A 100-year-old old tree in Shelbyville, Indiana, held a secret inside for years. Brent Montgomery noticed the locally-famous Old Linden Tree had a leaning branch that was causing damage to a brick wall, so he trimmed it off.

"About halfway up the tree, there was about an eight-foot hollow patch," Montgomery said. "I was standing underneath it looking up and I said, ‘Well what's that?'"



He said it looked like a brown bag from the ground, but when he got a closer look, he realized it was actually a pair of pants. Very old pants.



"It's not like there's a knot where someone might have stuck them in there," Montgomery said. "They grew in it."



After work Friday, Miller rushed to the tire shop to see the pants, which she described as "very coarse."



The bottoms, which the local history authority claims were probably sewn during the 1800s, have a button but no zipper. The letters "HCRAFT" can be made out on the small, rusted button, but the rest is faded. The pants, which are still connected to the tree, are stained with what looks to be white paint.

Grover Museum Director Candy Miller is researching what is known of the pants to see if they can be reliably dated. Link -via Arbroath



(Image credit: James Vaughn)