FRISCO, N.C. — A popular out-of-this-world tourist attraction near the North Carolina coast has been destroyed in a fire, according to the Frisco Fire Department.
“The ‘Spaceship’ is no more,” the fire department wrote on Facebook, sharing pictures showing the burned husk of a structure that looks like a UFO. The fire was reported Wednesday night.
Frisco’s UFO House was actually a kit home called a “Futuro House.” According to TheFuturoHouse.com, the uniquely shaped structure was first invented in the 1960s as a portable ski chalet. Since then, people have bought the kits and set up homes all over the world.
If you’ve taken a trip to Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina, you probably saw the structure. Dozens of people shared their memories of the UFO on the Frisco Fire Department’s Facebook page, with a common refrain lamenting the loss.
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“Always made it a point to stop at the UFO,” wrote Gina Klimkiewicz on Facebook.
“We’ve always shown it to guests whom we would invite to vacation with us. Gonna really miss it!” Edward Sneed said in a Facebook comment.
“We have so many wonderful memories of this place and the owner was so very pleasant!” Lisa Damante posted, along with a photo of two family members in front of the house.
The owner of the house, James Bagwell, told North Carolina PBS that the home is “the second-most photographed thing in Dare County.”
“The only other thing is the lighthouse itself,” Bagwell told PBS.
According to Bagwell, the Futuro House had been in the Outer Banks for more than 50 years.
The cause of the fire wasn’t released on Thursday.
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