The Crooked Forest of Poland

• Close to the small town of Gryfino in West Pomerania, Poland, is located an unusual forest where each tree is bent at its base. It has been named the Crooked Forest as the pine trees grow from the base with a 90-degree sharp bend, and then curve back to grow straight up. Irrespective of their curves, the trees are mostly healthy and grow up to 50 ft tall.

• Although there are claims that the forest has 400 trees, there are less than 100 crooked pine trees spread over two hectares of land, as per the Gryfino Forest District managers. Reportedly, they were planted between 1930 and 1945. The trees were 7 to 10 years old when they were planted, and almost all of them point northwards.

• It is said that the growth of the pine trees near Gryfino was deliberately tampered with by the local farmers with the object of creating naturally curved wood for shipbuilding or making furniture. There are many theories about how these trees became so distorted, ranging from human influence to weather patterns and even paranormal activity. However, no one knows for sure what caused them to grow this way.