This incredibly strange pine forest is on the Curonian Spit, Kaliningrad, Russia. It’s known as the dancing forest to some, or the drunken forest to locals and it’s formation is a bit of a mystery. Virtually all of the trees are twisted and deformed to a greater or lesser degree and no one really knows why?
Some say that the area is a boundary between positive and negative energies. I’m not convinced. Others say it’s due to incredibly high winds manipulating the trees over decades. Another theory is that the earth in the forest is sandy and therefore unstable, causing slow slips and slides.
None of those theories really seem to cut it for me? And there’s nowhere else on earth with similar trees, but there are plenty of trees in windy and sandy conditions?
The Curonian Spit is a 98 km long, thin, curved sandy spit that splits the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. It’s quite a weird looking place, so maybe it’s odd geography and positioning do have something to do with the bonkers trees.
There’s also an old wives tale about some Prussian Prince called Barty who wanted to marry a girl that he met in the forest but she wouldn’t marry him until he converted to Christianity. The Prince would not convert unless God proved he was more powerful than the trees around him, and bish bash bosh, the drunken forest was produced. That’s about as believable as the other theories to be fair.
Whatever it is that’s done this work to the trees, good job.
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