THE GROANING TREE.

Western Star, Issue 430, 26 March 1881, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GROANING TREE.

~! The!, history of the Groaning Tree is this. ; About forty years ago a cottager, who lived near the centre; of Badesley, near. Lymington, heard frequently., a strange noise behind his house, like that of a person in extreme agony. Soon after it caught the attention of his wife, wbo was then confided to^ber bed. She was a tioibrous woman, and being alarmed, her htisband erideavoared I to persuade her that the noise she heard was only the bellowing pf the stags in the forest. By degrees* however, the, neighbours on all aidesheard it, and; the thing began to be much talked of. ! It was* by, this time plainly discovered that the groaning.noise proceeded from an elmj which grew at the end of the garden. It was a young, vigorous tree; and'to all appearance perfectly sbuheti In a few weeks' the fame pf the Gfoahihg Treb'w;as spread far'and ’wide, aid people from, all' pafts flpcked to hear it. Among others', !! attracted the curiosity of,the late Prince arid Princess : bf Wales, yvho resided At that gtime, for' the Advantage of a sea i bAth,'at..Pileweli, the seat of Sir, JairiesvWorsley, which; stood within a quarter of a mile of , the ! Groaning . Tree. .Though;. the country . people assigned many superstitious causes for this great phenomenon, the naturalist could assign no physical one that was in any; degree ' satisfactory. Some .thought | it Was owing to the twisting and friction; of the roots. ‘ Others thought it proceeded! ' from water which had ’ collected in the body of the tree, or, perhaps , from;'pent ; air... But no cause. thAt was alleged, appeared equal to the effect. In the meari-j time the tree did not always groan, some-l times disappointing its visitants ; yet no cause could be assigned i or its temporary cessations, either from seasons or If any difference was observed, it was thought to groan least when the weather was wet, and most when it was clear and frosty ;" but the sound, at all times seemed to arise from the root. Thus the Groaning Tree continued an object of astonishment during the space of eighteen or twenty months to all he country around* and, for the information of dis-. tantparts,-a pamphlet was drawn up, containing a particular account of all the circumstances relating to it. 'At length, the owner of .it, a gentleman pf the name bf Forbes, making too rash an experiment to discoyer. tbe cause, bored a hole in its tfnriic. After this it never groaned..; It was then rooted up, with a further view, ,to,rriake ; a discovery; but, still nothing Appeared twhioh ied to any explanation of the cause, j it, : was univereally however; believed that there was, no; trick in the affair, but that * some natural cause really existed, though never understood, r^Heath’s - Crilpin s Forest Scenery.