Saturday, May 26, 2007

Tree eats bicycle




[From Neatorama] On Vashon Island (near Seattle, Washington), a tree grows carrying a rather unusual passenger - an old bike. Apparently some kid chained a bike to the tree decades ago and never picked it up, leaving the tree no choice but to grow around the bike. The tree and island gained some level of notoriety when Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County, wrote a children’s book inspired by the bicycle eating tree entitled Red Ranger Came Calling.



32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't you love nature - it just carries on in a relentless fashion no matter what we humans do. Great pic - thanks for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

unless we clearcut it

Anonymous said...

What about the odd things we do to nature? Consider these odd shapes of compressed leaves >> www.puerhcha.com

Anonymous said...

amazing!

Anonymous said...

Hungry tree? That's been there awhile, ya' think?

Jason said...

I want to hear the story about the child who never returned for his bike...

Ilan Fox said...

about the child. you are all wrong here. he never left his bike...he was resting beside the tree and then his leg got tangled with the roots...he cried days and days for help but no one came to help...poor child. the tree ate him.

Anonymous said...

It's pretty amazing how quick it happens with some trees. We moved into a house a little while back and there was a tree that had some irrigation pipe run through it at some point for whatever reason. The tree eventually 'ate' it as it continued growing.

Anonymous said...

I have seen tthis before but it was a motorcycle, somone crashed into the tree.

Anonymous said...

I like the story where the child is still on that bike. In the tree. Forever.

Anonymous said...

Thing is, trees grow from the top. This bike was probably placed up in a small tree to hide it from someone (think younger sibling), and then forgotten about.

Anonymous said...

what happens when you try and carve you and your sweetheart's names into a tree, find out next on WHEN NATURE STRIKES BACK!!

or

headlines read: Genus child develops first phase dislocator, but uses flat batteries.

or

God creates tree.
God creates man.
Man disproves god.
Man destroys trees.
Trees eat children and their bikes.
Its the natural order of things, evolutions a bitch aint it.

Anonymous said...

photoshop<3

Anonymous said...

I am a tree and am getting a kick from these comments.

Anonymous said...

Cool pic! To some of the other commenters: We humans and what we do are just as much a part of nature as any other living organism and what they do.

Unknown said...

What we have here is a clear case of eco-terrorism. We need to find the little fascist bugger that harmed that poor tree (lighting torch), and burn him from house and home. Whose with me?! Kidding....great pic.

Anonymous said...

God made the kid as well. The parents actually never got around to screw.

Erika W said...

I read about this in a newspaper recently. It said that a young soldier had chained his bike to the tree before leaving for one of the world wars, I don't remember which one. When he didn't come back alive, they let the bike stand as a memory. Or something like that. And yes, the bike would get lifted up - trees don't -only- grow from the top, they expand and grow in other directions as well...

Anonymous said...

Cute picture......this could also be a Hoax....someone planted the bike in the tree when no one is around & make it look like the tree grew around it.....anything is possible just to make it into a tourist attraction site.....that equates to Money for admission to see the tree.

Anonymous said...

Nope...been there, saw it up close, it is definitely growing around the bicycle. I had to see it myself after reading the beautiful Red Ranger Came Calling; my favorite children's fantasy tale.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Trees only grow upward at the tips of their branches and downward at the tips of their roots. Otherwise they only grow outward. Therefore a tree will never, EVER 'lift' something unless the object was attached to an actively growing twig. Even then the 'lift' would be limited to the growth of the twig during that season. This bicyle was placed up off the ground in a tree's branches, which then grew around it.

Anonymous said...

Love that pic. Check out my blog as I have a fence eing eaten by a tree!

ArbBecky said...

"Trees only grow upward at the tips of their branches and downward at the tips of their roots. Otherwise they only grow outward. Therefore a tree will never, EVER 'lift' something unless the object was attached to an actively growing twig. Even then the 'lift' would be limited to the growth of the twig during that season. This bicyle was placed up off the ground in a tree's branches, which then grew around it."
Someone already said, the bike would have been lifted up to a fork in the tree. Nobody is arguing with you about that.
And trees grow in girth too, thats what people are saying to you. Seriously, try to understand what people are saying before you snap at them about how your right. :) Just thought i'd add my own little input :)

Anonymous said...

Great post, I am almost 100% in agreement with you

Anonymous said...

Nice Post. This enter helped me in my college assignment. Thnaks Alot

Anonymous said...

Hello Very funny post...

Anonymous said...

this bicycle grown into a tree has been talked about within the military circles for many years. The story is that a young boy in his teens left home in 1914 to off to war as many did.

He left his bike chained to the tree, and when he didn't return from the war, his parents didn't have the heart to remove it, and they left all of his things as they were.

The bicycle was left to grow into the tree in remembrance of their son and all of those that perished in WWI.

JB
USMC

Anonymous said...

After all those years it is still in good condition? those wheels and tires would be gone by now...da

Anonymous said...

From looking at the picture, the tires aren't in that good of condition. They are most certainly dry-rotted for sure. But on the same note, they DID make things much better back then! Today, we are nothing but a disposable society, using less materials and charging more for it. The metal in cars is much thinner or just plastic. Things 'back in the day' were made to last. Just sayin'

Kitty said...

If trees grew from the bottom, how could the road through the redwood have possibly worked?