The Crooked Forest ( pl, Krzywy Las) is a
grove of oddly-shaped
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
trees located in the village of
Nowe Czarnowo
Nowe Czarnowo (german: Neu Zarnow) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gryfino, within Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies approximately south of Gryfino and ...
near the town of
Gryfino
Gryfino (german: Greifenhagen; nds, Gripenhagen; Kashubian: ''Gripiewò'') is a town in Pomerania, northwestern Poland, with 21,393 inhabitants (2017). It is also the capital of Gryfino County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999), previo ...
,
West Pomerania
Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Weste ...
, in north-western
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. It is a protected
natural monument
A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance.
Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...
of Poland.
This grove of 400 pines was planted in the village of
Nowe Czarnowo
Nowe Czarnowo (german: Neu Zarnow) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gryfino, within Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies approximately south of Gryfino and ...
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.
It is generally believed that some form of human tool or technique was used to make the trees grow or bend this way, but the method has never been determined, and remains a mystery to this day. It has been speculated that the trees may have been deformed to create naturally curved timber for use in furniture or boat building.
Others surmise that a snowstorm could have bent the
trunks, but there is little evidence of that.
The forest was featured in season 1, episode 4 of ''
The UnXplained
''The UnXplained'' is a television series on History that claims to "explore subjects that have mystified mankind for centuries". The show is hosted and executive produced by William Shatner. It premiered on July 19, 2019, and has aired for four s ...
'' on the
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
channel titled "Unnatural Nature" that first aired on 9 August 2019.
The site is open to the public and serves as a notable tourist attraction in the region.
See also
*
Dancing Forest
The Dancing Forest (russian: Танцующий лес, translit=Tantsuyushchiy les) is a pine forest on the Curonian Spit in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia noted for its unusually twisted trees. Unlike drunken trees, the trees in the Dancing Forest ...
*
Drunken trees
Drunken trees, tilted trees, or a drunken forest, is a stand of trees rotated from their normal vertical alignment.
This most commonly occurs in northern subarctic taiga forests of black spruce (''Picea mariana'') under which discontinuous perma ...
*
Tree shaping
Tree shaping (also known by several other alternative names) uses living trees and other woody plants as the medium to create structures and art. There are a few different methods used by the various artists to shape their trees, which share a ...
*
Wood warping
Wood warping is a deviation from flatness in timber as a result of stresses and uneven shrinkage. Warping can also occur in wood considered "dry" (wood can take up and release moisture indefinitely), when it takes up moisture unevenly, or – es ...
References
External links
Polish tourism page for the Crooked Forest{{in lang, pl
Forests of Poland
Gryfino County
Natural monuments of Poland