Bike in tree

[NigelS]

A more modern take:

That would be the motorbike of the chap that went off to Vietnam then?

NigelS

[Jim Strawbridge]

As far as I know: a tree is growing from out of the top...

So, if someone left his bike at the bottom of the tree (the normal way I suppose), how could the bike be so high in the tree.

Robert

I can see where you are coming from. I think that a tree grows both up and down with the stablised place at ground level. The trunk grows in girth at this point and upwards from there to get the leaves to the light. Similarly the roots just below ground level will go downwards for sustenance and water. But the trunk at ground level will be neither forced up or down.

[6th Shropshires]

Can this story be ruled out as not being true ?

Anyone saying the bike does not look c1914 are you bike experts ?

Also the bike may not be too rushed because the tree it's self could be keeping most rain of it.

A tree expert may be able to say how long the bike as been in the tree by high off the ground and I am sure if the tree was cut down a expert could say from what year (s) the tree start to grow aroud the bike.

Anyone saying how can a boy go off to war-meny boy soldiers joined up, so very possible for a boy to go to war. Also the wording boy may be used in lose terms, I have seen meny a newspaper header to pictures of units marching off to war useing the wording Boy or boys.

Also a boy/man in US could and did go off to war in 1914 by either returning to UK if British born or going to Canada and joining up there as meny did for the sake of adventure.

So this story can not be ruled out, the only way it could be ruled out is if a bike expert dated post 1914-18 or a tree expert seid there was no way it's been there since 1914-18

[trajan]

Call in the dendrochronologists boys! They can take a small bore from the area around the bike and date it precisely!

Trajan

[Steven Broomfield]

Good to see how many bikers were prepared to Raleigh to the colours.

[ph0ebus]

No shortage of small bores on my train each day...

Anyone on any bicycle forums?

Daniel

PS The Snopes article says whose bike it was and how old it is...but perhaps a second opinion will put this myth to rest...

[centurion]

Can this story be ruled out as not being true ?

Anyone saying the bike does not look c1914 are you bike experts ?

Also the bike may not be too rushed because the tree it's self could be keeping most rain of it.

A tree expert may be able to say how long the bike as been in the tree by high off the ground and I am sure if the tree was cut down a expert could say from what year (s) the tree start to grow aroud the bike.

Anyone saying how can a boy go off to war-meny boy soldiers joined up, so very possible for a boy to go to war. Also the wording boy may be used in lose terms, I have seen meny a newspaper header to pictures of units marching off to war useing the wording Boy or boys.

Also a boy/man in US could and did go off to war in 1914 by either returning to UK if British born or going to Canada and joining up there as meny did for the sake of adventure.

So this story can not be ruled out, the only way it could be ruled out is if a bike expert dated post 1914-18 or a tree expert seid there was no way it's been there since 1914-18

Yes it can

I repeat

It's obviously a child's bike so its owner unlikely to have gone off to war in 1914 leaving it behind

It's obviously of post WW2 design

It's condition is too good to be that old

It's in the wrong country

and so on.

Does illustrate how it's so difficult to dispel urban myths and conspiracy theories - people believe them because they want to believe them.

I've looked at enough photos of WW1 period bikes - the tyres and wheel rims are too thick, the tyres are of the wrong pattern and, given, the rubber mix used in those days would have perished long since

[Steven Broomfield]

Thi is still going the rounds: someone e-mailed it to me yesterday. I forebore from forwarding it to my friends.

OK, friend.

Wife, then.

[AlanCurragh]

A tad off topic, but when we were in New England last year, we stayed in a bed and breakfast near the town of Warren in Vermont. There was a tree just across the road with the remnants of a scythe buried in it - and the tree had to an extent grown around it. The local legend was that it had been stuck in the tree when its owner had gone off to the American Civil War - and remained there when he never came back

[centurion]

I have a feeling that every state has one of these - see this from Upper New York State

The Story of the Scythe Tree

Almost every city and village in New York State has a Civil War monument. They serve as silent markers of “the life blood spilt, that a country might live and that a race be freed.” One of the most unusual Civil War monuments, however, is the Scythe Tree. This is not a monument of brass or marble, but of living wood. The Scythe Tree is a living monument to young men going off to war. The Scythe Tree is located at 841 Waterloo-Geneva Road, two miles west of Waterloo, NY on Routes 5 and 20. The tree itself is a Balm of Gilead, a species rarely found in this part of the state, a variety of the poplar tree.

Following the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the nation was swept with war fever. President Abraham Lincoln called for troops and thousands of brave men and boys rushed to arms. Recruiting officers visited this section of the country and held patriotic meetings in the district school houses and churches, to get recruits for the Union Army. One evening in the early fall of 1861, James Wyman Johnson attended one of these meetings, held in the Vail District school house. He was the oldest son of James and Elizabeth Goodhue Johnson. Altogether, there were two daughters and two sons and their parents living on this small farm. James himself had been born at Pennfield, New Hampshire, on January 1, 1835. At this fall 1861 recruiting meeting at the Vail District school house, “many hard-handed farmers and theirs sons gathered that night and listened with mixed emotions and drawn faces to the appeal of the recruiting agents; it must have been much like an old fashioned revival….” Johnson was particularly impressed by the arguments of the Reverend Samuel H. Gridley, D.D. pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Waterloo. His comments made Johnson feel as if it were his duty to respond and, if need be, give his life for his country. He was torn, however, by his “responsibilities” to his family and the farm. Which was more important—his patriotic duty or his duty to family and the farm?

Still pondering over this question the next morning, Johnson went out into the field to mow. While swinging the scythe, he decided he needed to enlist. Hastening to the house, he told his parents of his intention. He carefully placed the scythe in the crotch of the tree and said, “Leave this scythe in the tree until I return.” It needs to be noted that at time the tree was a young sapling about eight inches in diameter and just a few feet in height. Fighting back the tears streaming down their cheeks, his parents consented to his wishes, and young Johnson prepared to enlist. On October 29, 1861, he enlisted in Company G, 85th New York Volunteers, commanded by Captain John Raines of Canandaigua and composed mostly of young men from Seneca County. At the time of his enlistment, he was twenty-six years old and was described as a serious, slim beardless, blue-eyed young man of medium height (believed to be five feet, ten inches tall) with dark hair neatly combed.

After many months of hardship and fighting, Wyman Johnson (he is known as Wyman Johnson in the military records) returned home in 1863 for furlough. His parents were shaken by James’ bearded, melancholy face which made him look twice his age and visibly demonstrated the harsh realities of the war experiences. At the end of his furlough, he returned to battle, leaving behind his heartbroken parents and the scythe—still hanging in the tree.

His military experiences continued to be unpleasant. He was taken prisoner in New Berne, North Carolina and thrown into one of the war prisons. Later he was released, probably in an exchange of prisoners, and he went back into battle still again. On April 20, 1864, the now Sergeant Johnson was wounded in the upper thigh, at Plymouth, North Carolina, by a blast from a small carbine. Realizing that he was likely to die, Johnson gave his re-enlistment money to his friend Lieutenant Edwin Pierson, asking Edwin to give the money to his parents. (Edwin was very soon forced to march to Andersonville prison and we do not know what happened to Johnson’s money). As part of the wounded, Johnson was treated by over-worked Confederate surgeons until about mid-May. Then Wyman and the other wounded were moved out to make room for more Confederate troops. Johnson was taken with the severely wounded soldiers to the Confederate Hospital at Raleigh, North Carolina. He died there on May 22, 1864, from his wounds and was buried in an unknown grave.

News of the whereabouts of Johnson was slow getting back to his family in Waterloo. The scythe remained in the poplar tree near the kitchen door, a constant reminder of the elder son’s absence. Rumors spread about the fate of the “Plymouth Pilgrims”—many of those soldiers captured at the Plymouth, North Carolina battle and now being held at Andersonville Prison wehre a third of the company would die of typhoid, dysentery, smallpox or starvation. In December 1864, Wyman’s sister Julia wrote to the surgeon general. Surgeon William T. Comstock wrote back on January 16, 1865, saying Wayman had

“received a several wound of the middle 3rd of the right thigh, the ball lodging near the bone and fracturing the same. We remained at Plymouth til May 15th when we removed to Raleigh, N.C. The journey was a very severe one, which so exhausted him that at 6 o’clock of the morning of the 22nd of May, he breathed his last. He was conscious until within a few minutes of his death. I dressed his wound form the day he received his injury to the day of his death. I never once heard him complain. He was conscious of his danger, and wished me to inform his friends of his fate. This was the only request he made. As he never seemed willing to converse during his sickness, I did not exact anything further from him….The rebel surgeons,

I must say, were very kind, and did all they could. The medicines, dressing and diet

were good….

Hearing the news of the death of their son, the parents refused to believe it. They prayed that he would some day return to them. They kept their faith of the return of their son up until their death—the father died nine years after their son’s death, and the mother died nineteen years after the son’s death.

It was not until 1916 that the actual burial place of Wyman Johnson was “found.” Francis Bacon, the patriotic instructor of the Grand Army of the Republic for Seneca County, received word from the Quarter-Master General of the United States Army that the grave of Wyman J. Johnson had been found in the Confederate Cemetery where a tombstone had been erected to his memory.

The national “Memorial Day” observance is credited as starting with an event in Waterloo in 1866. Sometime shortly after that, a private memorial for Wyman James Johnson was being observed by Johnson’s neighbor Lucinda Jane (McCurdy) Bodine. She and a friend Seth Genung would make evergreen wreaths and bouquets of flowers. They would take these to the Johnson farm and place them at the base of the tree.

In those many years following Johnson’s death, the tree grew to maturity, measuring 100 feet in height and over five feet in diameter. The scythe became imbedded in the very heart of the tree, with only a few inches of the scythe blade protruding. The wooden handle part of the scythe had decayed and dropped off. In 1916 a bolt of lighting struck the tree, rending the bark from top to bottom, killing three of its limbs, but not injuring the scythe. The tree was then treated and has survived. As Mildred Morgan described it so well, “no memorial can match the living one that breathes on the Johnson farm.” For many years, the Women’s Relief Corps of Tyler J. Snyder Post No. 72, G.A.R. placed a new flag on this historic scythe tree, with appropriate services to commemorate this event.

The onset of American involvement in World War I led to another major chapter in this story. Two young men living on the Scythe Tree Farm, as it was by then commonly known, enlisted. They were the sons of Mr. C. L. Schaffer, who owned the farm at the time. Raymond L. Schaffer enlisted in the United States Army on January 18, 1918, and was called into service in Company F, 33rd Engineers, at Camp Devens, Massachusetts on March 22, 1918. On leaving his home, he placed his scythe in the tree. The Carpenters’ Local Union No. 187 of Geneva, NY, of which he was a member, kept an American flag floating over his scythe. On May 28, 1918, his only and younger brother, Lynn E. Schaffer, enlisted in the United States Navy at Geneva, NY, and was called into service on May 29, 1918, at the United States Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois. He also hung a scythe beside his brother’s. The Young Men’s Bible Class of the First Presbyterian Church of Waterloo, of which he was a member, kept the American flag flying over his scythe. This meant that a total of three American flags were kept continually waving over the three scythes until the close of World War I—one each in honor of Wyman James Johnson, Raymond Schaffer and Lynn Schaffer.

The two Schaffer boys safely returned home and each removed the handle from his scythe, leaving the blade in the tree. Their two flags were taken down. Sometime after this, the Waterloo Rotary Club erected a modest granite marker near the tree, giving the pertinent facts of this tree’s story. Today, one can see only the tips of the blades of all three scythes hanging in the tree. Each blade tip has been painted to make them easier to spot.

Though time has passed and the aged tree continues to deteriorate, its fame continues. In July 1990, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation named the Scythe Tree as one of eleven trees to be of "extraordinary historic significance.” The Scythe Tree is listed by The National Arbor Day Foundation as one of the Majestic Trees of America. In September 2002, Faye Sizemore published this poem in tribute to the history and meaning of this tree:

[roel22]

Please nobody tell me this story is not true - some stories are too good to be checked.

Roel

Several people have managed to ruin a good story!

[centurion]

Perhaps we should have a story sub forum. We could put the Angel of Mons and the Bow Men of Flanders in it to be starting.It could be called mything believed true

[roel22]

You have my vote!

[Steven Broomfield]

I'm witing for the one about the bloke who left his dog tied up outside the local corner shop and then went off to enlist. Poor old Shep ...

[centurion]

I'm witing for the one about the bloke who left his dog tied up outside the local corner shop and then went off to enlist. Poor old Shep ...

Homer wrote (well composed) it. When Odysseus gets back the poor old mutt wags his tail and snuffs it. Very sad (there's a lot of other stuff about one eyed giants, whirlpools, the unusual sirens of Lesbos etc but its mainly irrelevant).

[Steven Broomfield]

the unusual sirens of Lesbos

Did they live in the local blue flashing light district?

[ph0ebus]

 Perhaps we should have a story sub forum. We could put the Angel of Mons and the Bow Men of Flanders in it to be starting.It could be called mything believed true 

Or better yet..

"Mything In Action"

(grabs coat)

-Daniel

[truthergw]

If true, this has to be the definitive youngest recruit. What would he be, about seven?

[NigelS]

The 1955 US war film 'Battle Cry' (based on a Leon Uris novel of the same name) about US Marines in WWII was on Film 4 yesterday afternoon. (Not a brilliant film, but it was a wet, miserable afternoon.) One of the scenes rang a bell:

During a spell of R&R while training in New Zealand one of the marines visits his girlfriend's parents' farm where he is shown a rusting axe which had been left symbolically embedded in partially felled tree by their son - since killed - to await completion of the job on his return from the war. The marine, of course, in an Arthurian style 'sword in the stone' act promptly removes the axe and downs the tree...

This thing of items left either embedded or leaning against trees when men go off to war must be firmly rooted in folklore.

Nigel

[MBrockway]

As far as I know: a tree is growing from out of the top...

So, if someone left his bike at the bottom of the tree (the normal way I suppose), how could the bike be so high in the tree.

Robert

If you look at this shot, it's clear that the bike has been placed over a secondary vertical leader shoot branching off from the main trunk. The tree has then expanded outwards and absorbed the bike.

In the Snopes debunking article the (claimed) original owner says he just abandoned the bike. Someone seems to have come along later and hooked it up over this side shoot in its present location a good few feet up the trunk.

In lush temperate rain forest such as Washington State or Scotland, that would be a fairly logical and helpful thing for a well-intentioned person to do since on the forest floor and object would quickly disappear under brambles, ferns, other under scrub, not re-appearing again until the year's growth dies back in the autumn. Placing it higher up would make it more easily found by the returning owner - in the eye line and well silhouetted.

In mountain search & rescue, if we have failed to find a fatality during the spring/summer in scrubby woodland, or dense moorland bracken, we will often return six months later for another look when the ground is more open.

[Sepoy]

To spoil it all, if you watch the youtube clip attached to the link given in post 12, someone has stolen the handle bars!

You cant leave anything laying around (or hanging about)!

Sepoy

[BereniceUK]

The Avenue of Remembrance, Sittingbourne, Kent.