Man Eating Trees

This isn't the kind of plant that you can go out and buy at your local garden centre to give to your friends (or enemies) so its not surprising if you haven't seen one, and if you do find one then I wouldn't advise taking a closer look. As no proof has been found to confirm their existence, its not surprising that people have dismissed the idea as unrealistic and insane. However people have claimed to have seen these terrifying plants in action, one such person was German explorer, Carle Liche when visiting Madagascar in 1878. Liche claimed to have witnessed locals sacrifice a women to the tree, which he described as; similar to a pineapple, only 8 feet tall with 8 leaves hanging from its apex, which were each about 11-12 feet long. (From here on I don't really understand the description given) "A clear treacly liquid with high intoxicating properties trickled into a pair of concave plates arranged one inside the other. These comprised the apex of the tree, and from beneath the rim of the bottom plate a series of hairy green 2.5 metre(8 foot) long tendrils stretched out in every direction. Above these, six extremely thin tentacle-like feelers, each over 1.5 metres (5-6 feet) long and white in colour, reared up to the sky, twisting and twirling incessantly like sinister serpents". The women was forced to climb up the trees trunk, once at the apex she drunk the viscous fluid. When she tried to jump down the feelers of the tree sprang to life and grabbed her head, the 8 leaves slowly rose up until she was consumed, a trickle of the plants fluids and blood ran down the plant. 10 days later the plants leaves resumed their normal position, leaving a human skull at its base. Stories of other different types of man-eating plants are also told, weather they are true is still to be decided.

source site: http://www.mysteries.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/5.htm#Man_Eating_Trees

Just plain...weird...why are they called 'man' eating when it was a woman who was 'sacrificed' to it?? Oh yeah, I'm sure this woman got up that day and thought 'Hell yes, it is my turn to be eaten by the tree today!'

MUAAAAHAAAHAHAHA!! Exactly Night

I wonder how it would feel to be devoured by a tree?

Brownie points for Humeran!

What next? I see Wikipedia has a page on them, with a nice picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-eating_tree

Hell yes, I do a bit of editing on Wikipedia myself. I find a number of New Age or ‘speculative’ subjects to be slanted and so I'll edit them to show both sides. Sometimes my changes are changed back, though. They have a page on Indigo Children for example, and it was slanted to make the whole thing sound as if it had no basis. I did some minor editing to un-slant some of the slanted wording on that page. The only link was for a site which criticizes the subject, which I found strange. So added a link to a popular Indigo website for believers in the subject which the page was about. But then I noticed that the link I had posted had been removed, to I re-added it. That reminds me, I should check back there. Might sound petty but millions of people look through Wikipedia, and many people do think it's a professional site. So I try to do my part to assist certain New Age articles, to keep them looking at both sides. I don't know who keeps undoing my edits or why, but it is annoying. As long as an article is articulate, gives credible sources to back up its statements, and shows both sides of any debate within the subject, there shouldn't be a problem.

If you know information you could add to this subject, Humaren, it's easy to join and edit a page.

Ah, that's understandable. I don't edit there much. I spend maybe a half hour there each week. But when I'm working full time I don't find the time either.

This by far is the strangest one I have heard yet! However, I must agree with Humeran regarding the Venus fly trap. I had a room mate years ago who had 2 that she kept in an aquarium. They both got so large that she started feeding them raw hamburger and with a spoon because they would bite her fingers. Had I not witnessed how much they grew and the first time they went after her finger, I probably would have dismissed the idea. But BOY!

So, a few years back, I bought one for our house because here in Greece, it seems like mosquitos just NEVER leave, no matter what time of the year. And yup, always found mosquitos and fruit flies in the "mouth" of the VFT. It grew and I gave it wee bits of hamburger too. It finally died, maybe it ate mad cow. lol. But the memory of my room mates 2 cannibals, was quite a thing to grasp.

The older I get, the more I realize, there is so much more in the world that most of us can't even fathom. A creepy story, none the less! Shiver.

Oh yes, I believe there are many cases of truth being stranger than fiction, and although I might have joked about this tree, I don't doubt there are carnivorous plants beyond the Venus Fly Trap and other smaller known species.

It is one of the weirder ones I have come across too. Sorry Humaren if you took my questions seriously re: why it ate men and not women. I understand that it was a generalization - and possibly a cultural aspect of the rite being performed determined which sex was sacrificed to the plant.

Can't say I rely on Wiki because of that 'anyone can edit' aspect. University refuses to acknowledge it as a reliable or academic source as well. I have come across interesting info there, but always like to research deeper from other sources.

It is a weird subject for sure. I had seen those "Little Shop of Horrors" films all those years ago and had never considered that it was based on myth.

Great to see you back, Humaren!

Hahaha! I almost spit my coffee out!

Still 2008, but I had to actually ask someone the date today cos I don't always keep up with which day it is....

I don't either, it's terrible. I miss important dates or if I remember (or discover) them I'm often late. I swear, anything involving numbers and I'm lost..