You reminded me of a backpacking trip I went on a long time ago. All day walk down a mountainside to a river. Camped at night, and heard an explosion around midnight that scared the hell out of everyone.
Four days later, walked back up that mountainside and, halfway up, cound a gigantic redwood tree broken off clean about 15 feet high, laying across the trail and going into the forest another 200 feet. The sap was still dripping from the break, the tree was otherwise perfectly healthy and the base was straight up in dry ground.
To this day I have no idea what snapped that enormous tree like a twig.
Serious business going on in the woods that night!
Ok, this is going to sound strange, but Sasquatch are known to do that. There have been many reports of tree breaks where a healthy tree is broken off 10+ feet off the ground. Some of the trees are quite large. Many of these reports also have sightings of the creatures.
Did you notice any footprints or vegetation mashed down around the tree?
Any tree knocking sounds?
Any vocalizations or howls that night?
Where was this, what state/area?
Now there you done it... gone and made me look crazy! :)
Well first, I have to commend you for such a great handle.
I love Talisker on a cold night. Not you of course. LOL
Your “event” took place in the Redwoods? You live here in the Bay Area?
As for the tree, had a similar incident in Felton when I was 14. The neighbor called screaming about some gigantic “crash” with a thud.
We couldn’t figure out what happened but I can tell you it was harrowing.
The tree fell into his barbeque pit around 4 in the afternoon.
Very sobering to see all those branches hammered into the ground like fence posts.
If he and his family had been cooking that day could have been something awful. We all imagined being impalled by a branch and stuck, right there in the ground.
On the positive side we got 3 cords of wood after a week of chainsaws, axes and a very helpful neighbor who lent us his gas powered splitter.