The Crooked Trees of Alticane

A grove of some spooky looking trees in Saskatchewan

If you are ever in the area of Hafford, Saskatchewan, you need to take the time to go 20 kilometres north-northwest to a grove of trees that are very odd looking.

The Crooked Trees of Alticane, so named because the grove is located five kilometres south-west of Alticane, are a group of deformed trembling aspens. Specifically, they are of the Populus tremuloides type.

The unusual appearance of the trees was first noticed in the 1940s, and over time tourists have made it a must-see location as the grove has grown. In order to make it easier for those visiting the area to see the trees, there are wooden walkways that have been built through the grove to protect the area and prevent the trampling of new growth.

As with anything like this, there are always many suggestions for why it has happened. Some say it is because of paranormal factors, but the truth is far less interesting.

Cuttings have been taken of the trees and grown in other locations. Those cuttings exhibit the same crooked nature of the parent tree in the grove. As a result, this shows that it is a genetic mutation that has spread through the grove as time went on.

All those twisted trees are just the children of the first tree that suffered a mutation and passed it on through the generations of trees.

If you look across the road, you will also see that there is another grove of aspen trees but they are all normal looking.

Since the grove is hemmed in on all sides by roads, it is unlikely that the crooked tree mutation will spread beyond that spot.

One last bit of interesting information. The grove was a filming location for the Disney film Perri in 1957, which follows a male squirrel through a year, based off a 1938 novel.