This stand of bent pine trees known as the Crooked Forest is easily one of the strangest places in Central Europe. Located outside of Nowe Czarnowo, West Pomerania, Poland, the nearly 400 trees are widely agreed to have been shaped by human hands sometime in the 1930s, but for what purposes is still up for debate. Each tree is bent near the base at 90 degrees, a form that could possibly be helpful in boat or furniture making. Strangely enough, every tree is bent in exactly the same direction: due North. A quick search online reveals a host of conspiracy theories ranging from witchcraft to energy fields.
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.
Of course, the J-shaped trees have attracted a lot of curious visitors and several theories have been come up to prove why the pine trees are crookedly-shaped. One of the theories suggests that in the 1930s, pines of differing lengths were planted and then flattened by the German tanks when they were young. However, the curvature of the trunks way too smooth for such destruction, and the tanks would have wiped off the entire forest, not just the young pine grove. Others suggest that heavy snowstorms, gravitational pulls, genetic mutation, aliens, etc. could have altered the shape of the trees.
It is also 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.
As Gryfino was mostly abandoned in the early stages of World War II until the 1970s, the natives who lived before the war near the forest and likely had the answer to the mystery behind the Crooked Forest are probably no longer alive.
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