x.com/wtbw/status/2104194646771368272
1 correction found
a seed from inside the stomach of a person murdered in 1974 (to be precise, from a fig they ate) grew into a tree
The fig tree was real, but sources close to Cyprus’ Committee on Missing Persons said the victims’ remains were found several meters away from the tree roots, so the tree did not grow from a seed inside the victim’s body.
Full reasoning
The viral version of this story was later corrected by Cyprus Mail, which interviewed sources close to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) on both sides of Cyprus’ divide.
Those sources said the CMP received information about the cave in 2006, excavated it, and found that the remains of the three Turkish Cypriots were several metres away from the tree roots. Cyprus Mail wrote that this placement suggested the tree did not grow from a seed inside the deceased man, and sources close to the CMP added that scientifically it was not possible that it happened the way the family related it.
So the accurate version is more limited: there was a fig tree associated with the cave, and it may have helped draw attention to the site, but the evidence reported by the CMP-linked sources contradicts the claim that the tree literally sprouted from a fig seed in the victim’s stomach.
2 sources
- Did a fig tree grow out of the remains of a Turkish Cypriot man missing since 1974? - Cyprus Mail
"The remains of the three Turkish Cypriots ... were found several metres away from the tree roots during the excavations, suggesting it did not grow from a seed inside the deceased man." The same report adds that sources close to the CMP said "scientifically it was not possible that it happened the way it was related by the family."
- Can Seeds in a Dead Person's Stomach Really Sprout into Trees? | Live Science
Live Science summarized the correction this way: "There was a fig tree growing in the cave, but it was not growing out of any of the human remains," citing Cyprus Mail's reporting on the case.