When We Came Back From Vacation, One of Our Ancient Trees Was Gone. But the Real Shock Came When We Checked the Footage. Watch.
We’d just returned from a peaceful two-week vacation in the mountains—completely off-grid, no internet, no cell signal. It was exactly the break we needed… or so we thought.
As we pulled into our driveway, something felt off. At first, we couldn’t quite place it. The house looked fine, the garden was overgrown but intact—then it hit us. The massive oak tree near the edge of our property—the one that had stood for generations, towering over everything—was gone.
Just… gone.
There was no storm while we were away. No signs of rot or disease. Just a raw, uneven patch of earth where the roots had been, and broken branches scattered like debris. We were stunned. That tree had been there long before we bought the property—locals said it was over 200 years old. We felt a mix of grief and confusion. Who or what could have taken it down?
Thankfully, we had recently installed motion-activated security cameras around the house. We pulled up the footage and started scrolling back through the days we were gone.
At first, everything looked normal. A few deer passing by. A raccoon stealing tomatoes. Then, late one night—day six of our trip—the camera near the back fence caught something.
At 3:17 a.m., a pair of headlights appeared at the edge of the woods. A truck. We watched, frozen, as two figures stepped out, one carrying a chainsaw. Over the next hour, they methodically cut down the tree—piece by piece—working in silence. They wore masks and moved with practiced speed.
They came prepared. They knew what they were doing. And by dawn, the tree—and the truck—were gone.
We couldn’t believe it. Someone had stolen our tree. Not just any tree—an ancient one, likely worth a small fortune in timber or reclaimed wood markets.
We handed the footage over to the local authorities, who are now investigating. But we’re still shaken. That tree was part of our home, our history. And someone took it like it was nothing.
Check out the footage for yourself. Maybe you recognize something. Maybe someone else out there knows more than we do.
