August 5, 2025 • 5 mins
"Did the early settlers name it Fort Dingleberry… or was it just some kids with a sharpie and a dream?"In this hilariously offbeat segment of The Ben and Skin Show, Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray dive headfirst into one of the strangest local news stories you’ll ever hear: the mysterious rise and fall of Fort Dingleberry, a rogue treehouse in Durham, North Carolina. What starts as a quirky news quickie quickly spirals into a laugh-out-loud exploration of childhood forts, questionable naming decisions, and the eternal magic of treehouse dreams.From Ben’s nostalgic musings about couch cushion forts to KT’s revelation of a concrete “fort” that might’ve been something far more adult (“That was an outdoor sex dungeon!”), this episode is packed with gut-busting moments, unexpected tangents, and pure comedic gold.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Give me that news quickie.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Weird one in North Carolina here, and I'm not let
the news people just handle this to the best of
their abilities.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Keep listening very closely.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
In the middle, though, somebody built a small fort on
a nature preserve in Durham and it was recently torn
down by the town's conservation committee.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well Fox sixty wants.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Jameel Johnson has more on that and why it was removed.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Rip Fort Dingleberry.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Community members in Durham are dealing with the loss of
a treehouse built on a trail of open space in
near Sawmill Road. For many in the area, this is
their first time hearing of Fort Dingleberry. Ben never saw
the fort in person, but when he heard the news
of Fort Dingleberry getting removed, he knew it sounded eerily
similar to the one his peers were building.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
You know, I'm a gay man and I'm playing baseball.
Excuse me, I watched a documentary on the Unibomber last night.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
This hangout spot was removed due to it being on
town land and having several safety concerns for the town's
Conservation commission and Durham Jamiel Jonathan Fox sixty one.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Okay, sixty one.
Speaker 6 (01:01):
How he didn't have to say Fort Dingleberry that many times?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
He could have just said the fourth, the structure or whatever.
It all said.
Speaker 7 (01:10):
Interesting of a story, Honestly, it's not. I shouldn't be
history something. It's called Fort Dingleberry. But his delivery is
amazing too.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Who named it?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
That?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Is there a sign called that?
Speaker 6 (01:20):
Well? They think some kids put it out, but it's
like somebody officially named it that. Why couldn't you just
say there's a fort.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
In the woods. It's not like a it's a it's
like some sort of historical land point or something.
Speaker 7 (01:31):
We have to protect and preserve Fort Dingleberry historical mark.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
We don't know if the early settlers named it this.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, this can't be like what happened in nineteen ninety
two with fortaint a right.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Captain ebenez Er Dingleberry named it this. We must honor that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It was a kid that they had interviewed named Ben.
I decided to answer Ben. So last night, like I know,
I shouldn't have been I should have been watching the
Billy Joel documentary. I went and just went to my
hard drive and typed in Dingleberry to see if said
I hear that again.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Somebody built a small fort on a nature preserve in
Durham and it was recently torn down by the town's
conservation committee.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Well Fox six two wants JAML.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Johnson has more on that and why it was removed.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Rip Fort Dingleberry. Community members in Durham are dealing with
the loss of a treehouse built on a trail of
open space in near Sawmill Road. For many in the area,
this is their first time hearing of Fort Dingleberry. Ben
never saw the ford in person, but when he heard
the news of Fort Dingleberry getting removed, he knew it
sounded eerily similar to the one his peers were building.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
You know, I'm a gay man and I'm playing baseball.
Excuse me, I watched a documentary in the Unibomber last night.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
This hangout spot was removed due to it being on
town land and having several safety concerns for the town's
Conservation Commission and Durham Jamiel Jonathan Fox sixty one.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Okay, wait, hold on?
Speaker 7 (02:53):
Was that the only part of the clip where he
was on site somewhere I don't know at the beginning
of the clip because it sound like he did it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And actually the Cadence is Ai Cadence.
Speaker 7 (03:03):
Yeah, so his whole report, he's in his studio and
then at the very end he signs off.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, vo at the station. But here I was here
though that.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Why yeah, all on Channel sixty one.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Do you guys ever hang out in forts growing up?
I mean, yeah, dude, ye city, So like.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Forts are everything, dude. You forts are like whoa, dude.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
You start with couch cushion forts, Okay, start in the
living room. You start small, and then you dream of
one day having a tree house or something, and you
have this idea that you'll be able to build something extraordinary,
and you rarely do. It's usually crappy. But yeah, absolutely
forts are huge.
Speaker 7 (03:39):
I can't tell you how much I love and especially
in movies at the top of gigantic trees, treehouse villages
like e walks and stuff. Yeah, you're the whole idea
of just a whole community up at the top of
the trees with like little rope bridges going from under
the next. I just think that's so damn cool man.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I was saying, for me, a fort is concrete in nature,
just because growing up the babysitter for me was my
great aunt and she lived right outside of town and
she had the Hadsome land in the back and it
was called basically the back right there, like a backyard
the back, and it's like stretches out because but in
(04:22):
it for whatever reason, and I'm probably exaggerating how tall
it is. It's probably five feet tall, but as a
square for that you can get inside of hell. Yeah,
but like would have been a shelter in war times
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
It was.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
It like a storm shelter.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I don't know, I truly don't know the origins of it,
but it was a storm shelter concrete.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But you can get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's got no top though, it had no top, right,
so it was open you get in it.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
But you're, oh, dude, that was an outdoor sex dungeon. Yeah,
it was very common in the country. Was how big
was it?
Speaker 5 (04:59):
I think.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
We see When I was a kid, I thought it
was big, but it's probably not that big the size
of a bed.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, I haven't been there in years, saying.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's funny the way that stuff works, man, just shrinks
over time. You go back. I thought this was huge.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yes, I remember being little enough to like you'd have
to get help from the older kids to pull you
into it, and you play for like hide and.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Seek or something or whatever. There's some little sport talk.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Yep, there's a little fort talk Fort Jangleberry Rest in
Peace coming up.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
In just over three minutes. We go around the sports.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
Major League Baseball has a controversy on their hands, and
the Rangers are doing good stuff again. We'll discuss next
Give me that news quickie.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Weird one in North Carolina here, and I'm not let
the news people just handle this to the best of
their abilities.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Keep listening very closely.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
In the middle, though, somebody built a small fort on
a nature preserve in Durham and it was recently torn
down by the town's conservation committee.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well Fox sixty wants.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Jameel Johnson has more on that and why it was removed.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Rip Fort Dingleberry.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Community members in Durham are dealing with the loss of
a treehouse built on a trail of open space in
near Sawmill Road. For many in the area, this is
their first time hearing of Fort Dingleberry. Ben never saw
the fort in person, but when he heard the news
of Fort Dingleberry getting removed, he knew it sounded eerily
similar to the one his peers were building.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
You know, I'm a gay man and I'm playing baseball.
Excuse me, I watched a documentary on the Unibomber last night.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
This hangout spot was removed due to it being on
town land and having several safety concerns for the town's
Conservation commission and Durham Jamiel Jonathan Fox sixty one.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Okay, sixty one.
Speaker 6 (01:01):
How he didn't have to say Fort Dingleberry that many times?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
He could have just said the fourth, the structure or whatever.
It all said.
Speaker 7 (01:10):
Interesting of a story, Honestly, it's not. I shouldn't be
history something. It's called Fort Dingleberry. But his delivery is
amazing too.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Who named it?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
That?
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Is there a sign called that?
Speaker 6 (01:20):
Well? They think some kids put it out, but it's
like somebody officially named it that. Why couldn't you just
say there's a fort.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
In the woods. It's not like a it's a it's
like some sort of historical land point or something.
Speaker 7 (01:31):
We have to protect and preserve Fort Dingleberry historical mark.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
We don't know if the early settlers named it this.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, this can't be like what happened in nineteen ninety
two with fortaint a right.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Captain ebenez Er Dingleberry named it this. We must honor that.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It was a kid that they had interviewed named Ben.
I decided to answer Ben. So last night, like I know,
I shouldn't have been I should have been watching the
Billy Joel documentary. I went and just went to my
hard drive and typed in Dingleberry to see if said
I hear that again.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Somebody built a small fort on a nature preserve in
Durham and it was recently torn down by the town's
conservation committee.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Well Fox six two wants JAML.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Johnson has more on that and why it was removed.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Rip Fort Dingleberry. Community members in Durham are dealing with
the loss of a treehouse built on a trail of
open space in near Sawmill Road. For many in the area,
this is their first time hearing of Fort Dingleberry. Ben
never saw the ford in person, but when he heard
the news of Fort Dingleberry getting removed, he knew it
sounded eerily similar to the one his peers were building.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
You know, I'm a gay man and I'm playing baseball.
Excuse me, I watched a documentary in the Unibomber last night.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
This hangout spot was removed due to it being on
town land and having several safety concerns for the town's
Conservation Commission and Durham Jamiel Jonathan Fox sixty one.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Okay, wait, hold on?
Speaker 7 (02:53):
Was that the only part of the clip where he
was on site somewhere I don't know at the beginning
of the clip because it sound like he did it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And actually the Cadence is Ai Cadence.
Speaker 7 (03:03):
Yeah, so his whole report, he's in his studio and
then at the very end he signs off.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yeah, vo at the station. But here I was here
though that.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Why yeah, all on Channel sixty one.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Do you guys ever hang out in forts growing up?
I mean, yeah, dude, ye city, So like.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Forts are everything, dude. You forts are like whoa, dude.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
You start with couch cushion forts, Okay, start in the
living room. You start small, and then you dream of
one day having a tree house or something, and you
have this idea that you'll be able to build something extraordinary,
and you rarely do. It's usually crappy. But yeah, absolutely
forts are huge.
Speaker 7 (03:39):
I can't tell you how much I love and especially
in movies at the top of gigantic trees, treehouse villages
like e walks and stuff. Yeah, you're the whole idea
of just a whole community up at the top of
the trees with like little rope bridges going from under
the next. I just think that's so damn cool man.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I was saying, for me, a fort is concrete in nature,
just because growing up the babysitter for me was my
great aunt and she lived right outside of town and
she had the Hadsome land in the back and it
was called basically the back right there, like a backyard
the back, and it's like stretches out because but in
(04:22):
it for whatever reason, and I'm probably exaggerating how tall
it is. It's probably five feet tall, but as a
square for that you can get inside of hell. Yeah,
but like would have been a shelter in war times
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
It was.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
It like a storm shelter.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I don't know, I truly don't know the origins of it,
but it was a storm shelter concrete.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But you can get into it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's got no top though, it had no top, right,
so it was open you get in it.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
But you're, oh, dude, that was an outdoor sex dungeon. Yeah,
it was very common in the country. Was how big
was it?
Speaker 5 (04:59):
I think.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
We see When I was a kid, I thought it
was big, but it's probably not that big the size
of a bed.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, I haven't been there in years, saying.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's funny the way that stuff works, man, just shrinks
over time. You go back. I thought this was huge.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yes, I remember being little enough to like you'd have
to get help from the older kids to pull you
into it, and you play for like hide and.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Seek or something or whatever. There's some little sport talk.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
Yep, there's a little fort talk Fort Jangleberry Rest in
Peace coming up.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
In just over three minutes. We go around the sports.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
Major League Baseball has a controversy on their hands, and
the Rangers are doing good stuff again. We'll discuss next
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