By ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 12, 2006
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Scores of people are flocking to a
village in northern Malaysia to see a betel nut tree which has
sprouted a human-like face, reports said Tuesday.
Newspapers carried pictures of the green face on a frond of a
seven-meter (23-foot) -high tree. The unexplained phenomenon has
led villagers in Kampung Paya to dub it the "ghost tree," the News
Straits Times said.
The Star newspaper's Web site showed a picture of a tree with a
face-like feature reminiscent of a Pacific island ritual
mask.
Owner Miah Majid, 60, told The Star that she spotted the face last
week and that it was the second time an unusual shape had appeared
on the 10-year-old tree in her backyard. The first formation was in
the shape of an eye, she was quoted as saying.
The frond will probably last another two weeks before it sheds, she
said.
Superstitious village elders have advised onlookers not to make any
comments when they pass the tree, reports said. Other enterprising
villagers are selling photographs of the face for 2 ringgit
(US$0.55; ?0.45).
