Case file · Folklore / legend
The fall of Freetown's Cotton Tree
On 24 May 2023, a storm brought down the Cotton Tree, the giant kapok at the heart of Freetown, Sierra Leone, a few weeks before tense national elections.
2023 CE · 8.49, -13.23 · status: account
The account
Tradition says freed African Americans who had fought for Britain prayed and gave thanks under the tree when they founded Freetown in 1792. People prayed to their ancestors there, and many read its fall as an omen.