‘It is a little eerie.’ Tree in ‘enchanted’ NC forest is growing in a knot. Why?


Hans Rohr photo

Mark Price
Thu, July 21, 2022 

A tree tied in a knot is growing in eastern North Carolina — and a state forester says it’s one of the most mystifying sights you can find in the “enchanted forest.”

It’s accessible only by foot in Bladen Lakes State Forest, about 45 miles southeast of Fort Bragg, and a photo shared on Facebook by the N.C. Forest Service shows its whimsical curves.

Bladen Lakes State Forest Supervisor Hans Rohr says it’s a very strange longleaf pine.

“It has been in this position for about as long as I can remember, just shy of 20 years,” he says. “It’s about 25 feet tall, but if you straightened it out, it would be about 50 to 60 feet tall.”

Social media reactions to the Facebook photo have included comparisons to “a huge snake.” Some have also suggested the state collect the seeds to see what may grow from them.

But seeing it in person is disconcerting, Rohr says.

“You just don’t expect that,” he says. “I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods and I have never seen a tree shaped like that. It is a little eerie looking.”

There are other trees in the same area that are similarly off-putting, he says, including one that appears to have a head and two arms raised in the air.

As for the knotted tree, Rohr has some theories.

“One theory could be that an older tree or something maybe fell on it, but didn’t break it. It just bent it in this manner and the tree was able to make this 360 (degree) ring around it. Another theory is there was some kind of damage, maybe insect damage, which made the top branch die and a side branch took over.”

Theory No. 1 unravels when considering there are no signs of an older tree that fell nearby, he says.

Longleaf pine can reach 110 feet in height and have been known to live more than 450 years, according to the Longleaf Alliance.

They are widespread in Bladen Lakes State Forest, a 33,500-acre “working forest” that funds itself with “sales of timber, pine straw and charcoal,” the state says.

The knotted tree is behind a gate in an area known as the Addie Barnes red-cockaded woodpecker area,

 home to the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

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