# Mysterious **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213 "2000-08-05T05:09:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/1 "2000-08-05T05:09:43Z")
One of my friends asked me to post this question, as she is curious about something and doesn’t have a computer. To sum it up, a friend of hers went over to _another_ friend’s house (if you are following all of that) and noticed that there was a neatly placed row of butcher knives stuck in a tree in the back yard. I don’t know how many knives, but sounds like several, all in a row, up the side up the tree. This woman’s son, a strong hefty fellow, tried to pull the knives out, but they were stuck in there really good. Would not budge. Also, knives were discovered going up a flight of wooden stairs in this woman’s house, and also on another tree. The next day all the knives were gone, and there seemed to be no evidence that they were ever there. No other disturbance in the house, no other events to speak of since then. Very weird. Of course this is all second-hand, and I guess it’s possible it could be a made up story. But I told my friend I’d ask. She thinks it sounds like some sort of ritual someone may have performed, for some unknown reason. Or, it could be some bored kids with nothing better to do during the summer. I told my friend I’d ask on this message board about it. Have any of you heard of any “ritual”, of any group, religion or sect, that involves neatly placed knives in trees and/or wood? I have no clue. So…anyone? Any theories? ---
**Author:** ![triton277](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@triton277](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/triton277)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/2 "2000-08-05T06:37:38Z")
Hmmmmmmm, it’s odd how you keep referring to your “friend” over and over. It’s almost as if you are feeling guilty about something. This happened to you didn’t it? And you are just too embarassed to admit it. Don’t be. The first step to solving your problems is admitting that you have a problem. Be strong. Everyone here at the SDMB is pulling for you. You can beat this, we know you can. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/3 "2000-08-05T06:46:43Z")
that’s right, **yosemitebabe**. this is an intervention. we’ve got a lot of people here who love you. the moderators, your friends, your mom and dad [_high sweetheart, i love you_] that was your mom there. you can get through this. now lock the doors, **triton** ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/4 "2000-08-05T06:52:47Z")
You guys are wicked! 😉 My “friend” is real - she is my co-worker, Jessie. She and her daughter told me about this tonight. I told her I’d ask my trusty fellow Straight Dopers. So…anyone? Any theories? Or is it just a “bored teenager in the summer” thing? ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/5 "2000-08-05T07:04:25Z")
So you have alternate personalities as well? One named Jessie? 😃 (Ducks, runs) ---
**Author:** ![Ranma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Ranma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranma)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/6 "2000-08-05T15:52:35Z")
You should post this over in the “creepy” thread at the IMHO board :o) ---
**Author:** ![Ranma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Ranma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranma)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/7 "2000-08-05T15:53:45Z")
oops, forgot to disable smilies… was supposed to be this: :o) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/8 "2000-08-05T22:40:28Z")
IMPORTANT!!! Is your friend a member of a minority? Or, does she have an ex-boyfriend that just won’t go away? This could be some kind of a threat. If this is a real event, contact your local police immediately. REMEMBER: 1)Somebody approached your friend’s house secretly. 1. Knives are both tools and weapons. 3)The knives were inserted with great force. 4)The knives were removed secretly. Call the cops ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/9 "2000-08-05T23:20:53Z")
Can we start with the “no evidence” part? If a knife was stuck into a piece of wood deep enough that a “strong, hefty fellow” couldn’t remove it, it would certainly leave a mark in the wood. If there are marks all over the woman’s trees and stairs, call the cops and ask them WTF. For that matter, why didn’t they call the cops when the knives were still there? I suspect someone is pulling your leg. ---
**Author:** ![Zeeshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c4cdca/32.png) [@Zeeshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeeshan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/10 "2000-08-05T23:27:06Z")
Hey is the house they live in pretty old or something.Did anyone die there,especially of murder or suicide.I know dopers aren’t into this stuff,but i am a believer(someone on this board has to be) so i think it was a spirit of someone who was killed with those knives,maybe in a ritual or something.What you fail to mention is whether the marks of the knives remained in the trees. Also it might have been the spirit of a butcher,i mean that would explain it right? Bye Zeeshan ---
**Author:** ![zebbmx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/958977/32.png) [@zebbmx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zebbmx)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/11 "2000-08-05T23:31:22Z")
Yeah the bitcher was lookin fer some good ol pine to chop up for the local market! ---
**Author:** ![zebbmx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/958977/32.png) [@zebbmx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zebbmx)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/12 "2000-08-05T23:33:26Z")
oops Butcher\* Yes i ment BUTCHER ---
**Author:** ![Steve-o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@Steve-o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve-o)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/13 "2000-08-05T23:41:51Z")
If there are no marks in the wood, it sounds like a bad trip to me… Do your friends do that type of thing? Also, I’m counting at LEAST 9 butcher knives. This would be an expensive prank at the least, so I would rule out kids. ---
**Author:** ![steeljaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@steeljaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steeljaw)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/14 "2000-08-06T01:10:00Z")
Yeah but ghosts don’t have to **pay** for knives. I think that all those who have shuffled off this mortal coil are entitled to a five finger discount. Problem solved. Knives cost money. Ghosts don’t have to pay. Ghosts did it. That’s infallible logic. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/15 "2000-08-06T02:35:04Z")
YB said, “Also, knives were discovered going up a flight of wooden stairs in this woman’s house, and also on another tree.” If knives were inside the house, as that sentence seems to imply, it had to be someone with access. The son puts the knives in to freak out mom, because he’s weird or something. Mom can’t get them out, so she asks the son. He pretends that he can’t, and then removes them later. Creepy. Either that, or an ex-boyfriend who still has keys to the house. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/16 "2000-08-06T02:40:43Z")
Lance Turbo, very nice job of deduction. that hadn’t even occurred to me. you, my friend, are a regular encyclopedia brown. ---
**Author:** ![steeljaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@steeljaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steeljaw)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/17 "2000-08-06T03:12:15Z")
I still think my deduction was more impressive. It just plain makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/18 "2000-08-06T06:55:53Z")
Well, my friend Jessie asks me today - “Did you post the question? What did they say?” At that point this thread just had people implying that I had a secret personality! So I told her that no one had much to offer. She was pretty disappointed. Well, at least I can now tell her that _some_ of you are interested in this weirdness! 😉 To answer the questions: Jessie has two friends - the lady with the house where the knife thing happened, and the lady (with the large stout son) who visited the house. They were the ones who noticed the knives everywhere. I doubt the large son had the opportunity to place the knives there himself. He was just trying to pull them out. The lady whose house this happened at is described by Jessie as an older woman, who has diabetes. She had a foot amputated, it ocurred shortly after the knife incident. (I don’t think that is a relevant detail, but Jessie mentioned it.) Also, the lady whose house this happened in didn’t seem to notice the knives - it was the visiting friend and her son that discovered them. Also, Jessie stressed that there were no marks left behind showing where the knives were. This seems unbelievable, but this is what Jessie was told. I don’t doubt Jessie - she’s not making this up. I know she is just relaying what she was told. I have no idea about these other people, though. Perhaps one or both of them are melodramatic, or whatever. I tend to believe that it is a prank of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/19 "2000-08-06T07:13:30Z")
Whoever removed them may be the once and future King of the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Zeeshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c4cdca/32.png) [@Zeeshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeeshan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious/28213/20 "2000-08-06T08:11:55Z")
This is really creepy.I doubt that it could have been humans as they would want extra publicity with this stunt.I mean thats what all the trouble is for isn’t it and they can’t remove marks on tree.So i think it was one of two things. 1)Somebody’s not telling the truth.Probably the person who told Jessie. 2)It was ghosts. Bye Zeeshan