Georgia loggers sawed the top off a Chestnut tree and loaded it onto a truck. One of the men spied something odd. Peering down the hollow center of the trunk, there staring eerily back was the perfectly mummified remains of a dog; a sardonic grin frozen on the canine's face still bared in a fight for survival.
Experts say it's a hunting dog from the 1960s. The ancient chase likely for a squirrel starting through a hole in the roots, ending up high in the center of the hollow tree. The higher the dog crawled the narrower the tree became until the dogs body wedged solidly.
But how after fifty years are we witness to this Canis Passion Play?
Chestnut oaks contain tannins. The primary substance used in taxidermy to halt decay. Over time, the tree's tannins seeped into the dog. The cozy cavity kept moisture and scavengers from ruining the process.
Loggers started calling him “Stuckie." Feel ghoulish? Find Stuckie at the Southern Forest World museum in Waycross, GA. Take the whole family...it'll be a howl.
