To expose! Cyclists in the tree?

This photograph, with a children's bicycle, ingrown in the tree, appears regularly on the Internet (and even I spread it few years ago), accompanying the touching story of how in 1914 the guy chained him to a tree just a few minutes before he was sent to the first World war, from which he never returned. Legend has it that the parents of Man is going to leave the bike chained to a tree, so it was a reminder to themselves and to all around about their missing son. However, there is much truth in this legend? Picture 2.

First cut out inconsistencies in the very beginning of the legend. It is about America and America joined World War II in 1914, not in only in 1917. Besides the bike quite clearly belongs to the little boy, about ten years old, and there are no sent to war. Moreover, if the understanding of the bike itself, it is possible to find out that this kind of bike simply did not exist at the beginning of the twentieth century. So what else is there, really? Picture 3.

To find out the history of the tree with the bike on the island of Vashon (Vashon Island Bike Tree), it is not necessary to go back as much as in 1914, to return only need a little more than 60 years ago. It was this time belongs to the model of the bike. And he once belonged to 8-year-old guy named Don Paz (Don Puz). At the very least, that such data is found at the time the newspaper The Seattle Times

History of the Don told himself Paz, by the time the former sheriff retired and living in Kennewick. He grew up on Vashon Island and lived there already before 1992. And then, in 1954, Don's father was killed in the fire, leaving his wife and children. To help the family survive, the island began to bring them to a variety of things, from clothes and household items to food. Among those things was brought bike. "I never liked that bike - says Don -. He was like a tricycle for toddlers, but with only two wheels He had hard tires and the wheel is very thin.." Picture 4.

When Don's family finally able to move to a single house, they went home in a swampy area. "We liked to play there - says Don -. We caught tadpoles climb into the puddles and mud Great place..." And just at this time he once forgot in one of these places of your bike, and a little worried about it. There is no yes and no. It was only in 1995, visiting my sister, who was still living on the island, Don went with her to see the local sights. "The first thing I said - Yes, that's my bike in it, I had no doubts!". And, says Don, a bike he still does not like. Photo 5.

In the meantime, the bike in the tree and really became famous. Tourists come here especially for the sake of this place. The shops sell a variety of souvenirs with the image of the famous bicycle. Locals cherish this unusual object, and when the old bicycle parts are deteriorating, so they should be replaced with new ones. And how did it happen that the bicycle appeared ingrown in the tree? "It is unlikely that the tree itself raised the bike up, - commented Professor Elizabeth Van Volkenburg -.. For the tree is too heavy a burden is likely when the tree was already large, someone just threw the bike to the top." That's how it is when the bike is just a number: