Crews with the N.C. Department of Transportation discovered the “extraordinary” culvert within the Bost Mill Historic District, which dates to 1810. The district, which is on National Register of Historic Places, is about a 27-mile drive northeast from Charlotte.

The tunnel-like culvert is believed to be about a century old, with additional materials added over the decades as the highway grew, NCDOT said in an Aug. 29 news release.

“The original structure is terracotta glazed tiles, which is a unique structure,“ NCDOT Bridge Maintenance Engineer Robert Plyler said in the release.

“This one also has a granite extension, so hand-split granite rocks were added in order to widen (N.C.) 200. We knew it was almost this wide in 1937.”

Finally, a more conventional section of corrugated metal pipe was added, and it proved to be the part that deteriorated fastest, officials said.

The oldest portion represents “a short-lived construction method based on hollow structural masonry block,” the state says. The blocks were manufactured by the Pomona Terra-Cotta Company near Greensboro, which operated from 1886 to 1975, officials say.

State archaeologists and architectural historians launched an investigation into “Pomona block culverts” in 2010 and have only found eight.

All are considered historically significant, but “functional and safety concerns” prevented the N.C. 200 culvert from being spared demolition, the state said.

Instead, planners came up with an idea to build a new culvert, while carefully salvaging parts from the old one, Plyler said.

Samples of the terracotta blocks were shared with the Office of State Archaeology’s Research Center “for comparative purposes,” and others were given to the NCDOT historical and engineering divisions for display, he said. Twenty were “saved just for extra.”

The granite blocks will “be used at a more suitable site later,” Plyler told McClatchy News.

“While moving the pieces of granite around, it really put things into perspective for me on how lucky we have it with modern day equipment to build our structures now,” he said.

“The granite blocks are extremely heavy and would have taken a true team of people to make the culvert back then.”

An initial plan to use the granite blocks in a 25-foot-long wall near the highway had to be abandoned when engineers realized there wasn’t enough material, he said. Work on the new culvert was completed at the end of June.

It happened just before 9 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 19, and the child was left hospitalized with serious injuries, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in an Aug. 22 news release.

At least two witnesses fired shots to fend off the dog, police said.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that a group of children were in the front yard playing when three dogs owned by the victim’s family were let out of the garage,” CMPD said.

“Two of the dogs playfully knocked the victim to the ground when the third dog approached and began to bite the victim and dragged them down the driveway. Several adult witnesses ran toward the child and attempted to stop the attack. Two individuals fired gunshots near the dog.”

The dog eventually retreated to the garage, police said.

An ambulance took the child to a hospital. The child’s identity and details of the injuries were not released.

“The dog was surrendered to Animal Care and Control by its owner. The canine will be held for a 10-day rabies quarantine,” CMPD said.

“The dog will be euthanized after the quarantine period has ended.”

Nursey, as the shark was known, was notorious for hiding during his 16-year stay in the Manteo aquarium’s “Graveyard of the Atlantic” habitat, staff said.

“Because nurse sharks are nocturnal, he could often be found in the replica shipwreck,” aquarium officials wrote in an Aug. 19 Facebook post.

“Guests and staff enjoyed his lazy swims along the sand and seeing him peek out from the wreck. He will be missed.”

A cause of death isn’t yet known. Nursey was 22 years old, “nearing the natural lifespan of nurse sharks,” officials said.

“Members of the animal care and veterinary teams performed a medical exam last week. The exam was successful, but Nursey’s recovery from the exam did not go as expected,” the aquarium said.

“Eventually, he became unresponsive and passed away. The animal care and veterinary teams did all they could to help him recover and are heartbroken by the outcome. … We do not yet know the cause of his decline.”

A necropsy was performed and samples were taken for testing, officials said.

Nursey was 7 feet, 7 inches long and the only nurse shark on display at the facility. Nurse sharks can reach 9 feet and are known to be slow, sluggish and prone to spending “much of their time resting on the ocean’s bottom,” according to the National Aquarium.

“They show a strong preference for certain resting sites, repeatedly returning to the same spot after hunting for food,” the National Aquarium says.

Nursey came to the aquarium in 2008 from the Virginia Aquarium, officials said. He was fed three times a week, and the menu consisted of capelin, squid, mahi, sardines and mackerel.

Social media commenters on the shark’s obituary noted he had a devoted following, despite being tough to see.

“Nursey was a very loved shark,” Emma Arnette Denney wrote.

“I only saw him a handful of times, but every time I got a glimpse of Nursey was a treat. Most times I did not see him, but a few visits ago I did get to see a glimpse of him stirring within the shipwreck, like some kind of deep-sea leviathan,” Cheyne Runnells posted.

“What a beautiful ambassador. I’m certain sharks have a Rainbow Reef that’s the most perfect swim ever,” Claudia Hurd said.

Eerie photos show sharks appearing to sleep atop shipwrecks off North Carolina

Historic WWII shipwrecks off North Carolina attracting invasive lionfish, NOAA finds

Shark tagged in 2012 off South Carolina caught again — same date, same area, NOAA says

___

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The elusive horse came out of nowhere Aug. 14 with his equally mysterious mom, Rotor, confirming a lesser-known fact about the feral “banker” horses that live on Corolla.

“There are a handful of horses that we are lucky to see once or twice a year because they live deep in the marsh in places that are difficult (or often impossible) for us to access,” Corolla Wild Horse Fund herd manager Meg Puckett wrote on Facebook.

“The horses have about 7,500 acres of land to roam and … it is quite vast once you get away from the oceanfront. Easy for a couple of horses like Rotor and Dash to stay hidden for months at a time!”

A herd of just over 100 wild horses roams the Corolla area, including some that have managed to stay hidden for years.

In 2023, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund announced a secretive family of horses — two adults and a foal — was discovered living like castaways on an island in the sound west of Carova Beach.

“We always assume there are probably a handful more that we never see,” the fund wrote.

It isn’t completely understood why some hermit horses suddenly show up on beaches, then just as suddenly disappear. Puckett said it could have to do with the disease-carrying horse flies that plague the islands when conditions are damp and hot.

There comes a point when even the most stoic of wild horses can no longer stand the biting and head for beaches where coastal winds thwart the insects. That’s likely what caused Dash and his mom to materialize, Puckett said.

“I’m not really sure why there are some that don’t come out of the marsh and woods very often, when the majority of them do go back and forth pretty regularly,” she said.

“Probably just behavior that has been passed down for many generations. I’d say there are maybe around 10 to 15 that only come out around the houses and onto the beach a couple times a year, and maybe half of those are even more elusive and we’re lucky to see them once a year.”

Their disappearing acts prove a lot of wild habitat still exists on North Carolina’s barrier islands, and the horses use it, she said.

Either by instinct or by trial and error, they know how to find secret places too remote and too wet for humans.

“Development is definitely a huge issue and presents a lot of dangers to the horses. Development doesn’t just mean houses going up and loss of habitat. It also means traffic, garbage, more septic systems and wells going in, more people in general, etc,” Puckett said.

“But knowing that A) there really is a lot of untouched habitat west of the dunes and B) it really is so vast that there are horses that can disappear back into it for months at a time helps you stay hopeful for the future. … It’s also a reminder of how wild these horses are, and how capable they are of taking care of themselves in their natural habitat.”

The brawl was recorded Thursday in the Corolla area and involved a young stallion doing his best to steal an older stallion’s family, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund reported.

Herd manager Meg Puckett called it an example of the “herd dynamics” tourists don’t often witness.

“The darker stallion has been with the black mare and her two-year-old filly for the last couple years. The lighter brown stallion tried to steal them from him a few weeks ago, but was unsuccessful,” Puckett wrote on the horse fund’s Facebook page.

“Since then he’s been trailing the trio, and will regularly try to sneak in and grab the mares. The first stallion has to stay vigilant all the time. It must be exhausting, but he is really doing a good job of protecting his mares from the challenger!”

The video starts with the smaller stallion kicking the older one to no avail.

A staredown begins, and the larger horse eventually intimidates the younger one into backing away.

“It will be interesting to see how this drama plays out,” Puckett wrote.

“At the end of the video you’ll see the darker stallion put his head down and move his mares away from the other one. This is called snaking, and it’s one of the few times you’ll see a stallion seriously bossing his mares around.”

The norm is for stallions to let “mares run the show,” except in those moments when there is a threat, she said.

Corolla has a herd of over 100 wild horses tended and protected by the nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund.

The intrusion happened at a home near Pawleys Island, about a 70-mile drive northeast from Charleston, and homeowner Keith Suttle estimates the squatter was about 4 feet long.

“He would swim around for awhile, get out, lay on the pool deck, jump back in and just float around,” Suttle told McClatchy News. “No stress.”

No stress for the gator, that is.

Suttle said he was on the phone with a client Wednesday, July 10, when a neighbor sent a strange text informing him of an alligator in his pool.

“As soon as I saw the text I walked out on our back deck and saw him/her just chillin’ in the water. Naturally I was shocked and my first thought was how do I get it out,” Suttle said.

“Our yard is completely fenced, surprised he could squeeze through! We live on the marsh between Litchfield Beach and the mainland.”

Tasked with finding a solution, Suttle sought advice from the Pawleys Island Peeps Facebook group and its 57,000 members. Among the nearly 500 responses were suggestions like “pick him up by his tail,” “scoop up and throw in neighbor’s yard” and call a professional snake catcher.

Suttle eventually connected with a wildlife rescuer based out of Myrtle Beach. She showed up with a net several hours later.

“As soon as she put the net in the water he dove to the bottom and appeared to ‘run’ around. In less than 10 minutes they had him out, mouth taped, wrapped in a towel and off to his new habitat,” Suttle said.

The alligator was released into a nearby river and has yet to return, he said.

It happened around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 9, in a neighborhood north of Stafford, about a 65-mile drive north from Richmond.

“The victim advised he arrived at his residence to discover a man and four children inside,” the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“When deputies arrived, they would observe the five uninvited guests still within the residence. Deputies requested the suspect to step out, but instead he would just stare out the window at them.”

That forced deputies to go inside and arrest the man, who proved to be vaguely familiar to the homeowner.

It turned out the suspect had toured the home during a July 7 open house, “where he inquired about buying the residence,” officials said.

“Apparently, the suspect liked the house, for he prematurely moved in,” the sheriff’s office said.

The 39-year-old suspect gave deputies a false name, but they later discovered he was out on probation and had warrants for his arrest in two nearby counties, officials said.

He was arrested and charged with entering a property with intent to damage, identity theft, providing a false identity to law enforcement, destruction of property and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, officials said.

“Child Protective Services took possession of the children to release them to a responsible family member,” officials said.

©2024 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The discovery was made Wednesday on Corolla and involved a month-old filly named Esther, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund reported in a Facebook post.

“Esther was found alone with her parents nowhere in sight,” the fund said. “We immediately jumped into action and reached out to residents in the area to help us keep an eye on Esther while our staff and other helpers went to look for her mother.”

It is not unheard of for mares to reject foals when offspring are sickly and not likely to survive. One such case led to a foal named Elsa being euthanized in June after her mother rejected her.

However, that didn’t stop the fund staff from searching for Esther’s extended family, in hopes of a reunion. It was found about an hour later, a quarter-mile away and on the other side of a canal, officials said.

“Under the direction of our herd managers and vet, Esther was safely captured and taken back to her mother,” the fund reported.

“She immediately began to nurse and seems no worse for wear. But the situation could have had a very different ending if it were not for everyone who jumped in to help.”

Video of the reunion was shared on Facebook.

It remains unclear how Esther ended up alone, but it did not appear to be intentional.

“It just happens sometimes,” the fund wrote. “Most likely … the foal was sleeping and parents moved on without realizing she wasn’t with them, and then mom couldn’t hear her calling for them.”

Esther was deemed in perfect health at the time of her birth, and her mother is “very experienced” at raising foals, the fund reported in June.

It happened Saturday, June 29, near Winnabow and involved a bull named Popeye known to rule the pond, according to wildlife photographer Kathy Sykes. Winnabow is about a 145-mile drive south of Raleigh.

The attacker is an 11-foot “dragon king,” and the victim was clearly a younger gator of about 7 feet, she says.

“That smaller gator was swimming for its life but Popeye‘s massive size and strength overpowered it. Some distance away, I heard a sickening splash and knew the outcome,” Sykes wrote in a Facebook post.

“I was transfixed, unable to look away, viewing the unimaginable. Yes, I know alligators are cannibalistic. Yes, I know big bulls fiercely defend their territory but I wasn’t prepared to witness the scene unfolding before my very eyes.”

Much of the struggle played out below the surface, but Sykes was recording as the larger alligator surfaced with its rival gripped by the neck.

The smaller male was still alive, but paralyzed and clearly helpless. The 15-second video ends with the two slowly sinking below the surface.

“I heard a 7 footer emit that all too familiar electronic cry that hatchlings make calling for their mama. It was several octaves lower and much weaker, but unmistakably a plaintively cry for help,” she said. “I hung around long enough to see its limp body.”

Sykes initially feared the bull had senselessly attacked and killed a beloved (and spunky) female named Olive. However, the carcass was confirmed to be that of a male, she says.

“I have been shooting this particular (male) gator for over 15 years and have witnessed him charging others innumerable times, (but) never saw him kill,” Sykes told McClatchy News in an interview. “It’s so instantaneous. It’s unfathomable the speed of these attacks.”

It happened just before 1 a.m. Friday, May 31, at Val Ward Cadillac in Fort Myers, about a 130-mile drive south of Tampa.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says the “unusual 911 call” lead deputies directly to witness and suspect.

“A female (stated) that she was attempting to steal a vehicle from the dealership parking lot and wanted the police to know,” the sheriff’s office said in a video posted June 5 on Facebook.

“Deputies arrived on scene and observed (the suspect) exiting the side of the stolen (Toyota) Corolla.”

The woman then explained that she was participating in “a game of Black Ops to steal a car” and hoped telling deputies in advance would “make the carjacking legal,” officials said.

It didn’t.

However, the timely arrival of deputies did prevent her from being charged with grand theft.

The 37-year-old woman was instead charged with trespassing on accusations of entering the dealership parking lot after closing, according to a report. It is her sixth arrest since 2005, jail records show.

A search of the dealership revealed a door had been left open on an Audi A5, but there was no evidence of vehicles being stolen, officials said.