The staff of the National Botanical Garden in Vácrátót were cutting up a rotten chestnut tree in the past few days, when the chainsaw got stuck with a screech, reads the arboretum's Facebook post.
As they say, a pistol emerged from the trunk of the tree! It got there so long ago that it completely overgrew the wooden body.
Did someone bury it in the count's garden after World War I? Or did a fleeing, wounded soldier leave the Luger-type pistol used in the German army in the wooden shed? Perhaps a national guard hid it near the tree, fearing the reprisals following the revolutionary events of 1956. Who knows today!
The shocking relic of the Garden's past, together with the cartridges, was sent to the authorities for further investigation, but - as you can read - they are confident that they will be able to get it back for their garden history collection after it has been neutralized.
