Buried treasure: Old castle hidden beneath NC's largest sand dune fully visible again

    OUTER BANKS, North Carolina (WRAL) -- Thousands of families visit the Outer Banks to climb the incredible sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge each year. Many have no idea, however, what's hidden beneath the 400 acres of sand that covers the largest active dune on the East Coast.

With no shade and bright sun, the endless, shifting dunes give a sense of being alone in a desert. Like living mountains, the dunes move seamlessly over time with the sea breeze.

Is it an illusion? A trick of the light? On the horizon, there appears to be a giant sand castle. Sometimes it's there; other times, it's gone. Sometimes, only the small top of a turret is visible.

But this summer, there's no question: The full castle has been unveiled by the shifting sands.

Decades old and worn by time and erosion, the castle's colors aren't quite as vibrant as they once were.

The towers are broken – with dead plants 'growing' out of the top – and pieces of the castle have fallen over. The red door is gone and the windows have been punched out, replaced by gaping holes that provide a glimpse of the structure's dilapidated guts.

But the castle is still impressively tall, towering between 8 and 10 feet tall, with a shell-crusted bridge and stairway approaching the main gate. A carving on the castle walls date it as being built in 1978.

The hidden castle is just one piece of an entire course of giant mini-golf structures that stood atop the dune in the 1970s.

Jockey's Ridge has swallowed many things The dunes themselves are likely thousands of years old. Scientists believe these enormous dunes were created as minerals from the NC mountains washed towards the ocean, eventually breaking down into sand.

The dunes played a huge role in the history of the region. The nearby Nags Head takes it name from the legend of land pirates walking horses -- or 'nags' -- along the tops of the dunes while wearing a lantern around their neck, tricking passing ships into crashing along the shore. The nearby Kitty Hawk provided tall dunes for the Wright Brothers to learn to fly.

Some believe a hotel and even early settler's homes are buried beneath the ever-shifting, mammoth dunes.

Despite their rich history, developers tried to build on the dunes in the 1960s and early 1970s. A woman named Carolista Baum laid down in front of a bulldozer to save the park, and in the 1970s, the state bought the park to preserve it.

What happened to the rest of the golf course? A few years later, a mini-golf course opened along the dunes. However, by the 1980s, the shifting sand had begun to envelop the course, and they sold their course to the state as well.

What happened to the other enormous structures that were once an iconic part of the course? Photos taken by John Margolies in the Library of Congress show the course in 1985, when sand could already be seen pouring onto the course. One photo shows a giant sea monster weaving into and out of the sand. Another shows a huge ship floating along the dunes. Yet another shows a huge cobra coiled with its head high in the air. A giant octopus was also a memorable part of the course.

Each of these structures appears at least as large as the sand castle -- if not even bigger. Were they torn down, leaving only the sand castle behind? If so, why was only the castle left standing?

Or are they, like the hotel and old houses, still buried deep in the dunes? Perhaps as the dunes continue shifting, someday a mammoth sea monster will appears in the 'desert' of Jockey's Ridge. What a sight that would be.