Money Trees

Have you ever heard of the myth that tossing a coin into a fountain will grant you a wish? Well, in a few rural parts of the UK it's a little bit different; instead of coins being tossed into a fountain, they are inserted into tree trunks. The coins are  knocked into the bark of trees, generally felled, using a stone to hammer them in.

Typically located in areas such as Cumbria and Portmeirion, in England and Wales, this superstitious habit was originally thought to heal illness. It was also believed that removing the coin would make the illness reoccur. Wishes could also apparently be granted by putting in a coin.  As erroneous and silly that idea is, it was evidently very popular none the less considering the abundant amount of coins in some of these trees:

The  practice has apparently been around in England as early as the 1700's, though; a Florin was found wedged inside a tree in Scotland.

But, really, coins being tossed into fountains for luck is a pretty strange idea too.

- Basic information and most images found on Colossal and Mail Online. Last image found through Google Images.