- by Lynn Taylor
They don't call Indiana "eerie" for nothing! The
location of this curious sight is about 8
miles due east of Bloomington, Indiana and 12 miles north of Lake
Monroe. If this rock was blown into the tree, why isn't there some
sign of damage to the bark? It seems reasonable to
assume that the boulder would have had to be gently
lowered onto the
branches; but by what?
Brad Price, Jim Sloan, and
Ray Stroop discovered this strange anomaly of
nature while on a hunt for wild turkey, in February of 1998.
The trio were hiking along an old
trail in Yellowwood State Forest, when Price
eyed a turkey, 35 feet up in an old oak tree. What made the site so
strange was, the bird was perched on top of a huge rock, wedged
tightly in the branches.
Price contacted photographer, Sheri
Sloan and described his find. The following day, Sheri found her way
to the site and photographed the boulder, high up in the tree. Sloan
remarked, "I couldn't believe my eyes.
The first thing I did was look for a logical explanation for
this mystery."
Considering the possibility that
someone used large machinery to place the boulder in the tree, she
reasoned, "The area is so remote I don't think they could even
get heavy equipment to it,"
Sloan decided to contact Jim Allen,
property manager for Yellowwood State Forest, to find out what he
might know about the giant tree-sitting stone. Allen,
unaware of the rock's existence, indicated that he had
absolutely know idea how it could have got up
there. "I've done some checking around,"
Allen said, "and no one else seems to
know anything about it."
He further added, "It's extremely doubtful that anyone would
have put the rock in the tree as a hoax. It
looks like it landed there. It was kind of made to fit there."
Considering blasting activity as a
possible explanation for the boulder's current location, Allen
comment, "There hasn't been any blasting that close.
The most logical answer is that a tornado picked the rock up and
dropped it in the branches. That is really the only explanation I can
come up with," he admitted. "There isn't any
other evidence around of tornado damage, but I've seen tornadoes do
some really strange things."
Opinions have been offered,
suggesting that "Gobbler's Rock," as it has come to be known, was the
victim of UFOs, or perhaps a hoaxer.
Regarding UFOs; Why would ETs
marshal their finite, albeit high-tech resources just to stick a big
rock in a tree? Do you have any idea how expensive a double-convex
Sport Model with anti-matter drive costs these days? (Maybe they're
marking their territory?)
