The winter always brings some strange sights in Maine but most of them can be explained away with relative ease. That might not be the case when it comes to the curious case of the "bleeding" tree in Yarmouth, where reasons seem to hit a dead end and it feels a little like it's the subplot of a Stephen King novel.

Reddit via Putnoks
Reddit via Putnoks
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Shared on Reddit by Putnoks, take a look at this bizarre icicle dangling from the knot of a tree in Yarmouth, Maine. It would be just your typical, run-of-the-mill icicle except for the fact that it's the shade of blood red. The poster of this photo makes mention that other icicles hanging from this same tree are clear, so they're curious exactly why this tree seems to be "bleeding" in one spot.

And that's a difficult question to answer. There are actually several varieties of trees that have sap that is naturally red, like the bloodwood tree. But bloodwood trees are not a fixture in the northeast, so naturally occurring blood red sap can be ruled out for this oddity.

There's another potential reason some of the sap could be red in this tree. According to Hunker.com, the tree itself could be suffering from something called gummosis. Gummosis is essentially an injury sustained by a tree, and just like humans, the tree will "bleed" red sap until that injury is taken care of. Gummosis is something that generally happens in fruit trees and it's difficult to tell from the photo if this tree bears fruit.

If that isn't it, then perhaps it's the curse of 2020. Maybe this tree is haunted, or the work of the dastardly imagination of Stephen King. Blood red icicles? We don't need it, 2020.

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