N.C. 181, 10 miles northwest of Morganton. www.brownmountainlights.org.
This drive guarantees pretty foothills scenery, and nothing more. But for centuries, people have reported seeing inexplicable circular, red-tinted lights after dark on Brown Mountain, the 1 1/2-mile ridge in Pisgah National Forest.
The illuminations have tended to be reported on dark, haze-free nights in cooler months - bright, bulb-like and unmoving. They disappear before anyone can hike to their location; there are no known photos of them.
But Cherokee reported seeing them before European settlers arrived; as early as 1771, explorers reported reports of these mysterious orbs.
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