Young people jump over a bonfire as they take part in the Ivan Kupala Night celebration, a traditional Slavic holiday, outside the small town of Turov, some 270 km south of Minsk, on July 6, 2016. People celebrate Kupala Night with bonfires that last throughout the night with some leaping over the flames as it is believed that the act of jumping over the bonfire cleanses people of illness and bad luck. (Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP Photo)

Genko Stoykov fires a rifle as he and other men prepare for the traditional “Horo” dance on Epiphany Day in the icy winter waters of the Tundzha river on January 6, 2022 in Kalofer, Bulgaria. As part of the tradition, a priest throws a cross in the river and it is believed that the one who retrieves it will be healthy throughout the year. Today, cultures throughout Christendom mark the Feast of the Epiphany, when Jesus was revealed to the Magi as God incarnate. (Photo by Hristo Rusev/Getty Images)

A pilgrim holds up the cross after it was thrown by an Orthodox priest into the water, during an epiphany ceremony to bless the sea, on the southeast resort of Ayia Napa, Cyprus, Friday, January 6, 2023. By tradition, a crucifix is cast into the waters of a lake or river, and it is believed that the person who retrieves it will be freed from evil spirits and will be healthy through the year. (Photo by Petros Karadjias/AP Photo)

Indian girl, Amrita Bannerjee, gets dressed as the Goddess Durga, during Kumari Puja ritual as part of the Durga Puja festival at Shidaspur village, far north of Kolkata, India, 30 September 2025. During the Kumari Puja, devotees worship a girl aged between six and twelve, symbolizing the Kanya Kumari (virgin) form of the Goddess Durga Devi. Hindu devotees believe that Kanya is a living embodiment of the goddess Durga. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Chrisitan pilgrims carry wooden crosses along the Via Dolorosa during the Good Friday procession on April 22, 2011 in Jerusalem, Israel. Thousands of Christians around the world will today mark Good Fiday when they commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In Jerusalem Christian pilgrims took part in processions along the route that Jesus is believed to have taken in his last days as he carried the cross. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Participants enjoy mud during the 14th Annual Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach on July 16, 2011 in Boryeong, South Korea. The mud, which is believed to have beneficial effects on the skin due to its mineral content, is sourced from mud flats near Boryeong and transported to the beach by truck. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

In this handout image provided by Ogilvy, a burger made from cultured beef, which has been developed by Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands (pictured) is shown to the media during a press conference on August 5, 2013 in London, England. The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its creator says could provide an answer to global food shortages and help combat climate change, was fried in a pan and tasted by two volunteers. The burger is the result of years of research by Dutch scientist Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht, who is working to show how meat grown in petri dishes might one day be a true alternative to meat from livestock.The meat in the burger has been made by knitting together around 20,000 strands of protein that has been cultured from cattle stem cells in Post's lab. (Photo by David Parry)

Axel Erlandson (December 15, 1884 – April 28, 1964) was a Swedish American farmer who shaped trees as a hobby, and opened a horticultural attraction in 1947 advertised as "See the World's Strangest Trees Here," and named "The Tree Circus."
The trees appeared in the column of Robert Ripley's Believe It or Not! twelve times. Erlandson sold his attraction shortly before his death. The trees were moved to Gilroy Gardens in 1985.