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Crooked Forest (Krzywy Las; Gryfino, Poland)

Krzywy_Las.JPG

The Crooked Forest (Polish: Krzywy Las) is a grove of oddly-shaped pine trees located near the town of Gryfino, West Pomerania, Poland.

This grove of 400 pines was planted in the village of Nowe Czarnowo in around 1930. Each pine tree bends sharply to the north, just above ground level, then curves back upright after a sideways excursion of three to nine feet (1–3 m). The curved pines are enclosed by a surrounding forest of straight pine trees ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_Forest
 
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Bent trees are not unique, but this patch seems to have been manipulated for a purpose that was interrupted or prevented by WW2.
In Poland’s Crooked Forest, a Mystery With No Straight Answer

No one knows for certain what caused this unusual stand of trees in a protected forest, just outside the town of Gryfino, Poland. The town was mostly destroyed during World War II, and the truth of the forest was lost with it.

Strangely bent trees exist in other parts of the world, but not in such great numbers nor as neatly arranged as in Poland’s Crooked Forest. ...

The pine trees, thought to have been planted in the early 1930s, bend at the trunks, and some extend outward around three to nine feet before zipping back up into the air. The trees — around 50 feet high at their tallest — were probably damaged at an early age, causing them to permanently grow this way. But how?

“As to an explanation, that is not so easy,” said William Remphrey, a retired plant scientist from the University of Manitoba, who discovered a genetic mutation causing a group of aspen trees in Canada to curve and droop consistently over development, resulting in gnarled, twirly, Cheeto-esque trees. ...

If the cause for Poland’s crooked forest were genetic, he said, he would expect the curves to continue beyond the base, as they do in the aspens he studied. But given their smoothness, something environmental most likely caused these sweeping curves. ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/science/crooked-forest-poland-theories.html
 
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I was just watching a section of Shatners 'UnXplained' which featured 'The Crooked Forest' in Poland, does anyone have any theories on this strange place?

250px-Krzywy_Las_-_Nowe_Czarnowo_2.JPG


The Crooked Forest (Polish: Krzywy Las) is a grove of oddly-shaped pine trees located near the town of Gryfino, West Pomerania, Poland. ... Each pine tree bends sharply to the north, just above ground level, then curves back upright after a sideways excursion of three to nine feet (1–3 m).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_Forest
 
I was just watching a section of Shatners 'UnXplained' which featured 'The Crooked Forest' in Poland, does anyone have any theories on this strange place?

View attachment 37650

The Crooked Forest (Polish: Krzywy Las) is a grove of oddly-shaped pine trees located near the town of Gryfino, West Pomerania, Poland. ... Each pine tree bends sharply to the north, just above ground level, then curves back upright after a sideways excursion of three to nine feet (1–3 m).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_Forest
Cool. Obviously seats for giants or something like that ;)
 
Or started to make a load of walking sticks with curved handles but forgot to return while they were still saplings?
There was a theory they were grown deliberately curved for use in making ships hulls but im dubious about that theory, as pine is not ideal for building internal structures in ships, usually they used hard woods such as oak and teak
 
Or started to make a load of walking sticks with curved handles but forgot to return while they were still saplings?
Good point. It's possible that someone planted them and built a wooden structure around them to make them this shape.
Over time, the structure disintegrated and the original reason for growing them was lost.
 
There was a theory they were grown deliberately curved for use in making ships hulls but im dubious about that theory, as pine is not ideal for building internal structures in ships, usually they used hard woods such as oak and teak

Agreed ... The trees date back to circa 1930 or the 1930s - too late to have been used in ship construction.

One might wonder whether the objective was to produce curved wood for building smaller watercraft (e.g., canoes). However, cedar rather than pine is considered the optimum wood for building such wooden-hulled small boats.
 
A heavy snow load can bend young saplings long enough to affect their growth. However, the Krzywy Las crooked pines are interspersed with unaffected pines. It's hard to see how a transient winter snow load would dramatically affect some saplings but not others (all of a similar age).
 
Or started to make a load of walking sticks with curved handles but forgot to return while they were still saplings?

Canes or curved pieces for furniture (e.g., chair arms or rockers) make more sense as the objective if the pines had been deliberately distorted for a purpose.
 
A heavy snow load can bend young saplings long enough to affect their growth. However, the Krzywy Las crooked pines are interspersed with unaffected pines. It's hard to see how a transient winter snow load would dramatically affect some saplings but not others (all of a similar age).
Indeed it is a strange place, whether the trees were deliberately bent and grown by human hand, for some forgotten purpose or by some strange natural phenomenen
 
I have a theory that I'm surprised to find is omitted from the usual list of possibilities ...

I'm struck by the fact the Krzywy Las forest area seems to consist almost exclusively of pine trees, all of which seem to be of similar size (and presumably similar ages). This looks like a wooded area that's been managed for harvesting (i.e., logging).

The bent trees are mostly (but not exclusively) bent to the north.

To the extent one can tell from the photos I'm also struck by the way many of the bends in the crooked trees align in parallel with each other. Here's a representative pic, annotated to illustrate these parallel alignments:


Krzywy Las-B.jpg

It appears as if certain clusters of bent trees could have been bent as a result of a single long object lying atop them when they were saplings. Once this long object was removed, the saplings rebounded to continue growth while exhibiting the bend caused by getting crushed down.

What if this forest patch had been logged, and the fallen logs (perhaps after trimming) were left lying in place long enough to crush and permanently distort the young saplings that would eventually replace the harvested trees?
 
Indeed it is a strange place, whether the trees were deliberately bent and grown by human hand, for some forgotten purpose or by some strange natural phenomenen
The initial 'fold' at about, what six inches above the ground, shows some form of intervention - especially if other nearby trees are unaffected.
 
Forcing shapes in live trees is not unheard of and I'm wondering if the timber has been deliberately shaped in order to help serve a specific construction purpose.

I can't find anything about the industrial history of the area, but the site is very close to the Oder, and the lower curve of the trees shape - in some cases, at least - is quite reminiscent of the shape of a boat's tumblehome; but you'd only get half a rib out of each - so I don't think so.

Another shape that comes to mind is the onion dome style of church architecture - but, although the Poles build some beautiful wooden churches, the onion dome is, I'm pretty sure, mostly a Russian thing.

But maybe you can see what I mean about the shape:

Onion dome.jpg


Mind, I don't think it's either. But, unless it's simply the whimsy of some old landowner, created to impress his boar hunting friends, I'd bet a bag of toffees it's to do with making something specific.

Edit: Apologies - just seen that the boat thing had already been discussed and (probably rightly) dismissed.
 
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Forcing shapes in live trees is not unheard of and I'm wondering if the timber has been deliberately shaped in order to help serve a specific construction purpose.

I can't find anything about the industrial history of the area, but the site is very close to the Oder, and the lower curve of the trees shape - in some cases, at least - is quite reminiscent of the shape of a boat's tumblehome; but you'd only get half a rib out of each - so I don't think so.

Another shape that comes to mind is the onion dome style of church architecture - but, although the Poles build some beautiful wooden churches, the onion dome is, I'm pretty sure, mostly a Russian thing.

But maybe you can see what I mean about the shape:

View attachment 37690

Mind, I don't think it's either. But, unless it's simply the whimsy of some old landowner, created to impress his boar hunting friends, I'd bet a bag of toffees it's to do with making something specific.
Unfortunately, upto now nobody seems to know or have any recollection of what if any purpose (if they were fashioned by the hand of man) these trees would have served, even though they were only saplings in the 1930's.
Its certainly a mystery.
 
...The trees date back to circa 1930 or the 1930s...

My memory on the post-Versailles/pre-Potsdam European borders in that region is very hazy, but I think that if the date for the planting is correct, then the area was at the time actually part of Germany.

I'm not sure if that's important - but it might be worth keeping in mind that although this is now a Polish forest, those trees were planted by German foresters. (...I think).
 
My memory on the post-Versailles/pre-Potsdam European borders in that region is very hazy, but I think that if the date for the planting is correct, then the area was at the time actually part of Germany.

I'm not sure if that's important - but it might be worth keeping in mind that although this is now a Polish forest, those trees were planted by German foresters. (...I think).
You are spot on, the nearby village 'Neu Zarnow was part of Germany from when it was founded in 1819 until 1945.

"Neu Zarnow was founded around 1819. As early as 1842 the village comprised more than thirty houses and was therefore larger than, for example, the neighboring Klein Zarnow . When exactly all settlements with the name part -Zarnow were divided into independent communities is unknown. Neu Zarnow belonged to Germany until 1945."

https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Nowe_Czarnowo
 
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