Watch Hatteras Island Cora Tree On Travel Channel's 'Monumental Mysteries'

Posted By Matt Artz on January 15, 2015

The Travel Channel series Monumental Mysteries filmed a segment on Hatteras Island in 2013, featuring an infamous local landmark known as the Cora Tree, said to be haunted by a witch, and we finally have it here for you to watch online.

Producers for the series were on Hatteras Island in December of 2013 to film a segment about the legend of the Cora Tree, located near Brigands’ Bay on Snug Harbor Drive in Frisco, North Carolina.

The Cora Tree was immortalized in Charles Harry Whedbee’s classic book Blackbeard’s Cup and Stories of the Outer Banks, which claims the twisted old tree is cursed by a witch.

The legend says that Cora was an old woman who lived alone with only her baby in a shack near the tree in the 1700s. Whenever she would go to town, bad things would happen, and she was eventually accused of being witch and set to be burned along with her child at the base of the great tree.

Just as the fire was about to be lit, Cora’s baby reportedly turned into a giant cat with green eyes and a red mouth, and it fled into the nearby woods. Lightening then struck the tree, but when the smoke cleared, Cora was gone. All that remained were the letters C O R A burned into the tree trunk, which are still visible today (pictured below).

The Cora Tree in Frisco, North Carolina is the subject of an episode of the Travel Channel’s ‘Monumental Mysteries’.

According to the official website, “Monumental Mysteries scours the country for America’s most extraordinary monuments and reveals the amazing mysteries hidden within. Hosted by Don Wildman, the series visits the statues, memorials, national parks, sculptures, and gravestones that commemorate our nation’s most intriguing events, notorious crimes, scandals, disasters, and triumphs.”

Originally aired on August 22, 2014, you can watch the full episode featuring the segment “A Witch on Hatteras Island” (starting just after the 7-minute mark), filmed on the Outer Banks, right now in the player below!