Tree mark, tree damage and tree stones.

[cryptobotanica]

Hey all.

Snapped this the other day. It is a healed up but fairly nasty chunk taken out of a Bloodwood in the Samford, Q area. Not too far from the Bora Ring, in the scheme of things. It is a remnant of some thinned out riverflat scrub, in a private back paddock. Not too far from a local creekline that acts as a corridor for wildlife.

It is around 200 - 220 cm off the ground, on the south-east side of the trunk. The damaged area would be around 55cm - 65 tall, and around 30cm wide.

This species of Bloodwood, curiously enough used to be used for skin complaints and other medicinal properties, onceuponatime.

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For exclusion purposes, this is a great example of rifleshot damage from Southern Q. Note splintering, and progressive dieback of the outer layers.

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Plus an example of a strange local phenomena of rocks appearing in trees, and having been up there by looks, long enough to influence the growth around them. They are usually well selected, you can spot one today and then cop a windstorm that night, and they'll still be there the next day. Usually around 220cm off the ground.

P9300038 (Medium).JPG

Make of that what you will.

[The yowie Mrx]

The rock got me stup! I do no bushys mark tree trunks with axes .The rock got me ????

[Shazzoir]

Theory 1: Big rocks thrown up into trees to dislodge goanna, sleeping nocturnal bird perhaps?
Theory 2: Markers

Whether either activity has been conducted by humankind or other kind is the question, LOL!
Were there any other stones under the trees to indicate previous missed attempts at knocking something out of the branches, do you know?

Shazz

[cryptobotanica]

Yeah it's a bit odd. I got used to finding old glassware , spent shells, smashed china, stone tools and whatnot , then I had to go and find that.

I'm pretty handy with a rock but lodging JUST the right shaped stone into just the right shaped branch, which would not have been just the right shape at a time is beyond me. I actually enjoy slinging (as in the david and goliath kind) and am fairly familiar with the ballistics of odd lumps of rock - no go. Nothing under it of any interest, nothing behind it from the most likely vantage point. I have seen a lot of stone left on fenceposts and fencelines around here, I assume it's a cross between "kid has found a rock and insists we take it home" and "actually, it's a fairly cool rock so I might leave it here".

This habit is a bit of an oddity.

They could all be remnants of stone throwing activity, but then we don't get goannas just various kinds of dragons and none of em tend to get more than three feet off the ground.All the birds tend to stay at least 10 feet OFF the ground so it leaves a few feet of leeway where there is no real explanation. Could be a deliberate placement just to mess with my head

Given the treatment of Indigenous people and their earth shaping in this area , I would not expect anyone to leave such a blatant remnant intact and in any case that is wedged into the new but not so recent growth... somewhere between 10 and 20 years ago, at a guess. I doubt it has anything to do with traditional use of stone.

Have found similar things in the Northbrook, Q area. I have a nasty habit of using up my batteries on plants and odd lumps of rock, instead of keeping it for the off chance. Time to take out shares in Energiser

Could be anything, still, I found it interesting. Almost any possible explanation is interesting - I like thinking about who or what has gone before.

Thanks for the replies Will trek up the mountain tomorrow, weather permitting, get some happysnaps of natural and entirely unremarkable wind shear damage to intermediate-aged trees.

[cryptobotanica]

Re: bushies marks - round here, they used to knock out two sections of a handy tree, defining a few angles of fenceline and would then whack in a letter or two of the name / last name of whoever owned that patch. Got some of that further down the hills, as well as cement-etchings on a foundation of some ruins on my block dating to the 1940s, and tree initials to the 1960s. Not to mention the muddy, childsize handprints under the floorboards

[deadpool]

I've seen something like it before, the "rock-wedged-in-a-tree" thing. But I know it was kids. How do I know this? Cause they wedged it into a hollow-ish part of the tree to get a leg up to get to the next branch for their treehouse kinda thing. I got rocks thrown at me. Little sods.

One thing that got me about your last post.. child sized muddy handprints under the floorboards?

[bearindawoods]

Lets not speculate, lets stick to the facts.... Bullets, rounds whatever you wish to call them, will cause similar damage such what you see in the picture, but the stone in the tree is another quandary. Is the tree near cliff face? Did a Yowie put in the tree? There are so many possibilities, I am sure the answer is there somewhere...... Just remember, ppl that live in glass houses should always wear clothes.....

[Dion]

Just remember, ppl that live in glass houses should always wear clothes.....

Hahaha.....Thats a nice saying you have there bearindawoods, but whats that got to do with this thread.

BTW: Welcome to the forum

[bearindawoods]

its an old saying.... ppl who live in glass houses should never throw stones...... I changed it so its funny, considering we talking about stones in tree I thought it was appropiate...

[Dion]

Fair enough, I had the suspicion that's the track you were going down, dont mind me I had to ask

[cryptobotanica]

The rifleshot pic is just that, zero speculation, I talked to the bloke that put it there nearly 20 years ago, when he was more mobile and less...well, grey. The Bloodwood pic could be ANYTHING really, but I know some people enjoy a good mangled tree pic. (it's the BDSM of the nature photography field ) Certainly a huge bleeding chunk on a genus usually found to heal up really well from most kinds of natural damage. Not particularly pest prone, etc.

Rock thing, no idea really. Have found perhaps half a dozen examples of it in a 150km radius, never seen it anywhere else and I've lived in gunnut country before, used to finding bottles, cans, chunks of wood stuck on top of fenceposts, used to finding the speed sign/novelty letterbox/ prickly pear tree down the road has taken 100 rounds the night before.

They are never placed anywhere practical, though that is a good suggestion Pool. There is in the same area a few examples of far more mundane tree abuse - steps for cubbies, random hatchet damage, etc. Pretty old spot, and from the earthforms and debris up and down the hill I assume there used to be a number of smaller cottages or shacks built around the place. Lots of kids, over the years, and probably no shortage of whacked out bushies either.

Handprints... in another thread I mention a tale that this place used to belong to a bloke that took in foster kids. Apparently, a couple commited suicide on a few trees. There are actually a couple of lengths of old rope dangling from about 4 trees in the area, as in within 10 mins walk or so. Vary in age from say 10 to 30 years old. So it could be a case of the chicken and the egg... local yokal sees rope, assumes... makes up story... bla bla. I have scoured what resources I have available, which amount to a bit and I can find no mention of a double youth suicide in the area going back 50 or more years. Noone that "knows" the story can actually give a time period, though I can account for most residents going back to around 30 years ago... they all check out. It is never suggested that he DID anything to the kids, simply that he took em in and then that happened.

A previous resident, a fairly simple country boy insists on seeing a couple of young kids out near the main tankstand) and there are a couple of spots of childish writing in lead pencil on the tank itself. Documents found in the shed refer to a school aged boy in around 1996 living here. I found, tucked underneath the floor , above the laundry "ceiling" (imagine a house on stilts, built on a hill... laundry is a 3x3m room underneath it, walled in) a size 6 or so girls shoe that from the style etc I would place sometime in the last 10 years.

Anyways, also under the house near the laundry is the pump (no town water) and hot water system. Maybe 4 feet of clearance at that point. I have had to hobble under there a few times to stuff about with piping etc and always look up a few times just to make sure I am not about to get a headfull of redbacks from the underside of the floor above me.

Couple of weeks ago, I looked up and found a fairly large amount of spattered mud on the underside of the floor, between the support struts. Then I looked again and there was a perfect handprint, in mud, in a child size. I have a daughter, she is nearly five and has a large frame for her age and it's around the same size as her handprint. It is well preserved, very neat, the mud looks almost fresh being tucked away under there and we do have a few natural clay deposits around but the rest of the block, and especially around the house is clay-loam, which leaves dark stains, this stuff is really light and distinct. We don't let out sprout play under there (dodgy old wiring, etc) so it's not hers.

[cryptobotanica]

The road out front is dirt, it's gazetted but pretty private... only goes to four properties or so. In addition to some whacky bone finds, I found a squashed matchbox car around an inch beneath the surface (yes, I dig holes in the road for my own amusement ) that from memory (not getting up) had 1977 printed under it. Down the hill around 80m, in some light scrub I found a very old, rusted out childs toy wheelbarrow... pretty old, it's actually pure steel and weighs a fair bit. No Fisher-Price back then, hah.

In an outbuilding, an old single room cottage not connected to anything, weatherboard type... I found a students desk, with the armrest. It's the size of what you'd use for a late-primary school sized kid and the construction and materials suggest it's at least 20 years old.

Anyway. It's a weird little thing I noticed that I have no real explanation for. The place freaks a few people out,personally I find it pretty comfortable. Some distinctly odd things but nothing really... intrusive.?I've always liked a little character

The kitchen has a weird corner - things have a hard time staying on the bench, electrical stuff dies off really quickly - microwave blows it's powerboard all the time, though nothing else is plugged into it or being used on that line of power, the overhead light has chewed through two CFLS in 12 months.

Some former residents describe various odd spots around the yard, the classic "dark flitting shadow thing" moving around in the wee hours and the tankstand kids mentioned above. Never had any of that myself, but then I think given the age of the spot and the position, we are dealing with a good couple of thousand years at least of human activity.

A couple of people have noticed a tendency, while just slipping into sleep, to think someone has just yelled at you, or that you just heard someone yell something at someone else. Obviously that's quite a mundane twilight-state phenomena but it is very distinct (had it myself, I'm fairly hard to rattle but that did give me the shiveries on acouple of occasions) and very location specific. Noone reporting it also reports that they get it when sleeping at the homes of friends or relatives, I don't always get it here but sometimes it's as clear as day. Or night, I guess.

Imagine a middle aged man yelling say three rooms away with the door shut. You can hear it really clearly but you can't make out the details very well. I have put a bit of time into the study of dream states, phases of sleep, sleep disorders and twilight phenomena (that in between not quite asleep, not quite awake) and I have always been very aware of my dreams and the like.I get weird mental images just before I fall asleep, but they're mostly meaningless and it's just my brain going in to standby mode. Nothing external about it, and had it all my life. But I just don't tend to hear things and have never had the same phenomena in any other house (out of more than a dozen homes).

I can appreciate a weird mental hiccup for what it is, without going looking for a meaning. But this is probably a different kind of thing. This tends to happen around the time you just think "well, phew, another one done. Geeze I love bed. Time to steal the doona back" and next thing it's a split second or two of "yargha-rant-grunt-shout". A few times I am sure I have made out words like stupid, and a few I won't post here, they're pretty offensive.

It all actually sounds more interesting written down that it does in a day to day sense.

It's just the house, really.Everywhere has it's thing, just that this place is more like overhearing other, earlier incidents, than actually having one yourself. If that makes any sense? Very passive. I usually have more practical things to worry about but since you asked, there you go.

Every chance that handprint is just something that I just somehow never noticed - though to be honest I really think I would have. A handprint is just a little bit more obvious than a nest of redbacks and I do sometimes go checking out rocky area for ancient artworks etc - sort of thing I'd notice.

Probably just a strange series of related-seeming finds, incidents and happenings but the whole thing is a little bit... odd.

Could get you some pictures if you're interested? Not that they'd look so remarkable on their own, I guess.

[deadpool]

Is it bad to say i'm actually more interested in this hand-print than the rock in the tree thing?

When you say "hand print" i'm assuming you mean 4 fingers, one thumb. If you could get a photo, that'd be awesome.

From what i've read of your posts, sounds like your house & the surrounding area is one big psychic "echo". I've stayed in places like that before. Nothing like waking up to see a guy looming over you then disappearing/fading away to get you out of bed faster than you can say "omgwtf". The place I was staying at where this happened.. turns out the former owner.. well, to put it nicely, liked little kids. More than usual, as one would say. Either way, his wife found out and he topped himself. This happened back in the 50's or something. Either way, the wife & kids moved out, but apparently his spirit liked it there, so it stayed. While I was there, i'd hear crying. Usually in the room next to where I was sleeping, i'd go in, and there was nothing. Just stopped. In the end my friend who was living there at the time moved out because of "all the stupid noises" she kept on hearing. Either way the place was torn down and made way for a grand spanking new estate.

[cryptobotanica]

No probs Pool. Sorry bout the couple day wait, some stuff needed doing

Here ya go. Just a handprint, in clay-heavy material, as I said. Sizing it against my (large-build) nearly 5yo, it's a couple cm smaller than her hand print. On the other hand (hah... like that?) anyone much smaller than her could not reach up there... bit odd.

Minimag 2xAA for comparison...apologies for blur, bats on way out. Also a shot of the dodgy wiring that means we, and no other parents with any sense, would let their kids under their and also one of the strange altar like slab of completely non-local sandstone that is stuffed right up under the house. It's about 2x3 feet, I guess.

Make of that what you will.

[cryptobotanica]

Child size wheelbarrow, and writing/ scribbling.

[deadpool]

Those hand prints.. the fingermarks seem to be, well, a bit big for a 5-y/o - from what i can tell of the pics, unless theres some smudging in there, the pinky finger is about the same length as the index finger? Maybe its just me, but thats too big for a 5 year old, let alone a 10 year old. And thats under your house? I'm gonna have to do a bit of research on something to do with this kind of thing, but i'll get back to you on it. It may be not what you think it is. I've seen similar hand prints in the past.. and yeah, wasn't human.

[rickrocket2010]

Out of all of it that Rock has me thinking????? good find mate

[cryptobotanica]

Yeah the rocks are a bit odd. Could be a statistically odd clustering of entirely explicable events, of course. But I've never seen it anywhere else and I've lived around a bit.

Deadpool, there is some smudging / curling to the right / lower section (say the heel of the hand, rather than the fleshy pad at the thumb). I probably should have messed with contrast etc for clarity but I don't fiddle with anything that may turn out to be a bit odd - safer that way. Anyone interested can always clean things up for emselves but I like being able to say "WYSIWYG".

Smudging may suggest someone reaching up and then across to the left of themselves - left the print, then as they pulled their arm back and down the fingers naturally curl to the left again, leaving a slightly "doubled impression" running left-right.

Not sure, my prints book is out on "loan" (mates, eh) along with almost all of my decent texts on drops, fibres, fire investigation ahd the like (you never need a book until you lend the bugger out).

Sized against my nearly 5 year old, who is pretty big for her age (beanpole, like me) they are a little small for her, I would guess a 42 month old of average build. Thing is, most kids that age would not be tall enough to reach up there. Doesn't rule out standing on something, of course. I'll get a pic or two of the random splattering of mud around the more defined prints. Odd, given there is no natural clay under the house.

Eh, they are what they turn out to be I guess. Can't do much about it now Could be anything. But it is odd I didn't notice em on earlier occasions and there has certainly been no small people under there on my watch - BBQ'd kiddy is something I try to avoid!

I'd put up pics of the various lengths of rope etc hanging around the trees here but I understand that could be pretty upsetting for people who have been through certain events in their life, so I won't be doing that.