The Crooked Forest is not the name of an abstract painting or a children’s story, but a real place in Poland where 400 pine trees grow in an unusual way, close to Gryfino, in North-West Poland. They have a 90 degree bent right at the base of their trucks and then they rise vertically again. The reason why they have grown like this is not known, which adds a bit of mystery to the forest, but there are some speculations about it. Because they are all bent towards the North, it appears to be more of a man made thing, rather than a natural phenomenon.

It is said that the forest is the result of a group of farmers who planted them in 1930. After allowing the trees to normally grow for 7 to ten years before holding them down and creating their bended shape. It is assumed that they wanted to make a special type of furniture out of the bent wood but after the outbreak of the Second World War, they didn’t get a chance to follow through with their plants. The result: an unusual, but beautiful looking forest.