"Attention! Have You Seen This Tree Before?" by MrPlaugeMD | CLANCYPASTA

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a normal day for me.

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I enjoyed walking in the forest.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: It was an activity that, for me, was calming.

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: It also gave me the chance to brush up on my local biology,

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: identify local species, and catalog them for fun.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: There was nothing strange about it.

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: That was until I came across a tree.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: This tree stood out among the others in the forest.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, it was in a small clearing, separate from many others,

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: but even its look was strange.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: It had a mixture of thick long needles,

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: short and stout maple-like leaves,

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and many other leaf types of different shapes, colors, and sizes

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that came across the entire canopy of it,

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: unlike anything I'd seen before.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Its bark was somewhat smooth compared to regular bark.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Rather than being broken into several sheets like the pine

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd mostly seen around the area,

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: or being rough with flaky paper-like layers like the maple or dogwood,

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: it had smooth, single-piece bark

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: that had a looking texture of relatively high-grit sandpaper.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: The tree was also built somewhat strangely.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't short by any means,

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but compared to the pine and maple around,

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: it did not stack up.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Although it was quite thick for its height,

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: its limbs were short and spindly,

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: jutting from place to place out of the trunk

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: with little care to growth that typical trees did.

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Overall, the entire specimen was strange.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I had never recalled seeing anything like it.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: But then looking around, I saw something else.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: There seemed to be a small trench of upturned dirt

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that came from one direction out of the base of the tree for several feet,

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: though the trench looked old,

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: grass starting to grow over the exposed soil.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: The entire thing was so strange,

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I did not want to conduct anything on my own.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I marked the location on my GPS

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and left to get some backup to examine it

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: without the risk of damaging it.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: A friend of mine was a botany professor

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: at the local community college, so

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I asked if he would be willing to come

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and look at the specimen with me a few days later,

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and he said he would.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So, a couple of days later,

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: we both brought our outdoor equipment

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: to set up a small camp and observe the specimen.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_00]: It took about an hour to get from the road to the clearing.

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: The GPS malfunctioned a few times getting up there, so

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we had to luckily stumble upon the clearing

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: rather than perfectly finding it.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: We set camp up a bit into the woods out of the clearing.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: For some reason, a lot of the electrical equipment we had was malfunctioning.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Mostly the satellite devices like our regular phones,

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: satellite phones, laptops, tablets, and others.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Normal electronics worked fine,

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: and it seemed like our radios worked

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: unless we were on separate sides of the clearing.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: After examining the tree for a few minutes,

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I noticed how the tree seemed to be in a

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: slightly different place,

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: off by a few inches.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Looking at the trench, I saw that it had indeed moved slightly.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: While pondering this, my friend who will now be referred to as Davy,

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: noticed something as well.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Half of a squirrel's corpse.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Looking at it, it appeared as though it had been torn in half

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: by pure blunt force pulling.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: We both had seen things similar to this before,

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: so we figured some coyotes had been playing tug with the body

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and fought when it got torn in half.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: So, we continued.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: After the first few hours, with a gloved hand

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: in case the tree was poisonous,

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Davy touched the bark of the tree.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: For only a second, his hand seemed to be stuck in place,

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: but after that moment, it was free again.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: We assumed the sandpaper-like texture of the bark

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: had simply snagged into his cloth glove and ignored it.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Davy had concluded he had never seen any species

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: even close to this tree before,

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and he wished to stay a few more days

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: before returning and getting more eyes on it.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I agreed and had packed for that anyway.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to stay to look around the area anyway,

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: whether that was his choice or not.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: We spent the last few hours doing sketches of leaves

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and branches in the entire tree.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Several times we noted leaves falling down

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: and drifting onto the bark of the tree

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: where they would stick for a second

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: before being let go just as quickly

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and falling to the ground,

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: noting that the texture must be exceptionally rough.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: We elected to head into our tents for the night.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I woke up to a large amount of wrestling

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_00]: coming from outside my tent in the clearing.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I figured it was a bear,

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: so I stayed in my tent and waited

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: until eventually it stopped and I went back to sleep.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Waking up the next morning,

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I left my tent and, to my shock,

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: when I looked into the clearing,

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: the tree had vanished.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Left in its place was a hole around the same circumference

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: in the top part of a deer's head,

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: just the top of the skull and antlers,

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: still bloody and steaming.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Both Davey and I elected to leave

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: as swiftly as humanly possible,

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: so we packed up and left.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It was days later.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: He had texted me a few times

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: saying that we should head back.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure what happened,

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: whatever it was, has cleared.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine what we could discover.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Who knows what lies at that site?

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: One of his texts said,

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I ignored him mostly.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: He was in the fervor of a discovery,

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: even if it would not be safe.

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I figured if I left him,

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_00]: he would burn himself out of the excitement

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and we could properly adjust our strategy

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and continue in a few weeks.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: That is what I thought would happen.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday,

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: a week after we first went to look at the tree,

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey called me.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It was around eight at night,

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: though it was summer,

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: so it was not quite dark yet.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Man, you have to come out here.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Now. I was just able to get to my phone.

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I went back for it.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: He was yelling, panicked.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: You went back?

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: What's happening?

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Why didn't you call 911?

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Why are you calling me?

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I said, beginning to panic as well.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Just come.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I came here with a saved GPS,

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: but I left it over by our campsite

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: when I came to the clearing.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know where I am.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Please just come here.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: He was even more panicked than before.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Frantic,

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I came as fast as I could,

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: making it back to the spot in record time.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And I came to an awful sight.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey was kneeling on the ground,

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: one hand laying flat,

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: fingers spread on the tree.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I could see spikes that seemed to jut into his hand,

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: locking it in place.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Even worse,

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I saw the tree moving slowly downward into the ground.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Man, you gotta help me.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I came back and I saw it had come back in place.

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to record the texture,

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_00]: so I placed my hand.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It got stuck for a second,

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: so then I tried to move it.

[00:09:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Then I felt a sharp pain in my hand,

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_00]: but now I can't feel it at all.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on there?

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: He said.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I leaned over to look at his hand closely.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: It was evident that spikes were inside of his hand.

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It appeared burrs around a quarter inch each.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Dozens, hundreds,

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: were embedded diagonally into his hand,

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_00]: with strange blue clouded liquid dripping from them.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't...

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_00]: What do we do here?

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I said,

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: confused by so many details of the situation

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that my mind could not keep up with the pace,

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: as I saw that even in the minutes I was here,

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey's hand had gone down another two inches.

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Pull.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Please just pull.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Help me.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: He said, pleading.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I acquiesced and grabbed his hand at the wrist,

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and with all my strength began to pull.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Remembering what had happened with the glove,

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I placed my boot on the tree for more force.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: For a moment, it seemed to work.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: His hand was ripping, yes,

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but coming loose until a creaking sound emanated

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_00]: from the area his hand was embedded,

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and the burrs grew.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: They grew and grew until they were almost two inches each,

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: all sticking out of the end of his hand,

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: despite the awful sight.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey said he could still no longer feel it.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, okay, okay.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_00]: In my tent there is a box.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Bring it here.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It's red and metal.

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_00]: It has things we need.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Bring it now!

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_00]: He had a deranged calmness to him

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_00]: until the end when he screamed at the top of his lungs.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I quickly went to his tent and found the toolbox.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I brought it to him just as quickly.

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: There is a bushcraft saw in there,

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_00]: a folding one. Get it out!

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: He said, having had to get into an uncomfortable position

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_00]: as his hand had sunken even deeper,

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: partially lying down.

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: No, Davey, you can't.

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: There has to be another way.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_00]: He sharply cut me off,

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: reaching into the box,

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: shifting his box causing a loud pop to come from his arm,

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_00]: though he did not seem to react to it,

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: pulling the saw from the box.

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Please, he pleaded.

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I wordlessly took the saw and opened it,

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_00]: placing the teeth at his wrist.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: At the first couple of motions,

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_00]: the saw ate into the flesh.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Blood came pouring and the sound was misery.

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I dropped the saw.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't feel you. You have to. I'll die.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey's eyes stared deathly into mine.

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I can't, I can't, I can't.

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I shriveled cowardly away.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't bear to even see what was happening.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I was weak. My body would not allow me.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey looked me in the eyes and took the saw.

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: He somehow stood.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It was obvious from sight and sound

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00]: the maneuver had dislocated

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and likely broken his wrist.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: He put the saw in the same place

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_00]: and with a sharp determination,

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_00]: powered by whatever the numbing liquid was

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and adrenaline.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: He continued his progress

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: until, jumpy from his surge,

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: he tripped, falling.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: He caught himself with his forearm

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: placing it onto the tree.

[00:13:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Quickly, several inch burrs dug deep,

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_00]: though they had no liquid yet,

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_00]: as he screamed.

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: It had been several minutes

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and Davey was lying flat on the ground,

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: his hand and arm only an inch or so each from the ground.

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_00]: There, there's a pistol in the box.

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Please, we saw what happened to that deer

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: and that squirrel.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_00]: What that thing will do to me, he said,

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: silenced by a quiet thump.

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: His arm had touched the ground.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: This I could do.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I took the pistol,

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: a simple Glock-style handgun.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I do not know the specifics of it

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and I put it to the back of his head.

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for this, he said,

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_00]: closing his eyes, waiting for release.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: My pleasure, Davey, I said,

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: squeezing the trigger, expecting a loud bang,

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_00]: but was surprised instead.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I heard a thump as the hammer

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_00]: and the slide caught on the barrel.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_00]: No, he said.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: The sound was interrupted

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_00]: as a grinding noise took over,

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_00]: enveloping his hand and arm into the earth,

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00]: slightly deforming it,

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: but the arms gave far before the earth could.

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_00]: With spurts of blood,

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I could only sit and watch the ground eat Davey.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: For several minutes,

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_00]: I watched as he wailed

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and was being crushed like trash.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, please, no!

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_00]: He screamed until another crunch,

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_00]: the loudest yet came,

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and he was silenced.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I only watched another minute

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER_00]: as his feet dangled into the air

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_00]: as most of his body had been swallowed.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I ran quickly from the scene,

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_00]: terrified, bloodied, unable to think.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I woke up the next morning having nightmares,

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: simply having the night play, play,

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and play again through my mind.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And so, I alerted the authorities.

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Davey had gone on a hike

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and hadn't contacted me.

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I told them the wrong trail.

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_00]: After finishing my call

[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and having to go in for a statement

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: about his missing person,

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I finally got back home.

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_00]: There, I deleted the location

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: off my GPS.

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_00]: So please,

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: if you have seen this tree before,

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_00]: trust me,

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: you didn't see anything.