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.

The Angel Oak Tree is a Southern live oak located in Angel Oak Park on Johns Island near Charleston, South Carolina. The Angel Oak Tree is estimated to be at least 400 years old[citation needed]. It stands 66.5 ft (20 m) tall, measures 28 ft (8.5 m) in circumference, and produces shade that covers 17,200 square feet (1,600 m2). Its longest branch distance is 187 ft. in length. Angel Oak was the 210th tree to be registered with the Live Oak Society.

Labourers walk near trucks loaded with logs, which are trapped on a muddy road, near an unreserved forest in the village of Igbatoro, southwest Nigeria, August 28, 2014. Wood, a form of biomass, is the sole source of energy for hundreds of millions of Africans who lack access to modern sources of power, and logging, both legal and illegal, remains a lucrative business that has contributed to the rapid shrinking of Africa's rainforests and woodlands. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A combination picture shows Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria, before it was damaged on March 12, 2009 (top) and after it was damaged (bottom) December 13, 2016. (Photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)

Paris authorities began draining the Canal Saint-Martin, a popular waterway that attracts tourists and revelers in the French capital's trendy northeastern 10th arrondissement, for the first time in 14 years, Paris, January 5, 2016. (Photo by Christophe Geyres/SIPA Press/Newscom)

A sign marks a railway crossing next to the troubled Kruemmel nuclear power plant on June 2, 2011 in Geesthacht, Germany. The German government recently announced it will phase out the country's 17 remaining nuclear reactors by 2022 in a policy initiative that represents a radical reversal from its previous policy and was sparked by the disaster at Fukushima. Kruemmel went into operation in 1983 but was taken offline following a fire in 2007. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The first solar-powered station designed to look like a tree provides users with a free Wi-Fi spot charging station, seating and cool drinking water.

Created by artist and unassuming local celebrity, Keith Jennings, the first tree spirit arrived on St. Simons Island in 1982. The old story goes that Keith negotiated his way out of a bar tab, hence, a tree priestess was born behind Murphy’s Tavern, on a blurry Saturday morning. In his own words, however, Keith states that his first tree spirit was created in the back yard of a place called, “The Animal Farm”. Either way, Keith Jennings has been known to cut the rug around here, no matter how you slice it.