The Strange Incident in the Woods
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So, we took a bit of a walk in the woods today. (Interestingly, the folks who own the land hired me about 17 years ago. They were shits back then and I was this close to congratulating some asshole on preserving the legacy because of an altercation involving a beaver but whatever, back to the Incident.)
We were on the tail end of the walk when I turned around to mutter to my wife something completely irrelevant and something smacked my head. Hard. Almost knocked me down. It bounced off my head and hit my wife's hand. Left a bit of a welt on her hand.
My wife saw it happen. It was a stick about the length of a hardback book, maybe as thick as your thumb. Not very large, not very dense. It came down from the trees, but it didn't fall, it was motoring. It was spinning like someone chucked it sidearm, from about a 45 degree angle above and ahead of us, from the trees.
There are many problems with this.
- Neither my wife nor I heard any snap or anything like that. There was no one and nothing around, very quiet. I didn't even get to mentioning whatever bullshit I was about to say. This wasn't a stray stick from a broken branch or limb, we would've heard something.
- The trees were pretty much all black walnuts. No one or no thing could be in them to throw the thing at me.
- A stick that small can't really be thrown that fast—not at the kind of distance my wife saw it come in from anyway. It would've slowed down. This thing started at a speed beyond what someone could throw. Which makes sense, because it wasn't very large but it felt like someone hit me with a pool cue.
- Like my wife said, it was spinning, like it was chucked sidearm. That might happen from a lawnmower or something, but not from a limb breaking.
Basically none of this makes any sense. Any explanation is truly impossible.
I blame Predators. It's the only thing that fits.
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Strange. Good thing that either of you were not seriously injured.
However, I think is very possible it was just a branch that fell. It could have already been broken off and just resting on another branch. A slight breeze, or some small movement on the branch released it and it fell. I suppose if it was at the right angle, it could have started spinning.
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Strange. Good thing that either of you were not seriously injured.
However, I think is very possible it was just a branch that fell. It could have already been broken off and just resting on another branch. A slight breeze, or some small movement on the branch released it and it fell. I suppose if it was at the right angle, it could have started spinning.
@taiwan_girl said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Strange. Good thing that either of you were not seriously injured.
However, I think is very possible it was just a branch that fell. It could have already been broken off and just resting on another branch. A slight breeze, or some small movement on the branch released it and it fell. I suppose if it was at the right angle, it could have started spinning.
Branches don't fall at 45 degrees. And they sure as hell do not move that fast. Nor do they move that way. Like I said, it was like being thrown out of a lawnmower if you've ever seen that. Also, nothing else fell, no noise.
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@taiwan_girl said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Strange. Good thing that either of you were not seriously injured.
However, I think is very possible it was just a branch that fell. It could have already been broken off and just resting on another branch. A slight breeze, or some small movement on the branch released it and it fell. I suppose if it was at the right angle, it could have started spinning.
Branches don't fall at 45 degrees. And they sure as hell do not move that fast. Nor do they move that way. Like I said, it was like being thrown out of a lawnmower if you've ever seen that. Also, nothing else fell, no noise.
@Aqua-Letifer I have seen monkeys throw stuff from trees. Possible it was a monkey?
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Small version of a widowmaker?
“Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”
Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton
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Not sure it's relevant, more in the nature of collecting information: Did you compare the stick to the tree trunk to see if it was the same as the wood of the tree? IOW, could you rule in or rule out whether the stick originated from the tree?
Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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Do we even know if it originated from earth?
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
-Cormac McCarthy -
Aqua, could there have been a person in the area near you and your wife, even though you couldn't see anyone else there? Lots of possibilities, such as the owner, a poacher, someone living in the woods (homeless), a kid with a strong arm.
@brenda said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Aqua, could there have been a person in the area near you and your wife, even though you couldn't see anyone else there? Lots of possibilities, such as the owner, a poacher, someone living in the woods (homeless), a kid with a strong arm.
Nah, this is on very restricted gummint land, and we were alone. The trees weren't such that anyone could climb them. Even bears would've had serious trouble.
Still, though, although ridiculously improbable, it's slightly more probable than the broken branch theory.
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@jon-nyc said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Do we even know if it originated from earth?
Aqua prefers the pronouns he/him
@89th said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
@jon-nyc said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Do we even know if it originated from earth?
Aqua prefers the pronouns he/him
Lol sick burn
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Not sure it's relevant, more in the nature of collecting information: Did you compare the stick to the tree trunk to see if it was the same as the wood of the tree? IOW, could you rule in or rule out whether the stick originated from the tree?
@Catseye3 said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Not sure it's relevant, more in the nature of collecting information: Did you compare the stick to the tree trunk to see if it was the same as the wood of the tree? IOW, could you rule in or rule out whether the stick originated from the tree?
Tress plural. We were in a forest. Absolutely no way to tell which particular tree it came from but yeah, the stick was native to that forest.
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@Jolly said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Small version of a widowmaker?
That would explain the "random thing happening in the woods" angle but not the way it behaved.
I mean, it's just nuts. Nothing makes any sense.
Please love yourself.
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@Jolly said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Small version of a widowmaker?
That would explain the "random thing happening in the woods" angle but not the way it behaved.
I mean, it's just nuts. Nothing makes any sense.
@Aqua-Letifer said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
@Jolly said in The Strange Incident in the Woods:
Small version of a widowmaker?
That would explain the "random thing happening in the woods" angle but not the way it behaved.
I mean, it's just nuts. Nothing makes any sense.
Bounced and changed trajectories. A good sized limb can kill you. A small one can leave bruises.
