To re-cap for those unfamiliar with the Witchey Tree...
Legend has it that back in the 1960s, that being the period of Don Young's formative teenage years, the Tandy Hills was used as a sort of Lover's Lane, by natural spirits of that era.
One hapless couple on a very, for them, hapless Halloween of, let's say, 1968, drove down what is now the main trail from View Street to the Tandy Hills.
Looking for a place to park his VW van, the male half of the couple mis-judged the hills and found himself careening down one of the western hills, out of control.
The van smashed into a tree, seriously damaging it. The girl half of the pair was decapitated, the boy seriously injured, dying within a few years, some say of both a broken body and a broken heart.
The van was left to rust, as it was deemed too difficult to tow it out of the Tandy Hills. There are several vehicle corpses on the Tandy Hills.
The damaged tree continued to live, but was all disfigured. It became known as the Witchey Tree. Some considered it haunted.
Over the years Tandy Hills foliage grew up and made access to the Witchey Tree and van difficult.
On this Halloween of 2010, Don Young had the sad duty to report that the Witchey Tree has died. The weird growth that had sprouted from its decapitated trunk lived for over 40 years.
On another note, sort of related, the Friends of the Tandy Hills Natural Area website has had a makeover. Check it out. And you'll be able to read all of today's Prairie Notes #47: Vote the Environment, including shocking news about the possible demise of the Prairie Fest and more about the Witchey Tree demise.
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