The Crooked Forest
In a small Polish wood, about 400 pine trees all bend sharply at the base and curve north, like a row of hooks.
What was reported
Near the village of Nowe Czarnowo in western Poland is a small grove of around 400 pine trees, each bent at a sharp angle just above the ground, before curving up and growing straight. They all bend the same way, towards the north.
The trees were planted around 1930, when the area was part of Germany, and the people who planted them left no records explaining the shape.
Explanations offered
No explanation has been confirmed. The most popular idea is that the trees were deliberately shaped while young, perhaps to produce curved timber for furniture or boat-building, a project abandoned during the Second World War. Other suggestions include heavy snow or tanks flattening them when young.
- When
- Planted around 1930
- Where
- Nowe Czarnowo, West Pomerania, Poland
- Witnesses
- Visitors and foresters
- Status
- Unexplained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.