Crooked Forest: the mystery of the deformed trees of Gryfino (10 photos)

Not far from the Polish town of Gryfino there is a forest. Very strange, because almost four hundred trees in it are bent at an angle of 90 degrees. After the bend, the tree continues to grow upward, forming a lateral C-shaped retreat.





At the same time, deformed trees do not look sick and do not die, which, given their considerable age (the forest appeared around the 30s), is especially strange.

Selection and production of harps



The first attempt to explain the strange shape of the trees of the Crooked Forest was a version with experiments carried out by the Germans who lived here before the Second World War.





Harp blanks

The second version combines both pragmatic and romantic explanations. The specific shape of the trunks is necessary in the manufacture of furniture, musical instruments, and in shipbuilding. And without modern technologies, we still had to run for suitable trees. Therefore, the craftsmen, as they say, could prepare the sleigh in the summer - they specially bent the seedlings in order to obtain a suitable preparation in a few years. True, experts are skeptical about this version: such wood is not suitable for carpentry. Romantically inclined lovers of secrets suggested that a master who made harps lived in the vicinity. And especially for future musical instruments, he tied up trees at the seedling stage. But why are all the bends directed in one direction?



For this case, another version has already been prepared. According to it, a breeder lived here, who was puzzled by the goal of creating a forest where it would be impossible to get lost. Whether fairy tales began or whether he had personal motives and complexes is unknown. But the possible result of his experiments was this forest.



The simplest version, without a touch of mysticism, says that for some reason the trees were broken and then tied up, after which they remained that way. Or there was a strong storm, after which the surviving but damaged trees again reached for the sun.

Witch and negative energy



But if the previous versions were more or less realistic, then lovers of mysticism could not ignore the version with a witch. Quite kind, who simply preferred loneliness and life in the wilderness over the company of people.



One day, lumberjacks showed up in the forest surrounding her house. They desperately needed to get hold of raw materials for something very important. But the hermit didn’t like the idea, and the woman bewitched the trees. When the guys with axes and saws tried to get to work, the trunks began to bend like snakes to strangle people. It is clear that the woodcutters gave in. And the forest giants froze in this form as an edification to others.



However, now no one will be able to commit villainy in the Crooked Forest - the territory is recognized as a natural monument and is protected. An attempt to explain the curvature by bad energy, due to which there are no birds and insects in the forest, also failed. Both are in abundance. It’s just that in the pine part, as in any other forest, they are less active compared to deciduous ones.



A couple more original versions are radiation and low-quality planting material. But if the first is scientifically dismissed (instruments show normal background radiation), then the second is very funny. According to it, lazy foresters collected low-quality planting material - they took cones from crooked pine trees in several generations. Which gave birth to the modern Twisted Forest and its mystery.



What factor do you think made the trees this way?