House and it has a very unique story.

[cheerful music] [suspenseful, techno music begins] - It's the second most photographed thing in Dare County and the other only other thing is the lighthouse itself.

[suspenseful, techno music] - [Man] It's just obscure.

Why is it there?

What possesses somebody to do what they did?

What makes him dress up like an alien, you know?

Something different and who owns the spaceship, you know, like who does?

[funky, upbeat music begins] My name is Leroy Reynolds.

Just an old man.

I'm the owner of the Futuro House.

I call it the Frisco UFO spaceship.

[funky, upbeat music] I've been being the alien probably since '96.

[funky, upbeat music] I had a racing suit from when I used to race cars and I thought, well, that's alien green.

You know, all you need is a mask.

I would wait until people are out here taking pictures and slip down out of the door and sit down behind them.

You know, just, just for fun, you know?

- You believe in aliens?

- No.

- Everybody always liked the spaceship.

It's just different.

- Did you have any alien friends back on Tron?

- Of course, everybody that comes here after they leave they're smiling.

You, they come here crappy and they leave smiling.

[upbeat music] - I love that it's just like, that it's unique.

[upbeat music] - Yeah, well we drove past it.

We didn't know, we just thought it was a UFO attraction.

- Yeah.

- Like oh, you guys wanna see the Futuro House?

And we're like, oh yeah, you know, 'cause there's a bunch in Texas I guess.

[upbeat music] - You drove by, you have seen this before.

Where have you seen this before?

- I saw this, it was either in the late sixties or early seventies in Playboy magazine.

[upbeat music] - It was sold in Playboy magazine in 1972.

Had a six page spread.

It was the ultimate bachelor's pad.

You attach your helicopter to it.

My name is James Bagwell, like a bag and a well.

[funky, upbeat music] I own the property and we brought the Futuro House down here but Leroy runs it now.

- Now I guess it's ours.

And I told him it's gonna be a legacy if it's anything.

[gentle, cheerful music begins] - This was on the ocean front in Hatteras, it is an ocean front cottage and then it was moved into Hatteras Village as a girl scout, boy scout location.

And then it was taken to Frisco campground as a hot dog, hamburger, alien, out of this world.

But it's been down here for over 50 years and a lot of people have a lot of memories about it.

There's some kind of alien connection and it is a hoot.

It just pulls people in.

[quaint, upbeat music] - Come down, you see it falling apart.

And you're like, I can't, I can't deal with it.

I'd rather see it gone than falling apart.

- So you want to spruce it up and make it the legacy?

- Yep.

I want to do something big with it.

Not something little.

[quaint, upbeat music] - We would like to fix it up, back to what it was and allow people to go back inside and just look at it.

We're dickering with the county over that now.

- I would like to turn it into a museum of the arts.

When they stop here, they'll say "why?"

And I'll go, "why not?"

[quaint, upbeat music] And the other question is, do you believe?

That had to do with believe in yourself, believe in you can do this.

It'll be a legacy if you're doing something and giving back to the community.

That's kind of, you know, the alien thing.

[quaint, upbeat music fades away] [upbeat music begins] - Next time on My Home, North Carolina is a Haven for foodies and chefs.

[stove sizzling] There's stories about barbecue, street food, hotdogs, at International Fair.

We'll bring a smile to your face and quite possibly a rumble in your tummy.

- I appreciate it, bro.

- You too.

- Thank you.

It's good to see you again.

- It's all on My Home.

[upbeat jazz music] [gentle music begins] ♪ ♪ ♪