The mystery of Poland's Crooked Forest

[no kudzu]

I've never heard of this. I go with the last theory. What do you think caused it?

What Could Have Caused Poland's Crooked Forest? | IFLScience

[Mr. In-Between]

That makes the most sense to me, too. The one thing that we know for sure is that when those trees were saplings, something broke them off at a 90-degree angle, and they then continued their growth with that 90-degree bend in their trunks. It's not uncommon for a windstorm to do that to a group of trees, but it would be a little unusual for trees that small to be blown flat by the wind - they just don't offer that much wind resistance, and their trunks are too flexible. The fact that it occurs only over a small area also tends to rule out a windstorm.

Some human activity is probably the most likely guess, and the idea they were bent that way to form some sort of structural component is as good a guess as any. It sure is interesting, though, isn't it? I love coming across mysteries like that when I'm out hiking.

[PAhippo]

that's really strange and fascinating.


Probably something we'll never know. My vote tho': a herd of hippos walked through there.

[Mr. In-Between]

That was my first thought too (because it seemed so obvious), but then I realized the trees wouldn't have been bent north. They'd have been bent to the south, because that's the direction they'd have been walking if they were trying to get home!

[no kudzu]

That would have been a very large and slow herd of hippos but that theory is just as good as any I guess plus it is more fun to imagine than a howling wind.

[North Beach Person]

Some Ancient Alien theorists believe..................and so on.

[Woodrow LI]

The simple last theory is the most probable. Man done.

Sort of like growing rockers for rocking chairs. I suspect there was a furniture factory in the town and those trees would have been cut at about 5 years old and made into rockers for rocking chairs if WW2 had not intervened

The concept of growing your own furniture is actually far from new - both the Egyptians and Greeks made chairs using this technique - but apart from agriculture implements and walking sticks with right angled handles, most controlled tree growth in recent times has been decorative.

SOURCE

As a kid I can recall some old time farmers bending saplings to grow into specific shapes for things like tool handles, chair backs etc.

A few interesting articles

HERE

HERE

I also remember some old Amish furniture makers that would tie young saplings into curves to "Grow" Chair backs.

[no kudzu]

interesting. thanks for the links.

[Yac]

This fun story gets re cycled and re posted once a year online, and you're all in luck - I can shed some light on it. How ? Well, I lived in the town of Gryfino where this forest is for 14 or so years. There is no doubt among locals that the cause of this was simple and completely mundane - the trees were planted by a local artist who made furniture. He's responsible for the shape. In addition, only a handful of these trees remain now, most were cut down long ago - all the pictures I see online are somewhat misleading as the view is anything but spectacular, just a couple dozen bent trees in the middle of a regular forest... in the shadow of a rather big coal power plant
I enjoy this however as it's the only time my 25k + people hometown gets some international recognition
Yac.

[no kudzu]

Thanks Yac for "the rest of the story".