There’s currently a story circulating on Facebook about the bicycle in the tree on Vashon Island. It’s a made-up story of a boy who left his bike by the tree, went off to war in 1914 and never came back.
I intend to set the record straight. In actuality there is a bicycle that a tree grew around on Vashon Island. But the true story of how it got there is quite different.
In 1954 Helen Puz (who is now 99 years old) moved to Center with her five children. At that time she had been recently widowed.
“People were very sympathetic and generous,” writes Puz in a document on display at the Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum. “We were given a girl’s bike and my 8-year-old son, Don, seemed the natural one to ride it.”
Don was none too happy having a girls bike, said Puz, but it was better than none.
The neighborhood boys, including Don, liked to play behind a local restaurant called, “The Den.” (This restaurant is now called Sound Food.)
One day Don told his mother that he had lost his bike and he wasn’t sure where he’d left it. They both let it go because Don was a little embarrassed to be riding a girl’s bike anyway.
Forty years later Puz read in the Beachcomber, Vashon’s newspaper, that someone had discovered a bike up in a tree near Sound Food. The bike was five feet off the ground and the tree had grown around it. News of the tree bike even carried to Japan where they made a film about it.
The mystery of where Don Puz left his bike had finally been solved.
If you’d like to see the bike in the tree, directions on how to get there can be found at roadsideamerica.com.
Thanks for this post! I’ve seen dozens of my friends post this story about the kid going off to WWI.
This is quite a story!
How interesting. Hard to imagine this really happening…until I saw the photo. Wow!
Amazing photo. Thanks for sharing this story, which I had never heard.
Fascinating story/myth/legend/truth(?)!
the true story is just as interesting as the made up one. I imagine seeing such a bike-in-a-tree could inspire many stories. and no doubt has.
What a fun story. Do you know the name of the Japanese film about the bike?
BEST historical snopes-like urban legend busting ever. I like the real story better anyway.
Amazing photo–I didn’t quite understand the fascination until I saw the tree. I think the real story trumps the urban legend
What a fun story. As a traveler, I enjoy local color that puts a face on a destination. Thanks!
This post made me go digging. I remembered this story from a children’s picture book that I used to read to my boys. If I’m not mistaken, it appears in Red Ranger Came Calling (http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0316102490/ref=nosim/kbauthor-20). I can’t recall what story was told in that book, though!
(Hi, Kris!) I was going to tell the Red Ranger story here – but why spoil it? It’s a charming book by Berkeley Breathed (author of “Bloom County,” “Outland” & “Opus”), who is a former resident of Vashon Island. His explanation as to how the bike ended up there is one of the most charming Christmas stories you will ever find.
What’s a picture and story… But, I think it’s only some urban legend or a kind of that. Anyway, you have good picture. I am still wondering, how can the bike in there?
What a wonderful story. I’d never heard of this story. Love the image, too. Next time I’m in Washington, I’d like to check it out.
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My only thought to this is.. did the boy leave the bike 5 feet up in the tree? why would he leave it there and not leave it resting up against the base? after all, trees grow from the top, not the bottom right? so if this is true.. the tree would not push the bike up wards and so wouldnt the tree grow around it near the base of the tree? not 5 feet up?
Just a thought..
I think trees do grow from the bottom up.
hmmm.. you might want to look that one up.
Seriously… trees, like all plants, grow from the ground UP. I’m shocked any functional adult, or anyone over the age of 10, would think trees grow from the top down.
…scary thought process…
all living things that are rooted to the ground or are growing as parasits develops from the roots onwards…up…down….sideways
up as the age increses
down and sideways goes the roots
sideways as the tree grows older and bigger…like some of us … Lol
Sorry but Jerin is right here.
umm, no functional adult thinks that trees grow from the top down. but most plants do grow from the top up. meaning that if a bike was left next to a tree, the growth of the tree would occur well above the level of the bike. presuming, of course, that the tree was taller than the bike propped up against it.
in order for the bike to have been raised by the tree, it would have had to grow out from an arbitrary center, pushing the branches up toward the sky and the roots down into the ground. but this isn’t the case. plants grow out from the ends.
Lauren is an idiot. The only scary thought processes are hers.
Jerin is correct and Loren’s response was quick and made without doing a little research. All of the negativity from this point is just mean. (Jerin took the high road and never made a negative comment.)
Just Google/Bing “tree growth”…
It sounds as though the tree were probably young at the time the bike placed and while the tree grew upward, the bike was raised slowly up as the tree grew through and around the bike, kind of like how a tree grows over fence wire or nails and screws.
Vertical tree growth occurs at the terminal buds on the ends of branches. It is obvious that the bike was lifted up and placed in the crook of two or more branches where the lateral growth of the tree slowly encompassed the bike.
Come on folks, trees grow from the top. Every farmer, cattleman and land owner that puts up a fence and nails it to a tree would have a fence ten feet in the air especially if it was a pine, in ten years.
Oh for pete’s sake, why must someone always get snarky? No one is an idiot (and I’ll never see it if you call me one so…
If you think trees, which of course are plants, grow from the top down, then why do people plant seeds in the ground and not up in the air?
He says he forgot where he put it. Perhaps it was stolen and put up into a tree in order to mess with him.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/bicycle.asp
He “forgot it and did not remember where it was” Meaning he did not want it in the first place. All kids do this when they get something they don’t want they hide it from their parents and say they don’t know where it went so they don’t have to be responsible for it anymore since it is gone.
“Putting” wouldn’t have been enough. The bike would have to be fixed right onto the tree otherwise the tree would have just pushed the bike away as it grew.
I live in the hills. We have lots of barbed wire fences. It is not uncommon to see sections of the oldest barbed wire fences several feet off the ground. This happens when the young trees near where the fence was originally strung grew out and encompassed part of the wire, and then dragged it upward as the tree enhanced its height.
I can certainly see how a bike leaning against a young tree could be encompassed and dragged skyward in a similar fashion. It happens.
My left leg is longer than my right after this tale. Ozark borned and raised.
You think a little like I do..nice story, but guess I am just a skeptic about most things unless there is proof. Any proof it is really 40 years old?
trees get taller and wider, they grow around anything touching or near them in time. growing up on a farm. I’ve seen many examples of this.
Exactly, Jerin. I have been puzzling over this too. Grass grows from the bottom up, but not trees. I imagine that if the boy were so embarrassed by riding a girl’s bike he would not just leave it parked at the foot of a tree where it could be found. I think he got it up the trunk of the tree as far as he could lift it. He may have hooked it over a branch or some projection on the tree and then tied it in place. If he hadn’t tied the bike to the tree with something substantial (at least rot resistant) the tree would simply have pushed the bike sideways as it grew in girth.
Trees like most plants grow in multiple directions but they do grow from the bottom up as well, otherwise how would the base of a tree be so large? Also do nuts, pine cones etc float in the air for the tree to grow down from? In otherwords DUH!!!
Still a very cool picture.
I’m from Malaysia…this story was posted on Face Book and I followed the link here. Some stories are intresting and people will often make up their own version.
The boy going to war is a beliveable yarn, but the true story is more belibeable. Thank You for clearing the fact.
Abdullah Osman (PaDollah)
why is the tire and handle bars missing?
Fascinating! I live in Asia but when I visit the States I’ll make sure to visit this! Truly remarkable if you were Don and you see your lost bike 60 years later.
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There are two different pictures of this bike…..one shows the front wheel, handle bar intact and still attached to the frame. Another picture shows the front wheel, fender and handle bar missing. I’m guessing that the “intact” picture is the older one and the other one is after the parts have been ripped off.
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It tells how great God is. The bike blocked the way of the young growing tree, so in order for it to get it’s way, it has to grow around it since plants are not locomotive. Spiritually meaning no body can block your spirit of imagination, you can do whatever you plan to do.
This is a good example of tortured logic.
LOL
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The link at the end of the article doesn’t currently work because it’s missing the needed colon (:) after the protocol (http). The correct link is http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1412
Thank you for helping out with the link, Donald.
I was on Vashon Island in October of last year and I didn’t see a bike in a tree and no one who lived there mentioned it as a highlight of something to see. Given that there’s not a lot to see (aside from the natural beauty of the island itself), it seems this would have been mentioned. And, I walked by that corner where Sounds Cafe is numerous times. Have you seen the bike, or do you know of anyone who has seen the bike?
I do know people who have seen the bike. The photo I got is from the Vashon Maury Island Museum and they’ve seen it.
Has the museum found that it is 40 years old???
Still don’t believe it. Trees grow from their branch tips––trunks don’t rise up out of the ground. Mark a spot 1 foot off the ground off the ground and it will still be a foot off the ground next year, and the next, etc. And nope, the bike didn’t “rise” five feet in the air because the ground eroded out from under it. Any tree that lost that much earth would have its roots exposed. This is a hoax.
strikes me that way too…
trees aren’t always as tall as they first sprout up. use your head!
You are right. Trees do not grow from the bottom up but from their tops. Just look at the new growth sprouting every year from the ends of the branches. Only grasses grow from the bottom up, but not trees. My parents have a farm in Wales UK and I’ve seen many fences that appear to grow into trees – but the fences remain on the ground. In London, UK, there are tons of Plane trees with wrought iron railings disappearing right into the trees – but the railings remain on the ground too. I have seen tree baskets or caging that cities put around trees to protect them not removed in time and the trees start to grow into them. This is not at all unusual. But there is no way that a tree could raise a bike into the air and grow around it at the same time. I think this is a case of the bike being tied up the trunk of the tree as high as the boy could reach for the purpose of hiding it. Whatever was used to tie the tree disintegrated after the tree had started to grow around the bike. If the tie had rotted first the tree would have been able to push the bike away from it as it grew. Something must have been holding the bike quite firmly in place. I say that the tie must have rotted or broken after the tree got a grip on the bike because if it hadn’t, and if it was actually wrapped all around the tree, it would have strangled the tree by ringing it (as beavers do).
I am a botanist and have grown many trees in my life. No part of a tree’s wood moves upward with time. Hasn’t everyone noticed that fences nailed to trees don”t rise into the air over the years??? Trees grow when their cambium develops a new layer, making the tree thicker. The vegetative growing points produce new cells above older cells, but the wood below (which is dead except for the outer ring of cambium) stays where it was made. The people who criticized Jerin and others in the comments above would do well to think (or just open their eyes and look closely at the real world) before they insult someone.
I therefore think either this is a hoax or the kid threw the bike into a fork in the young tree at its present height. The latter action would make it more conspicuous, so it would be an odd thing to do for someone who wants to hide the bike.
I have a chain link fence that has a big chunk of wood in it where a tree grew around it over time, and it couldn’t all be trimmed away without cutting the wire. on the farm where i grew up, there’[s a tree with a cable embedded into it. this happened during my lifetime because the cable was wrapped around the tree when i was a child. Botanist, u say?
No, not really conspicous. Back then the tree would have been much smaller, the branches a lot less spread out, with sufficient foliage closely around the bike to make a good hiding spot. At least until winter.
Good Lord people, look at the picture before running your mouth! It is plain to see that the bike is in the crotch where a limb grows. So when the limb grew, it solidified around the bike. And no, trees don’t grow from the ground up. See any old signs climbing the air? Any old fences up in the canopies? NOT. Neat story though.
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Randy is right, a close look at the image shows a broken-off old branch coming out of the trunk at an angle rather than perpendicular to the trunk’s surface. This is clear evidence of an old fork in the right place to support the bike. In my comment above, I said it was either a hoax or the kid threw the bike into a fork at its present height. Now, noticing that branch angle, I think the evidence supports my second hypothesis and not the hoax hypothesis.
Me cuesta creer que esta hermosa historia sea real. La verdad no creo que la bicicleta se pueda meter en un árbol de esa manera.
Si que puede. Es algo que pasa muy a menudo. Vea qui:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=trees+growing+around+fences+images&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=opFXUfbDBYjprAHRyYCQDg&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1536&bih=776
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WWI? The bike obviously isn’t that old from what’s visible of it.
I grew up on Vashon Island and have seen the bicycle in the tree many times, so I can verify that this is not an urban legend or anything. It is in the wooded area kind of behind Sound Foods, and, at least last time I was there, it was not marked in any way and you kind of had to know where tou were going to see it. The first time I saw it (40 years ago?) the bicycle was pretty much intact and looked very cool, but last time I was there it had been vandalized and only part of it was left. Also, I am pretty sure I remember Don Puz and met him a few times when he was a local police officer if I am not mistaken…..
Heather…interesting story…..thank you whether it’s true or not…:)
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Y’all city folks might think this couldn’t happen, but I know it can. whether the picture is real or not, i couldn’t say.
looking at an older picture that the bike had not been vandalized in, you can make out a fork in some branches where the bike was placed and the tree grew around it.
Amazing !!!
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Omg u people saying trees grow from the top are ridiculous. Haven’t u ever noticed that trees start out skinny and as they grow the base gets fatter? Meanwhile the top of the tree is skinny just like it was at the start. Do u think the base of the tree is addin new layers of bark over time somehow? Wtf is wrong with u? Go back to ur energy drinks and tattoos with ur uneducated ass.
This is a cool story no matter the truth behind it…as for the argument about trees and how they grow lmao they grow out at the trunk and up from the branches the trunk never gets any taller only wider…carve ur name in a tree trunk and come back 50 years later I bet its still in the SAME EXACT spot
Someone video’d the bike in the tree here. Shows that the bike sits in the crotch of an old limb, and the tree has grown outward, around the bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=06J1GLnvIss
Quite an amazing run of comments about how tree’s grow. Poor Jerin – totally mistreated! He said “after all, trees grow from the top, not the bottom right?” Never did he say they grow from the top down. The resulting nastiness in people’s comments is appalling.
For those of you that are worried about the bike being about six feet up in the tree, I suspect I threw it up that high, yes trees grow out, not up, the tree developed a second leader at that point. I don’t remember fir trees down there when I was a kid, mostly just alder saplings which come up first as a forest rebuilds itself, later they die out as the fir trees out pace them. Yes, that is my bike, near the home where I lived as a kid, where my mom lived up until a few years ago, and now owned by one of my sisters. So the bike is really in the tree, but no one in their right mind would believe anyone chained up a bike on Vashon in 1954 or 55, when I tossed it, let alone in 1914 like the phony story.
Thanks Don. For your insight. A shame the parts were removed. I only hope they were put to good use.