Trees surround us, we see them every day, they are necessary for most of the life on our planet. We know trees are alive, but we rarely think of them that way.
Most often, for us, they differ little from the objects of the environment. Sometimes we can be intimidated by a tree if it takes on a frightening shape, creates an unpleasant shadow with branches and leaves, or scratches with a branch on a window. In such cases, we, of course, scare ourselves, but there are stories in which trees appear as real monsters.
In 1874, newspapers in the United States told the incredible and terrifying story of a new discovery made on the island of Madagascar - a tree devouring people. In a letter from a scientist who arrived on the island, there was a description of this tree: it had a trunk like a pine, dark and hard like iron. Eight giant leaves hung from the top of the tree.
Also at the top was a bowl-shaped depression filled with a sweet-smelling liquid, near which green and white stalks swayed like snakes. Scientists' study of this tree was interrupted by a group of Aboriginal people who drove the young woman to the top of the tree with spears. Here, green and white stalks grabbed her, then giant leaves rose and hid her from sight, breaking her body. Blood ran down the tree.
The aborigines rushed to him, collecting blood or simply licking it and as if drunk from it. After ten days, the leaves opened and the woman's bones were on the ground. Examining smaller similar plants, the scientist discovered the remains of a lemur. This strange tree, incredible and, of course, does not exist in reality, forced many to travel to Madagascar to see it with their own eyes, thereby accelerating the real exploration of the island.
And here's another story. In March 1950, a three-hundred-year-old tree was accidentally bulldozed in a field near the Irish village of Finton. Local residents immediately began to say that now there will be trouble. This tree was known as the place where fairies were often seen.
Someone James Macanespi, a 72-year-old retired man, bought a piece of a bulldozed tree to use as firewood. As soon as he started throwing it into the hearth, strange things began to happen. Bells began to ring in different parts of his house. He began to see small flying creatures that he could not catch. On April 16, he used the last piece of that wood he had and went to get new firewood.
By nightfall, the neighbors realized that he had not returned, they went in search of the old man. Unable to find him, they called the police. Only closer to midnight did they manage to find a man. He stood motionless in the field, in the very spot where the tree had once been. He did not respond to calls, but when people approached him, he dutifully returned to the village with them.
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He later said that he suddenly felt paralyzed and could not move or speak. He heard bells and felt movement around him, in the distance there was a certain structure that had never been there, and in the end two fairies appeared. The man heard people calling him, but only when they were right next to him, the spell fell.
GUSAKOVA IRINA YURIEVNA