Gryteskogen Troll Trees

Leafless trees that cascade shadows in the dark are often synonymous with fear, derived from our world of horror movies and Halloween adventures. A normal tree does the job quite well, but these trees found in Sweden, with their twisted, irregular forms, create an element of creepiness even in light.

Dwarf beech trees are a cultivar of European beech trees. Also known as vresbok, a rare mutation disrupts this species growth cycle causing it to sprout in what appears to be completely random directions. They often grow more in width than height.  

It was a long-held belief that these particular set of Dwarf beech trees were actually trolls that were either cursed into their current positions, or could transform back into their original states at night. Stories abound, the location of these trees has always been an eerie place to visit. 

Today, the woods are protected and visitors can view the trees and marvel at the atmosphere. Gryteskogen maintains the largest population of this unique species. They only grow wild in Skåne, but populations of the trees do exist in Germany and France.