Homeless man picked the wrong place to camp.
By Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (59889)
June 30, 2026 10:33pm CST
You may recall two weeks or so we had a slew of bad storms here. We were very fortunate to not have much damage, however a lot of big, old trees decided their time had come. Several blocks away is a huge park of sorts. Until the Air Force base closed here in the early 90's, this park was a huge section of base housing for them. It was all eventually removed and the land purchased by others, made into subdivisions, etc. instead. This park I speak of is not far from my home, it has a lot of huge trees. Not far from an assisted living facility, often the residents go there to walk their little dogs, to visit with friends, or just to enjoy getting outside.
One tree, the granddaddy of all the trees there, fell over in one of the storms, after being hit by lightning. There have been crews out and about cleaning up all of the trees and debris everywhere since those storms. Evidently, the company that owns that park waited for a professional remover to take care of it.
Two days ago, driving by that tree on my way to the highway, I saw a flash of reddish orange in the tree limbs close to the ground. My son was with me, and I pointed it out. He asked me to drive around the block, so we did. There is a tiny little service road through the park, no one really uses it unless they are maybe having a picnic or kids on skateboards, etc. As we came upon the tree up close, we realized there was a rather large tent set up under the biggest of the branches. Gallon jugs lined up against the tree base, two shirts hanging behind some branches. Someone evidently decided it was a good place to live? I guess....anyway, today that company came to remove the tree. I heard that the fellow living there said that he wasn't leaving, police had to come and remove him and take the tent down,etc. I did hear they took him to a shelter in the city. People were shocked that this happened so close to this area, and I have to admit I was surprised, too.
Times are so hard for so many now...living in a tent in this horrible hot weather wouldn't be fun.
No picture. It didn't seem respectful to take a picture of someone trying to just survive.
10 people like this
10 responses
@MarieCoyle (59889)
•
13h
I know that many homeless people never even imagined they would be homeless. I hope he gets some help in finding a fresh start in life.
3 people like this
@MarieCoyle (59889)
•
12h
So do I. After it was all over and son and I talked about it, we did come to the conclusion that this person went to extraordinary efforts to put his tent where it would not be noticed for awhile. I hope he’s getting help, too.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (209899)
• United States
6h
I thought you were going to say the tree fell on him and killed him.
@JudyEv (383707)
• Rockingham, Australia
9h
These stories are so sad but I'm sure it's only one of many such sad tales.










