Obake

Obake (おばけ, pronounced o-bah-kay, from "change") is a term in Japanese folklore (synonymous with bakemono, "thing that changes") that refers to a class of supernatural monsters that can take on shapes that are different from their original forms, most often for some sinister purpose.  They may be living creatures, or they may be inanimate objects that have somehow acquired an animistic soul.  Actually, there are similar traditions in other eastern cultures as well -- I am reminded of the Tibetan tale about an abandoned fur hat that acquired a life of its own through the power of intense thought and started moving like some mysterious animal in the grass, scaring witnesses;  and in Korea some say if a broom is left unused in a cold, dark place, it will absorb yin energy and eventually transform into a dokkaebi (a creature of mostly humanoid appearance, but with superhuman attributes), and of course there is the pan-oriental myth of the nine-tailed fox that can shapeshift into humans -- but the Japanese mythos is truly impressive for the sheer number and variety of its monsters and their representation in art;  it seems just about anything and everything is capable of transforming into a monster at some point -- lamps, fans, rocks, eggs, umbrellas, you name it.  And trees.  Here is a palm tree, that I happened to catch in the process of such scary transmogrification.

Remarkably, it's almost a twin of another monster-tree that I photographed in the past.  Check out this post: "Another One Of Those Vaguely Sinister Images".  It really seems as if there is a whole other order of existence co-existing with this world, inhabited by mysterious and unknowable beings and subject to its own rules, which only vaguely resemble ours.