Not your average tree
Carpenter Ryan Saunders was working in his yard after deciding to undertake a project. He wanted pieces of wood for his next carpentry job and decided to chop one of the trees in his back yard. He went to his workshop, grabbed his tools and went to work on the tree. However, he would have no idea that this little project was about to take a mighty interesting twist when he chops through the tree and finds a very interesting surprise in the middle of the bark. There are some surprises that no one wants to welcome as they work in nature, and this one is sure to be one of them.
As Ryan was working on the tree, he sawed it in half to reveal something he could not understand. He decided to take his camera out and try to document what he was seeing even though he was so confused about it. Anyone working in nature knows that you will come across a variety of animals, but this one was something unlike anything most people have seen as it is so rare that it would take a lot of guessing and a lot of people to finally unveil what the unknown surprise in the middle of the tree was. It was far more dangerous than Ryan suspected, especially as it was doing something that made no biological sense. This tale is a doozy, that is for sure. We hope you have a strong stomach.
Strangest tree awards
Our lives are rarely normal, there are strange occurrences all the time. Mother nature is no different when it comes to her tendencies and the sights we see as a result of natural growth. Trees, more than most nature, have a tendency to get make their way into the strangest of places, just like the ones you see here.
They do not care about a car or other inanimate objects, they will grow right through them should you let them. However, we were not ready for what Saunders found...
That's no cat in a tree
There are times when animals get too close to trees and manage to get into some trouble. The classic tale we all know of is when a cat gets caught in a tree and cannot find its way out.
Here we see a dog who got into his own version of trouble and needed some rescuing. The encounter that Saunders had in his tree is far stranger than a cat or dog, showing that there are others that can get trapped.
Nature's strange
If you searched the internet for funny photos of animals and their interactions with trees, you will find a long list of photos where the two did not mix well.
The tree always wins this battle and the poor animal is left there defenseless as a photo is taken for these purposes. However, nothing could have prepared Saunders for what came from him cutting his tree, so much so that 26 million people viewed his video once he cut down the tree.
Hungry trees
There are interesting moments when trees do the darnedest things. Here we see a tree that enveloped a bike that was left for far too long next to it.
We also see a tree growing over a metal hand rail where someone decided to be funny and put a pair of eyes on it. Nature has a way of getting its way around human constructs, and these are just two examples.
Graphic pictures ahead!
We warn you now, there are images ahead that are not for the sensitive ones. If you do not think you can handle graphic images then we recommend turning back now as these photos will not only be funnier than the ones we just showed you.
However, you will never believe what was in the middle of the tree, what it looks like, and how rare it really is to see.
Starting his project
Saunders got his tools and was about to start cutting through the tree in his yard. He had no idea that there was a creature living in the middle of the tree, which he would soon learn that there was.
The video shows Saunders jumping backwards and screaming when he cut through and saw the animal, there was nothing that could prepare him for what he saw.
Videoing the moments
Saunders' video starts when he split the tree trunk in two. He looks at the middle of the tree trunk and jumps back not understanding what he is looking at.
Whatever it is, it starts moving! Saunders is not sure what to do in the moment and films it as it starts to wiggle around. What on earth could live in the middle of a tree trunk?
Moving around
As the video continues, you see the odd creature move in all directions. Saunders is freaking out and yelling as the creature start to squirm around after it had clearly been cut.
After a few moments, Saunders started calming down. He then started talking to the camera explaining what he was looking at. He was not sure what animal this could be in the first place...
Kind of snake?
Saunders said, "I accidentally sawed in half some sort of large snake inside of this log.” He was completely shocked by what he was looking at and again he began yelling as the body of the creature started moving down the middle of the trunk and onto the ground below.
It was inching closer and closer to him - what could this thing be?
Trying to get out
You can hear Saunders yelling, "It is backing itself out!" from behind the lens of the camera. He waited until the head of the creature was coming out to see what it was, but it kept coming out and there was no head to be seen.
He then runs to the other side of the tree, trying to put some distance between himself and the creature.
What happened to the head?
Saunders kept saying that the creature was still moving. He saw the tail on one end so he knew that the creature was missing its head yet was still alive and moving quite a bit.
The video, understandably, gained a lot of traction but there was so much more to this story and the rest was even more incredible considering this creature lived in this tree for who knows how long!
Kept on moving
The two pieces of the creature were crawling despite being cut into two pieces, something that would normally kill an animal. This is not something you see every day, or even every year.
It was thanks to a man who saw the video that we figured out what the animals was - a snake or a giant worm? Many were throwing out their thoughts.
Snake or worm?
So which one was it? A man named John Delay left a comment on the video saying that it was a worm: “It’s a wood worm, they start small. It bored around the tree till it got big enough to bore a hole in the middle, he ate his way around till got that big and the guy cut the tree.”
However, John Delay was very wrong in his creature choice!
Rare snake!
Another commenter shared what he thought and turned out to be the truth: "It's a rare pine snake. They use the decayed root system underground."
This is a photo go what a snake like that looks like when in full form. This was a very rare species, what were the odds of it being discovered by Saunders cutting open his back yard tree?
Poor snake
Much like the dog that got caught in a tree, this snake was also out of luck being caught in Saunders' tree. There was a situation that was very similar to the snake but with a dog.
He got caught in the tree and left undiscovered for years until he was found by accident. The following photos are heart breaking...
Dog
In 1980, workers for the Kraft Corporation discovered a sort of creature in the middle of a large oak tree. The creature seemed to have been mummified by its surroundings.
The moment the remains were found, the tree was taken to the Forest World Tree Museum. This kind of discovery does not happen every day, so it needed to be investigated and cared for.
"Stuckie" the dog
The employees called the mummified remains "Stuckie" for obvious reasons. The name came from how the animal got into the tree - he was chasing an animal and got stuck in the tree never to be found.
He was in that tree for 20 years before the loggers got to that particular tree and discovered him. That means that the dog got into this tree in 1960!
Museum attraction
The dogs remains were mummified because of the hollow log that helped to preserve him by removing his scent out thanks to the trees ventilation.
Brady Stevenson, the Manager of Forest World, said how Stuckie got to the position he was in and when they tell them the truth that he just got stuck there and lost, it breaks peoples heart.
Human "Stuckie"
Dogs and other animals are not the only ones to get stuck in hollow trees, people do too! See the legs of a man who was curious about this hollow tree, he was stuck there for a while before others came to help him after hearing him yell for assistance.
How he managed to get as far up as he did is beyond us.