Planted sometime around 1930, the grove of approximately 400 twisted pine trees known as the Crooked Forest is located near Gryfino, Poland. Each of the pine trees in the Crooked Forest bend just above ground level and then curve back upwards but no one exactly knows why. It is possible that they were made that way on purpose and some people believe that it could have been accomplished with techniques similar to those used by boat builders. Others believe that it happened naturally but since there are no other sites like it on the planet it remains a mystery.
There is a story that some local men planted the trees with the purpose of using the timbers for boats. This is one possible explanation for the trees being curved in such a manner, but leaves a lot more questions than it provides answers.
The Crooked Forest remained relatively unknown till the 1970s because the small town in which they are located was demolished by WWII. It was not till people started to move back to the region that the strange forest started to gain international notoriety.
Crooked Forest Facts
- When the trees were planted the region was within the German province of Pomerania.
- The crooked trees have an average height of approximately 15 meters.
- The forest around the crooked trees consists of straight trees of about the same age.
- The Crooked Forest covers an area of roughly 1.7 hectares.
- The trees grew straight for seven to ten years before they were bent.
- The strangely curved trees are in arranged in roughly 22 rows (which lends credibility to the theory that it was done on purpose).
