If You Find A Bent Tree In The Forest, You May Have Just Stumbled Upon A Centuries Old Secret
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- Опубликовано: 24 июн 2018
- Trees come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors - but one of their few unifying characteristics is that they stand tall, reaching up toward the sky. If you look for long enough, though, you’ll eventually come across trees with crooked trunks and weird kinks. And if you find one of these, then you may have chanced upon a long-forgotten secret.Dennis Downes grew up close to Lake Michigan, on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin. With a growing love of nature, he spent his childhood playing in the forests near his home. And here there were trees quite unlike any of the flora surrounding them.
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As a boy I was in the forest with my grandpa, he was a shipbuilder and sailor. After carefully searching for the right sapling he tied it into a loose knot. About 5-6 years later we walked by the same tree. It had a bit of a kink, and a huge burl at the knot. He cut the sapling down and fashioned a cane from it, using the burl as the handle.
When I walk the forest these days I see signs of him - trees twisted together in spirals, tunnels formed with living trees, and a huge “bowl” made of 8 oak trees, planted together, but bent out at the root.
I wish I had learned a lot more from him
wish you had pics!
@@tenaciousbeep1802 that’s a great idea! I’ll see what I can do, but it’ll be a while before I’m back in that part of the world. I’ll post a link here eventually 👍
My mother still has the cane too
What a wonderful tribute to and memory of your grandfather. The cane is a treasured family HEIRLOOM!
❤
When I was a kid I made kind of a "hut" in the woods by my house. I took saplings and bent them over, tying their tops to the base of other saplings, which in turn were bent over and tied to other saplings. I used about 10 saplings in a circle and covered it with sticks and leaves. Imagine my surprise when I was walking by that long forgotten "hut" 10 years later and all of the trees had kept growing. From a distance it looked like a huge crown. Shortly after that someone bought the woods and turned it into a housing development. They bulldozed most of the trees and my "hut."
I'm glad you got to see it before it was cleared.
Sorry xxx
What you created was more beautiful than any modern housing development
And you had huge fun shinnying up those saplings to bend them over! My version of the hut is in maple, and now 30 years old. I haven't seen it in 20, but it is in a PA state forest, so no developers.
Moral of the story: the machine comes for all. Be absorbed
when i was 8 years on this earth i lived on top of wye mountain in arkansas. we had forty acres of land chocked full of old forest. my favorite tree was a tree such as these bent trees in the video. some days it was my horse, others my jet! i spent hours of my childhood playing on and around that old tree. i’m inspired to go there now and see if it’s still standing, 50 years later.
On my property I just moved onto. I stumbled up on a hidden creek. I have been drawn the this creek as I walked further and followed it into a very secluded well hidden meadow or field I found the strangest trees. All like these but one in particular is the strangest. There are stone foundation ruins as well as the most beautiful streams and plant life and herbs growing within this site I've seen. I have found arrow heads. Spear heads and tanning tools. Due to the season and cold weather and rain it's hard to do much study but I can say it is very sacred and unseen by people for many many years. The creek itself when the water is shallow is a treasure trove. I am looking to buy the rest if the land to preserve it. Thank you for this video. I will post a video of my walk through the creek and marker trees. But for now I keep this place sacred and secret.
you might want to inform the local natives and/or archeologists about that location. They would have an interest in documenting and preserving it.
@@clausroquefort9545 I will do so
@@Merrybearskyvideo?
@@eetuthereindeer6671 I will post one
Please please post a video or at least pictures!
I hope you successfully bought the rest of the property and will preserve that area.
Also please invite archaeologists from a local university or museum in to do some work. Do not hire an archaeological company, who comes in before development… they will ruin your site. Archaeologists from museums or universities will do the site justice.
In the UK Oak trees like this were shaped in the same way to be used in the construction of vaulted roof beams and for building ships. They would have the same strength as straight beams but require no joining to go around a corner, making ships and roofs much stronger. They didn't really go for "Just in time" manufacturing methods in those days.
I heard about this in a lecture by Terrence Mckenna, that there are churches that have these trees out front that are used for beams in the roof, and just when the beam is rotten and not able to be used any more, the new tree is grown and ready to be used for the new support.
@@russelllukenbill that’s pretty cool!!
Except they were then cut down and used for that purpose, so none of them would be standing today. Folks didn't go through that trouble and then not use the tree.
@@sasachiminesh1204 It's not something you do today and use tomorrow. They were thinking 50-100 years ahead, they didn't know that ships would one day be made of steel and buildings would have different construction.
In the Gulf Coast, near Pensacola is a Naval Oaks preserve. It's part of the Gulf National Seashore. The Live Oaks were set aside by the Navy for shipbuilding and there were lots of trees like this.
The property I grew up on had some trees like this. I never knew why they were like that but looking back on it now...they were all leading to an area that had multiple natural springs.
Interesting
The Aboriginals of Australia used marker trees they had a different technique but basically with the same purpose these people could have taught us so much but their ways have been mostly lost . But to there credit these people still live on.👍
@Whiterun Guard
Ones that have to be felled for whatever reason offer unique opportunities for woodworking. Shapes that are normally impossible to get in one piece without softening wood to bend it in hot water can be made without that extra trouble. Seamless archway for a door would look amazing!
@@Bok2022st
I watched a YT video on how the Aboriginal people are now being treated and killed in Australia, and found it so disgusting. How can this Racist Genocidal shit continue on in this day and age is beyond me? I used to think highly of Australia as an American ally, not so much after seeing such hateful crap.
Hardwood trees which grew in these shapes, were and still are, prized by wooden ship builders for structural parts of the frame. With the grain following the bends of the growth, the knees of a ship could be made from a single piece of wood, rather than pieced together. Knees of a boat/ship are like gussets which strengthen the joints between larger pieces of the frame. I've read that areas of civilization that took on the building of large wooden boats/ships, would intentionally cause trees in the vicinity to grow in such shapes, for use after they matured to build more boats.
I have photographed several of these tree ( mostly maple or oak) near shallow river crossings, natural topographical area described as gorges, and near natural spring clusters at headwater springs. Upper Peninsula tribal elders have drank of those springs and traveled those corridors in their youth. They are starkly unique in appearance. However, being nearly 80 years old, I have witnessed this phenomenon be created by larger falling trees upon smaller ones over decades in areas of solitude, revealed in the deep roadless forest. I appreciate the conscious respect for aboriginal legacies. Miig’wech Riverwalker🦅🙏🍀
I have a favorite tree in the forest by my house. It started to fall sometime many many years ago, but it was caught by several trees in its path, so the roots never fully tore, they just lifted halfway out of the ground and created a small hill. The main tree kept growing across the trees that caught it, bending those trees over time, and a brand new tree sprung straight up from the roots at the base. So it became two trees from one root system, the original one growing at an angle and the newer one straight up. A bunch of mushrooms spring up on the root hill too. Its an amazing little spot to go and be in awe of nature.
Edit: The tree in question is in the woods around Proud Lake. Commerce, Michigan.
Are you trying to disprove the marker tree information here?
@@virginiamoss7045 One plausible explanation is that this bending phenomenon was occasionally observed occurring naturally and then was adopted and utilized for navigation purposes, building with curved lumber etc.
@@jsvoable Absolutely. Native Americans did the same but used the results differently and long, long before ship-building.
@@virginiamoss7045 Interesting. What's the the evidence for this? Ship building is a practice thousands of years old in many parts of the world.
Fellow Michigander and disc golf course enthusiast, I see much of the same thing all over the woods. It’s amazing how resilient plants are, especially trees. Quite a phenomenon . On my property there are many trees that fell like that and actually started growing into the other trees branches.
There is a bent tree like this on the bank of the Deschutes River in Oregon about a quarter mile upstream from Benham Falls. The location suggests that it marks the last place a traveler going downstream can safely land a canoe before being swept over the falls (which would likely be fatal).
Go dig around the base of it if it’s allowed. You’ll find arrow and spear heads. Beads….all kinds of shyte
I know that tree!
@@pgfairbanks go dig around it
Ned, it would seem like there were faster ways of constructing a "signal" for the falls. Could it be that during a flood (frequent I imagine), that another tree landed on it and bent it into this shape? Just sayin, but I love the story ntl. Hell, you might be right, who's to say.
you see trees like that everywhere when you hike long enough
They were also created by shipwrights. Saplings would be tied so they would grow to certain shapes that when harvested they would have grown naturally in the shape of keels, keel-sons, and other parts of a wooden ships frame. By the mid 1800's this practice was almost completely abandon as iron ship building techniques had been developed.
That’s an ingenious method, my goodness. Must take a long time though
Wow! Very interesting. Thank you.
This is true, but those wanting to disbelieve these marker trees and call it natural circumstances will have to also disbelieve this shipbuilding practice which is very well documented. Why are some humans so closed to logical explanations? Might it have to do with the fact that native Americans were involved instead of white Europeans? I suspect so.
Unless the tree is over 250 years old it is just a crooked tree.
Thank you.
At the Polynesian cultural center on Oahu, I met a man who researched and reenacted ancient Hawaiian ship building. He told me his ancestors would shape growing trees like this to harvest for specific parts of the ship once grown.
Your theory sounds more plausible than this yawn worthy load of bunkum. This nasal sounding narrator does talk over, on so many videos I get sick of him.
@@HookBeak_66 Amen. So darn annoying and chose to read the comments instead.
I've seen trees like these while working for the Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest. Heavy snow forces young saplings over. Once the snow melts, the trees recover, and grow normally.
What you saying not man made
So they are not trail marker trees.
Depends the age of the trees the logs out west were cut alot more recently, also the intricate highway system of trails is confirmed out east not sure about that out west
@@AcrosstheTraxks what kind of highway? Can you tell me about it? Who made it? I've seen several of these in cali
I've seen similar in Florida... with no snow though?
These also happen naturally. Ive got like 12 of them in my back yard that are still growing. When a dead tree, or limb falls on top of a sapling, it pins the sapling to the ground but doesn’t really hurt it. We had a wind storm in the late 90’s up here that took down half the trees in the forest. But when a sapling is pinned it still searches out light so the top half slowly bends and grows vertical again making the double 90 bend you see in these photos. If you look at the second bend (at the base of the final vertical section) they are rounded almost perfectly. Indicating that it was likely bent back vertical slowly over time. And also that it could have been up against a rounded object when it went vertical again. Like the circumference of a tree. Anyway, ive got a handful of now 8 foot or so saplings with double 90’s at their base. In a few more years they will make fine wooden canes with excellent natural handles.
Best explanation . Thank you
Don't tell the History Channel, they'll make a 5 season show from your place.
yep that's the only way I know this to happen, me being raised in the woods. Nothing special or fancy purpose, just life finding a way
Both causes are true. I've seen both situations in my travels.
@@feedigli agreed. Lots would be natural and some could be manipulated.
we have a tree like this on our ranch and have found arrowheads underneath. the tree is probably 200 yards from our mound. the mound and tree are surrounded by 2 creeks that connect. it's fascinating to discover history on our own place.
Growing up on my grandparents land there was a marker tree, we even used it for our own trails, as youngsters we’d refer to it as the “butt tree”, what’s honestly baffling is the consistency in the bends and shaping, it was without a doubt Native American made, I hope to one day explore that area again and catalog my findings, we found anything from Native American artifacts to 1800’s dump sites, that land was full of history.
My family has a farm out in the country and nearly the same thing, Indian artifacts and an old dump have been found, as well as one of these marker trees. I hope to travel it’s path and document what I find as well, Godspeed to you.
Exactly
It would be interesting to draw up a map of these trees, and see the resulting trails!
Great idea!
Almost like in RDR2 lol
I think they got washed out from glacial melt
I see them around creek beds in my area
there is one already.\
Back in the late '60s and early '70s, we did similar things to trees on my grandpa's farm as most of it was heavily wooded. Most of the northern and western boundary didn't have any marks so when we were about to figure that out, we arched several small saplings at various points along it. Occasionally, we'd take a few, tie them together, and bend them toward the house, so that if we ran into them at night, we'd know the way even if we couldn't make out landmarks. I haven't been there in 20 years, and I have no idea if they are still there or not. The family doesn't have it anymore, so not much chance of spending a day looking for them now.
1000% still there. But you’d be surprised to see they haven’t gotten all that big in all those years.
We have one of these trees on our place in Texas. It's a known Tonkawa encampment, and was even excavated by a university. We occasionally still find arrow heads in the area. The tree may point to the river, which is 2-3 miles away, or maybe to a spring that has since dried up.
When the tree is young it can be pruned into any shape desired by the gardner. My grandfather did this for an interest and had grown trees into many shapes.
Back in the days when ships were built from timber trees were encouraged to grow in shapes needed by the ship builders.
Cheers Gray
That’s what I’ve learned too, people did this in my country (Norway) back in the day. It can also be done to bend wood (it becomes very strong) for use in more artistic architecture.
It’s like hedge sculptures on steroids
@@DevinMcSalty no lol it's different than that. Closer to a Bonsai Tree
The thing about this theory is you have to start the bending process 30 to 50 years before you're ready to build your ship. It might be true these trees were cut for this use but for the modern day man to have a tree this big with this bend native American basically would have had to start this process. I've dug many native artifact from around these tree. At the Jersey shore they are long know as a marker for fertile summer hunting land for the Iroquois who spent the summers here hunting and fish them migrating west to winter over far from the shore where they are all over in the pinelands and almost everyone is an old growth cedar tree which are very flexible when small. Then bend the 2 opposite lower branches and let the main stem grow up straight and the 2 side branches look like goal posts. I found one with the lower 4 growing up. I considered cutting it and using the 4 branches as a set of legs and the main trunk could hold a massive table top. It is sitting at the bend of a creek and due to erosion it is going to fall over into the creek which is the only reason I would cut this marvel down. It's the craziest sight it has 4 equal branches growing almost perfectly square around 10 inches but the base below the 4 is over 2 feet. Nature did not do this. No how no way. Nature doesn't make early clay pots and flint arrowheads and deposit it around these trees 3specially when flint is not a natural stone you find at the Jersey shore. We even find bone tools that were hardened in a fire used to scrape hides and some as drill bits for putting holes in wood. Nature does deform trees also but these bent branches were tied down by natives then the branch wound turn to bend towards the sun on its own all they had to do was bend the branch, secure it out to the side for a set distance then allowed to turn itself to the sun so they could make these perfect goal post looking trees. Some were cut at the top around 50 years later and carved and we're said to be totem poles that told stories of the area and how good the hunting and fishing was
@@jeanponce2017 Most of the main streets in your town (assuming US idk why), were the original foot highways of whoever thought that area was the shit and started building.
You're overthinking this lol.
And, outside of the US, 30-50 years isn't long for cultures that have been building ships for thousands of years lmao.
My Grandmother told me the Indians would deform trees to mark their trails.I believe it was back in the late 1950's when she told me this.I have one of these trees on my land located in Auburn, NH. Thank you for this videos as it brought back memories of my Grandmother
I was told this also. Where I live if you find one, you can usually see another way off, and so on. Until you find a fence or a posted sign.
I have one, too, and there are 18 in my small county in north Georgia where the Cherokee had a rather advanced and thriving population until Europeans came. There's a rare pine one next to a river in north Florida on my grandparents property. Mountain Stewards has a web site pinpointing with photographs and coordinates marker trees all the way down to the tip of South America and north into Canada.
Saplings were tied down in the direction of where to find water.
@@deborahpalmer8298 Yes, sometimes, but there could possibly other reasons, like navigation, as well. We don't really know for sure though there has been some corroboration from elders passing down knowledge from those earlier times.
@ Virginia Moss, I rely on the validity of Indigenous knowledge and storytelling. But like you say, we don't really know about other reasons.
I’m 73 and I remember my dad always telling me this and showing me a few trees like this.
Southwestern Michigan right near Lake Michigan in the town of Bridgman and also on my grandparents farm near Texas Corners Michigan. Also used to find a lot of arrowheads on my grandfathers farm.
Fond memories
I was using one as a handy place to sit while hunting deer in Northern MIchigan 50 years ago. It was near a small swamp and next to an ancient, worn down trail. It was very large at the time and probably is gone, but I should try and find it again and relive part of my youth.
I seen trees like this a lot when I was young. As a child we would walk thru the woods and see trees like this. Never thought much about it but it help us know where we were in the woods
We have pine plantation trees here in south nz which are bent like that. It is caused by snow damaging the seedlings. Flattens them and damages the fibres at the stump so they cant stand up again when the snow melts so they start growing from where they can, usually resulting in bent trees.
Which is likely what happened to most of the trees in the video. The guy lived in Michigan and they get enough snow & ice that stays around for months that could’ve caused the trees to grow like this. I live in southeast Texas, however. Near the Gulf of Mexico. A 1/2 inch to an inch every few years is a blizzard for us. 😂 We do get some nasty ice storms (for us) occasionally but it all melts usually within a week or two so I don’t think it’s the cause here. I too have always been told that the trees we find here that are like this are native Indian tree markers. It makes a lot more sense here given our lack of snow but who knows? Maybe some of them are markers but most of them are probably just natural, no matter where you find them. I can think of several ways it could happen naturally. Snow and ice being one. Wind being another. I’ve seen areas that get a lot of strong sustained winds that will cause trees to grow like this. There’s a forest, I think in Japan(?) where all the trees are bent like this in the same direction because of wind. I think the more likely reason is because a tree or heavy branch fell on it early on causing it to bend over. The tree will then grow up towards the sun, exactly like the ones that are covered in snow & ice. The dead tree eventually rots away completely leaving a weirdly shaped tree.
A fallen tree over a sapling will bend it over as well... the bent tree will then grow up towards the sky (as they always do). Over time it creates the S shape and the fallen dead tree rots away. Also flooding will permanently bend a tree low too the ground, and if the tree survives will them curve upwards. There are so many reasons for this tree to form that way. Not saying a human couldn't bend a young tree like this, and I am sure there are many instances of it. But, it is going to take a long time for it to be visibly noticeable enough to be of any use while navigating the woods.. Furthermore, during the middle of the winter, that tree bend will be completely buried in snow (especially when it was younger). That makes no sense. I guess I'm skeptical.
you'll notice that all of them have a "nub" pointing at the ground. This will be where one branch was tied down to point the sapling in the desired direction. If you look at the trunks of all of these trees, the original trunk stem points up, not sideways like a tree that has fallen over. While it's possible for a a tree to naturally snag a branch in this fashion, if there are multiple trees in a row, that lead to a natural spring, or in place before a dangerous place in a trail, it's hard to just assume it was an accident.
I have one such tree on my property and I "made" it my self. A piece of marine plywood 3 feet wide, was laid carefully on the ground with sapling under it. The top of the sapling was bent up and supported. After 10 years when the sapling had turned into a 8 inch diameter tree the plywood was removed. Now it has two 90 degrees kinks and is still growing. I think this can happen naturally when a big tree blows over and lands on a sapling and don't crush it.
Exactly, they happen naturally and are not “marker trees”
There was a tree exactly like this outside my house where we used to practice shooting bows.
It was an elm tree and dad always called it the "L tree". It's been gone about 15 years (we cut it to do landscaping) but hardly anywhere else around here has been touched in miles. Im doing some hiking first chance I get.
We have the same thing on the east coast of Canada! Its basically young trees that were exposed to heavy freezing precipitation that bend them over for the winter. We have entire sections of forest that have these bent sections near the bottom.
I am thankful to know of 2 of these near my home in North Carolina and 1 is near a fresh water spring the other near a Indian settlement ,now a corn field.
I believe they should be protected from harm if possible , I am of Cherokee decent and believe nature is a very important part of all our lives.
Thank you for such a beautiful video.
@@Dougarrowhead cause you're an azz hole.
@@Dougarrowhead I can, you azz hole. I know of trees that are possibly 300- 500 yrs old.
Agree, we are nature.
@@Dougarrowhead Why?
One in an empty lot beside my grandparents old home in gamewell NC..NEVER HEARD OF THIS ITS STILL THERE AND IM ALMOST 50...
I grew up in Michigan, these trees were always a fascination. I took many photos of these unique trees.
Wow 😮Tree Prophecy. I have the most amazing tree marker story. Over 20 yrs ago I met this native American in a dream. Few years later later I had a death experience and met her in the other
world. And received many prophecies about Earth and lessons how the Universe works. I was convinced to comeback and I received a logo along with some books to re write on Earth. I trained and studied in the hills for over 10 years. There where many bent trees that I followed to sacred and hidden paths. Even one point finding a labyrinth. I was forced to move a couple a years ago. And after 10 years I see freshly grown tree in the shape of the Logo I was given. It was beyond mind blowing but confirmation that all info given to me was true. I took a picture of it before I left. And funny this vid just pops up in my feed and I here this info. Much more to this story and prophecies. Will one day share with the right people.
Thx for posting video. Be well.
The estate woodlands in Britain have many such characteristics. Some are marker trees that can be found at various junctions of paths and ancient tracks. Others are formed that way for shipbuilding and construction of timber framed structures such as crook barns. Some are simply old coppice trees that have developed into these forms through neglect after the First World War, when labour became less cost effective.
Either way, they are magnificent living history and it’s great that you highlighted them.
Hi David, do you know of where I could look into this more? I'm struggling to find examples in England. I've defiantly seen some on woodland walks, but it would be great to see if there's any write up about this in England.
My father was a timber feller during and after the Second World War, he took me on many walks in the various places he’d worked, but mostly it’s just a keen eye and personal experience wandering the copice, woods and forests that you build up a picture. I’m not aware of any literature, it’s mainly just verbal tales from generation to generation. Sadly the woodsmen are virtually gone, replaced by managers and contractors, the estates are mothballed and hopefully they will enjoy a renaissance at some point. Having spent almost an entire working life myself in an allied industry, I fear for the knowledge will soon disappear.
A great place to start would be OS maps, get into divining and discover the joys of finding routes in what little ancient woodland we have left and connect with nature.
@@matthewj.harrison116 I know of one in near where I live in a wood in North Somerset .
I have one in the woods of my house that I call “The Sitting Tree” sometimes I go there and just chill on it. After seeing this it made me fill with joy knowing about the history behind these trees
I just found a tree like this on the Appalachian trail in NC, it bent and grew towards the ground, then sharply turned back towards the sky. So cool looking.
I've seen one like that. It was in NC or VA a long time ago.
Added beauty to the woods.
I have a huge tree like this on my farm in Missouri. I always wondered about that massive tree. We played on it as children. After watching this, I realize it makes sense. My tree is near 2 old native american settlements and points toward a natural spring on land with an aquifer.
I live in Missouri too, not far from the James family farm where Jesse is buried, there's trees like that along the river everywhere.
I live in Iowa on the bluffs of the Mississippi River,there are two trees like this on our property. My grandmother told me when I was younger the Indians formed them pointing the way toward our family home because my ancestors provided bread and food to hungry Indians. After reading and hearing about pointing towards fresh water springs, it resonated with me because a fresh water spring is in the direction the trees are pointing.
I'll second the vote for tree markers in Missouri as well as a rich documented history of Native American activity throughout the state.
None remain in Missouri. Our trees done live long enough. There are a few left in Texas and some out west
I live in the PNW and we have some of these bent trees here in my neighborhood! Always thought they were strange but this makes total sense to me. We even found one at the coast near Cape Argos. So awesome I wish they had historical protection. But I guess ya can't save everything.
These tree's are also found in the UK and other European countries , they are also found in many other countries . I was told by my grandfather who was a shipwright that these tree's were bent so that when they grow they could be used on timber ships as bow keels .
Indians used these trees to lead to various places
@@gwendolynmeredith5779 Yelp out in the Water for ship biulding
Proof that native american indians were in the UK. They were very good at hiding, you see.
No evidence for this happening in England. Bent oak was sourced from trees grown in an open environment and since English Oak species are known for their lack of apical dominance they tend to grow very bent unless grown in a dense woodland where they are forced up by the light.
Farmers in uk often cut a tree and lay it down then weave the supple branches together over time to form a sort of hedge but much stronger with usually 5/8 trees growing upright in it......they aren't it's just the one tree.
amazing stuff ..... It's called low stress training when done with plants....not sure about what's it's called in forestry
I have several younger trees in my woods with these growth characteristics, and no human was responsible. The tree was pushed and bent down to some degree by another larger, naturally falling tree, rendering the smaller tree pinned down for years. The small tree, still able to survive, sends several "water sprouts" vertically out of the now horizontal trunk. The strongest sprout now becomes the main trunk and over time, it's former and now useless trunk rots away. As does the larger fallen tree which caused this. The smaller, now disfigured tree continues to grow into what we see here.
Wrong. These were done intentionally by native Americans to point a direction to a water source.
😔
@@Kenneth-mx5lxlearn to read. They are referring to their own experience with younger trees known personally to them.
That sounds interesting but I have a contradicting story. The one I have appears to be doing this strictly because it got too much phosphorus or rooting hormone. It’s a red oak
@@Kenneth-mx5lx the trees I'm referring to are 70 years old or less. They were most definitely not manipulated by Native Americans 🤣
This happens all the time naturally. A sapling is pinned to the ground by an older tree that has fallen. One of the side branches from the pinned tree shoots up into the opening made by the fallen tree. The rest of the pinned tree dies off over several to many years. This causes the angular bend by the ground and the sharp turn upwards. The dead part rots away, and is eventually encompassed by bark. If yo walk thru the woods by may place you will easily find a dozen or more of these of all different ages. Native Americans may have mimicked the natural process, but it is so common that I don't see why they would rely on something so common for navigation.
I've seen these strange trees in my many travels in Kentucky woods. I always assumed they arose from natural causes. It's easy to imagine a tree falling and bending a smaller sapling horizontal and it continued to grow that way, but the unrestrained end responded to phototropism and continued to grow vertically. Eventually, the dead fall tree decays away and only the bent tree remains. I couldn't help but wonder if people didn't cause some of these bent trees.
There was a colonial trading path through on my parents property. I was told that it was once an Indian travel route. There’s a spring there. While hunting the area in the 1950s and 60’s I saw a few of these trees. I remember one big one along this old trail. I don’t do not think any of the trees are alive now.
I found a tree that was hovering. No roots. It was just hovering.. I had just eaten turned around and there it was. I thought nothing of it tho. But I’ve got to go back there and pick some more mushrooms up I’ll try find it again.
Bigfoot
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The mushrooms you were picking
We have one of these trees on our property. It points straight to a major spring system and a big cave system opening. From the tree to the spring/cave opening is a mile as the crow flies.
A tree fell on it when it was a sapling held it down for a few years until the Fallen tree rotted away. it grew up around the fallen tree and back to where it could reach toward the sun again. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure that out if you've been in the woods in the amount of time. The node on the bottom is where it was once touching the ground and tried to reroot.
We have 2 of these trees on our 150 acer island in the U.P. north of Watersmeet, MI.
Both are on the path that's been there since who knows when.
One is pointing north, the other towards a spring about 600 yrds away..
Really neat to stumble across this info! Thanks.
They got underneath it it might be a cash I live in Maine and I know a guy who found a cash in Ashland Maine and it had a bunch of stone tools in it and stuff
@@outdoorlifemaine6691 Cache?
@@jnooney8225 yes do not know what it is it's a like a storage area that you would leave and come back to
There are a few of these bent trees in the Redwood Forest in northern California/southern Oregon. One fell over and grew a limb straight up into a massive redwood tree. It is called The Never Dying Redwood. Worth going to visit there!
They are have long been referred to nurse trees. The fallen tree feeds the new trees.
all i can find from that is a photo in the 40s of like 5 trees sprouting out from the log lying flat on the ground. ig its not around anymore since it seems like all photos were taken before color photography existed
@@MW-on1ft Actually, the fallen tree is often the same tree still growing. Redwoods are incredibly resilient, and an old growth cut down will often sprout shoots straight from the cut trunk.
@@Robo-xk4jm But color photography existed in the 40s. Unless you're talking 1840s.
Thank you for sharing this ✊🏾 definitely some information regarding the native people of the lands, it’s amazing that no one listens to them on their way and especially what had happened to them in Canada with the residential schools and all the abuse they had suffered from, and that’s everything you could think of up to death 😢
Interesting. There are trees like this on the far side of my garden - they're not marker trees, but as saplings, they were cut and laid to grow into a hedge, along the top of a low stone bank that used to enclose the field beyond. That was probably a couple of centuries ago, from the size of the trees, some of which have grown upwards again in some bizarre shapes, with one having a stretch of thick, horizontal trunk that's almost like a seat. Just shows how humans can influence tree growth, with dramatic results even centuries later.
I know of 50 trees near my house like this that are less than 40 years old (youngest is a known 15 years old... and all have this same kink. None were altered by anybody. They grew this way.
They most likely had older dead trees fall on them, leaving them this way. The old tree fall rotted away over the years.
@James P Morgan Jr a whole tree rotted in 15 years without anyone noticing it doesn't seem a likely cause..
My father and I use to go out looking for tree's shaped this way to build the Bow of boats. Nothing works better then a tree like that! They been harvesting bent trees for this reason for thousands of years all across the world
There is also a forest in Poland that has similar bent trees. One theory is that they were bent so that they would grow curved Timbers that might be useful for some purpose, perhaps boat building or some such where an unbroken curve or bend could be useful.
There are some bent into the shapes of chairs and tables so when they're harvested they just need upholstery and a floor to sit on, it's very cleverly done.
I have one of these on my property. As a kid, I would climb on it and ride it like a horse. Down below it was an artesian spring that became a creek. I found artifacts all over the area. A prized piece that I found was a rectangular rock, the perfect size to fit a woman’s hand. It was the washing machine. On television, native Americans all lived just feet apart. These were scattered across hundreds of acres and were typically about a hundred yards away from each other. You could see the flat ground where they lived and the rest was hilly. My grandparents told me that there was still poles and burnt wood back in the sixties.
My grandmother, who spent years living with an Apache clan in the SW, taught me about these trees when I was a child. She showed me several of them and taught me how they were made.
Did they tie them to the ground to force them to grow horizontal?
I'm watching this because in the video game "Red Dead Redemption 2" there are some bent trail trees. A bunch of people have been pulling their hair out trying to figure out their significance, but it seems like they were just being historically accurate.
In the forest of pittsboro,nc there was the perfect example of that very tree in the first clip, it was easily 150 years old or more, it was white oak. I use to love riding my mountain bike past it on the trail by the creek there, but then the developers who cared nothing about nature, only profits. The development was to close to it, so they cut it down, fortunately there are quite a few there. When I was living there in 2012, it was a large 500 acre or more farm, then by early 2014 the development had sprung up like a rapid growth spurt faster than I had ever witnessed. It was sad to see the change. I’m glad I moved. There is so much open space here in Southern Utah., and not many trees, so I have been planting my own 😊
During 40 years of deer hunting I would often find trees like this while scouting. Some were old, some were not, which led me to believe they were just a natural occurrence and not the influence of someones manipulation.
Interesting! I vaguely recall learning about these in geology class, I think they were labeled as sigafoos trees, I think named after the geologist that hypothesized they were bent by the elements (wind, water, snow) without dying, then eventually continued growing upward.
Yep. But everyone in here thinks it’s a trail marker. Cause that makes total sense lol.
Native oak and pecan trees along the Llano River in Texas can be found to have such shapes, often located in canyons or "draws" that are frequently temporarily flooded when the river gets high. Some trees get buried in debris and silt, resulting in them rooting along branches and the new growth shooting upwards to reach the sun. Some trees get partially uprooted and tipped over, with similar results. When subsequent floods wash away debris around previously buried parts the roots die back, leaving the odd twisted and angled parts above ground. The same mechanism can affect many species of trees in many locations, again resulting in such growth habits which may appear man-made. This of course doesn't mean that humans shaping trees to form particular shapes does not happen/has not happened.
I used to make chairs out of Vine maple weaving them together when they were young and keeping them trimmed to make a front porch chair's.
I lost a good friend a few years ago to the quick flooding of the Llano river....
We had an Evergreen that broke when it was quite young during a major storm in Vancouver Washington. In the mid 1950s. A single branch remained. That branch didn't branch out. It went straight up and become a giant tree. It was like the one in the pic here. I remember climbing and sitting on that arm.
Hello how are you doing, nice to meet you here 😊
I grew up about 10 miles west of downtown Dallas, near Loop 12 between Shady Grove Road and Irving Blvd. It wasn't uncommon to see bent trees like those described here. Also, I was told the legend of how bent trees were created by American Indians. Most of the bent trees in this part of Texas are found in the CrossTimbers region.
I was always told that's how native Americans used to mark trails. It's very common to see them In Maine!
There are some still around off hwy 87 if ever on that hwy keep an eye out.
We call them prayer trees here in the Rocky Mountains. Tied down when saplings from many of the Ute tribes and others. Used for trail markers and directions to sacred sites. Each tree was tied from one person who kept it tied down while it was growing. Some other tribes still do this.
It was also a grave marker, by the way the tree was altered would tell you about the indian and their lives.
There's a tree like this near my work, over a foot thick, so probably old. Is there any way to figure out what it was marking? This sparked my curiosity.
My great-grandfather that died 10 years before I was even born, I'm told Bill ships and used to break medium-sized saplings in this fashion Karma a couple feet apart. Then several years later he would cut the tree down in this piece would be perfect for the bow of the boat. I'm sure he's not the only one who has thought of this. If you notice a lot of these are found near big lakes and the ocean because that's where you would build boats. I'm sure many of these were made by Native Americans as well, but they may have used them for different things too
Facinating..I always wondered about a tree in our backyard that we kids used to play "horsie" on. I never seen one like it before or since. It was just like that only even more distinct. Up a few feet, 90% over a few feet, then back up 90% and from there a regular tree. No other sprouting or knobs. Never knew what would do such a thing. It was in South Oak Cliff, Dallas, Tx in the 60's.
I know these as "lobbed trees" which were used to mark property lines, and don't think they were ever a secret.
This was in recommendations from Red Dead Redemption 2!
That’s why I’m here too lmao
Lol yea
Sad
@@thee_undertaker Have you ever played RDR2?
Anyone else recognize the voice?
I've come across too many to remember. In fact, I currently have one in my backyard. It makes sense as prior to being damed (circa 1963?), the area was known for its fresh water springs (not Pluto)
Awesome Content & Thanks for sharing 🏴☠️
There is a tree in a park where I live, the trunk of the tree runs on the ground for about 8 to 10 feet. before it turns skyward. the reason this tree is like that, is because when it was a sapling the wind blew it over. and it grew like that, if someone would have propped it straight up it would grown normally.
Wind storms will bend or break the tops off small trees while toppling larger trees. As the smaller trees survive they will grow with kinks in their trunks. Sometimes side branches will also become trunks if the tops are too damaged and die. This is common in places where small tornadoes or down burst have occurred. Natives didn't need sign posts to know where they were going.
Great video, I grew up near a forest area in California and have spent many years wondering in the woods, I have seen trees like this myself but like what was brought out the age of the tree is important as to weather they were marker trees from the past, I live where it snows and sometimes trees just get bent over for a period of time and causes a similar situation, trees naturally grow upward so the tip or top will always turn towards the sky,, thanks for the post .........
Having core dated many of these trees, to include many local traditions said were "trail trees" I have yet to see one that even came close to existing prior to the removal of natives in our area, they typically are maybe 80 years old, though I have cored one that was 112 years old, in other words it was a seedling about 80 years after the removal of natives in the area at the time I cored it. In the east, to include much of New England there is very little old growth forest (Maine has the largest number and it is softwood/conifer, tree types never represented as "marker trees" ). Storms and damage from logging is what normally causes these anomalies.
True. I come across trees like this in southern NE, and there is no way they are over 200+ years old, as everything down here has been logged repeatedly. Another cool forest phenomenon is the tree that looks like it is standing on its "toes". This happens when a sapling grows on top of an old stump. As the sapling grows into a tree, the stump slowly rots away leaving a section of the roots exposed.
Im gonna agree with this. The tree fell over then continued to grow
@@tomt4588 i think he means the native fukawee. They would stand on the tops of mountians and yell " were the fukawee were the fukawee!!!"
I live in Virginia and there are a few of these on my property. The land was clear-cut 20 years ago. This is a natural phenomenon.
I bet a quick look through history will reveal a tornado or other natural disaster that laid a few trees on top of one another. There is a crop of woods north and west of Grand Rapids Michigan. In 1956 a large and violet F5 tornado bulldozed a large chunk of the woods, if you walk the woods today there are several trees that are bent kinked and twisted every which way. Nothing special about them other than that they survived a few minutes of pure hell.
Interesting, I had one such tree on my ranch that was on a edge of a down slope leading to the creek flowing through my property. The tree was an oak and was older and the right angle section of the trunk sat a good 4-5 foot off the ground. Never really put much thought into it other than taking some pictures with my children sitting on it.
I have one on the downslope of a hog back on my property near Gowen Michigan. It points right to the river about 75 to 100 yds. Away.
@@romeolima5339 I saw three of these trees while fishing a trout stream near Pittsburgh Pa . Makes me wonder if native Americans used them to mark streams or burial grounds
Seems water signaling is one of the undoubted uses of these trees.
@@Farmhouselivingroom I think the burial ground thing has been debunked by research. A problem with us whites, is that we tend to immediately associate anything left by the Indians with burial grounds. Kind of morbid when you think about it and their fate.
Oregon has 100's of them. I thought they seemed interesting and was strange to see so many in such a small areas of land. Had no idea why they were this way. Great video.
I have come across several of these trees through out my lifetime. I am very happy to see a video about these !
I have one of those trees on my property. I thought it was natural until this video. This one is much much larger than the ones on the video. The horizontal portion is around 30' or more and then radius upwards another 40-50'. The circumference is probably 40"-50" inches. I'm very interested now and will be taking good measurements tomorrow evening.
Trail marker trees. What fascinating history! Hopefully more can be saved.
- The Trail Tree Project, http:www.mountainstewards.org/project/project_home_public.html
I find these all the time and love doing so, recently found a healing tree where 2 trees grow into another like an H with the horizontal part growing another tree up, amazing. I've found so far close to 40 of them! Douglasville/Fulton co area
When I was a small child living in town, some neighbors had a sycamore sapling in their front yard. That family's kids would bend down the springy limbs and sit/bounce on them, often joined by their friends. As the years passed, those low limbs grew horizontal to the ground, repeatedly pressed down by human weight. Decades later, the weight of the now-large limbs caused them to droop completely to the ground. One day, as I was driving by, I saw where the drooping limbs had been elevated above the grass, supported by heavy, wide boards in an apparent attempt to save the living tree limbs from slowly rotting on the ground. The poor tree lingered on for several years, still supported, but the property owners eventually had the tree cut down. That lot now looks so empty alongside the street, but the tree will live forever in my memory... 🌳
I grew up in eastern NC in the Rosewood district of western Wayne Co. We had one of these very distinctive marker trees on our 3-acre property. It was a very large pine with the classic distinctive "saddle". As kids in the early 70's, we climbed and played on it, not realizing what it actually was. I know I have pictures of it but I'm not sure where. Interestingly, in the weeks we staked out the foundation of the house (1974'ish) my sister found a very large spearhead point in the newly dug irrigation ditch on the roadside front of the lot. Now, I'm beginning to put together all of the other interesting "facts" of the property we experienced.
Hello Steve how are you doing, nice to meet you here 😊
sometimes when a tree falls down it takes a sapling with them. The sapling wants to grow up so it reaches for the sky. A decade or so later the old tree rots away but by that time the sapling has grown and become strong. I have also made trees' like these at various places I frequented as I grew up. Now, I can go back to these places and admire "my" tree.
We were taught as children about the "Indian trees". They pointed toward rivers, creeks, and other trails.
Cool. I live in a forest and there’s a set of trees here we call the lovers because they are so gracefully entwined. We protect them.
The natives do it for trail markers. They don't tell you how they do it. There, you don't have to watch it now.
not true, that a old wives tale.
Yes, "have been told", "was said". tbt, they prolly used them for markers, but make them? hmm
The natives would stake the tree branches down with leather straps, this would allow the tree to grow and keep their bent shape.
Thank you
@@chrisstiff4734 You know more about the subject than they do. Why don't you make a video showing us some proof of your findings and don't waste our time trying to learn something about our past and the great outdoors like this video did.
What a fascinating story! These trees need to be protected!
I work in the bush in western Canada and find trees like this in the middle of no where where no man has likely been for a very long time. I see trees knuckled up here and there more often then you'd think. It comes from some form of injury early on in its life. Trees are really resilient they will grow sideways hundreds of feet up a Cliff no problem. We have very steep terrain around here and it's usually a loose rock that has tumbled down the hill that causes injuries on trees. This is a totally diffrent area tho and very cool 👍
When I was a child, there was a large park with a pond near a kids playground. There were three huge willow trees near the pond each with a bend like this going in different directions. My dad looked at them and mentioned that long ago there must have been Indian villages somewhere in those directions. Those trees were enormous, so big you couldn’t put your arms around them. Sadly, they are gone now….
During severe ice storms many tree saplings are bent by snow and then frozen in place for the winter. In the spring they begin growing up from the bend.
thats actually true and i have seen it happen myself to my neighbor's evergreen bush that was bent by the snow storm in febuary 2011 and when it warmed up in spring the bush was bowl shapped
I seen the same thing many years and I'm going on 61 I've seen it first-hand so this guy is so full of BS anything to get your face on the internet huh
Yep, trees like that all over our place. Most not over 80 yrs old. And ice storms can do this to any small tree.
@@cynthiaayers7696 yes these trees do bend. And sorry to tell you the Red Natives did bend them. They were to lead towards rivers &
You will see old campgrounds.
Kinda like supercropping
In Switzerland they used to prepare Linden trees, that grow very old and tall in a fashion that the branches , several meters above ground would grow outward sideways and then upward. It would take decades until the tree had gotten in the desired shape, at that point a wooden platform was constructed that used those branches as the beams to carry the floor, kind of like a large tree house. The upward growing ends of those now strong and solid branches served as the side-walls, and as all parts of the tree were alive and kept growing you got a very nice lofty space above ground with the leaves covering it all around, like a green cave, exactly the place where you would want to be on a hot summers day to spend some leisure time after a day of hard work, and especially nice it was in the warm evenings of July or August.But the fun didn't stop there! The ultimate purpose of all this effort was to use it as a dance floor, that is where the name comes from, it is called a "Tanzlinde", The owners of the place would serve drinks and other refreshments they would have musicians hired and everybody had a great time up in that tree.
It sure took its time to set the whole thing up, but once the size and shape of that tree was ready to set up and solidly carry the structure, it could easily serve its purpose for several hundred years, growing bigger and better with the coming of every new spring.
That sounds awesome.
My grandparents have a tree almost exactly this shape. Neat.
My dad, now 93 years old, saw a tree like this when we were driving a back road in West Virginia and he said that years ago people bent the saplings of trees in this shape to make walking canes. Of course you had to wait a while to get the wood to make your cane. That tree is still there, and it is not old enough for Indians to have shaped it this way. I believe my grandfather had one of these, because I remember the odd shape of his cane.
Up high in the mountains of Colorado you can find runs of twisted trees and the old miners looked for them. Under the trees would be a mineral vein and they would dig up the minerals. I have searched them
since I learned about these reading a book called the history of Wyoming in Pennsylvania I've noticed I found a lot of these next to water reservoirs and Creeks along and different tributaries all over Pennsylvania what an amazing thing! truly greatful to see a part of history still alive today
My granddad used to graft apple trees together so he could have multiple kinds of apples on a single tree. They'd sometimes end up in weird shapes like these.
We had one of these trees on our family lake lot. As a young 12/13 yr old I would sit on it, imagining it to be a horse. We had been told of an old logging trail that passed mid property. The trail could still be made out as no mature trees grew in its path and the path was more level than the rest of the land.. As it happened, the trail passed this tree. It could well be expected the logging trail had been set to follow a much older indigenous trail. Fascinating!
I'm from San Antonio. There are a considerable amount of mesquites that are bent like this. My mother appreciated and loved them, so now do I. I always thought that is the way they grew. As a kid, I felt they needed swings on their bent limbs.
I live in San Antonio too! Where abouts do you see these? I’ve never seen one before
Same?!
I am from Native American descent and we were told this as kids. My grandmother showed us where some trees were and it showed us caves, rivers and traveling trails.
Runswithwind Thank you for your comment i also are of Indian decent and do believe in marker trees they are. 2 near me here in North Carolina.
Runswithwind I always believed that when someome dies //who touched the tree is always connected to the tree When sick or deathly sick the tree curves.... Or sick etc. I will always believe this ..Broken
Is this Liz warren?
yes these were trail markers. Iam from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians from Alabama. There are many of these tree markers still around the state
Around here also in East Texas. My daddy pointed them out as we walked through the woods back when I was a kid in the 60s, brought up some old, fine memories
Any forest that was logged buy early settlers has all kinds of these trees. I think it's because the growing saplings were trampled and or left pinned down buy cut limbs. Crown land that's been logged in cycles shows this as their usually the biggest trees, only left behind because not straight enough to use for lumber (select cutting). so there are many "freaky forest" areas around the ottawa valley
As a Wisconsin resident, anytime someone says "a town on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois"; it means Beloit or Racine
It would be interesting to see them mapped along with an indicator of the direction that they point in.
baldieman64 all of the ones around my property point to water
They all point to the Great Pyramid
- Thanks for asking; I meant to post this long ago.
The Trail Tree Project, http:www.mountainstewards.org/project/project_home_public.html
We have one about 8 feet from our creek that we've been calling "The West Tree" since that is the direction it points. It points away from the water but I think it was used as a crossing marker since the area of the creek directly behind it is one of the only easily accessible places to get down to the water.
It's a big Oak down here in Louisiana, on hgw big trunk to sky and knee kicking South towards tha Gulf of Mexico. Natives been in North America for at least 10,000 years.
I've also heard that boat builders did this because it was easier to cut a bent piece of a tree than use joinery techniques of 2 or more individual pieces
One did have to have patience, though. 😊
I have one of these growing in my front yard here in Illinois. I am really stoked on it. I am excited to see it grow over time, God willing. It’s a red oak and it’s only a couple years old. It did this naturally. I think it has something to do with high phosphorus in the soil or maybe rooting hormone.
I had a lilac bush and a wild hyacinth do this as well when I put too much rooting hormone on it.