Identification: Red Fuzzy Sticky Stalk with berries or buds

I live on ten wooded acres and have combed through the land to find another specimen like this...no such luck! It's about 18" - 24" with lighter colored hair-like fuzz on it...it is sticky to touch. I can't tell if the orbs at the top of the stalk are berries or flower buds... It is growing along the side of a very old unused skid road, in the shade of other leafy plants.

I am so curious what this thing is! Any ideas?

 

Pterospora andromedea.

Can sometimes be very common in small localities (where it is easy to see 20-30 plants in a few minutes of back road driving), but more often I just see the occasional plant.

 

Wow! How cool! Thanks for your help! :-)