TREE ALIEN

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unrevealed)

Occupation: Criminal, prisoner

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Haunted Hill, somewhere in the USA;
   originally from another unidentified planet

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#28/2 (February, 1962)

Powers/Abilities: Having a roughly bipedal-humanoid body-configuration, this extraterrestrial had the appearance of a gnarled tree with multiple leafless branches.

Although it had mobility, it could remain motionless for extended periods of time (at least a year). Possibly it "spoke" telepathically (see comments).

It was transported to Earth aboard a spaceship.

Height: Unrevealed (9'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: None

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#28/2 (fb) - BTS) - An extraterrestrial being who resembled a tree was found guilty of committing an unspecified crime; as his punishment, he was put aboard a spaceship and sentenced to spend a year on an alien planet: Earth.

(Tales to Astonish I#28/2) - The spaceship came to Earth one rainy night and landed on Haunted Hill; despite the alien criminal's objections, the spaceship's pilot ordered him out, and told him that he would be picked up after his sentence was over in a year. So the alien disembarked from the spacecraft and sat atop Haunted Hill, while the spaceship took flight. The sighting of the spaceship was made by young Billy Jones, who was out searching for his runaway dog, and Billy even overheard the conversation between the aliens (see comments), but he was unable to see what they looked like because it was dark and raining so hard.

   Having found his dog, Billy ran back home and informed his parents about the spaceship, but they didn't believe him. The next morning, Billy told some of the townsfolk his story, but they only laughed and mocked him. Finally, Billy went to the sheriff and told him about his alien encounter; since the boy seemed sincere, the sheriff and a group of men--including a reporter for the town's newspaper--went to Haunted Hill to investigate. But when they climbed to the top of the hill, they found nothing but a single gnarled tree (actually the exiled alien criminal). Then the reporter came up with an idea -- although he thought Billy's spaceship claim was nonsense, he would write up a story about it and bring the small town some publicity, which would attract some tourists.

   After the story was printed, Haunted Hill soon became a carnival-like attraction -- big-spending tourists flocked in by droves, buying peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs and souvenir post cards of Haunted Hill, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the supposed alien (...little did anyone suspect that the alien was hiding in plain sight atop the hill).

   Weeks became months, Fall became Winter, and people still came to see Haunted Hill, searching for clues of the supposed visitor from space. All the while, Billy Jones brooded -- although everyone in town thought he made up the whole story, he was certain the alien was somewhere on Earth, waiting for the day that the spaceship would come for him again.

   Finally, after a year had passed, the newspaper played the story for all it was worth and featured a headline that the alien's exile on Earth was over, and a spaceship would be coming to Haunted Hill that night to pick him up. And so, that evening, the biggest crowd ever (including some doubters) gathered near Haunted Hill.

   Suddenly, before the startled onlookers, a spaceship dropped from the sky, landed at the hilltop, and opened its door; the spectators were further shocked when the single "tree" on the hill began to move, then it walked aboard the  spaceship!

   As the spaceship departed for the stars, the townsfolk regretted not believing Billy Jones -- if they had only known where the alien was, they could have learned so much from him.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kriby.

   This 6-page story--Midnight on Haunted Hill--was basically a Comics Code-approved retelling of an earlier story--Horror on Haunted Hill!--from Adventures into Weird Worlds#14/1 (January, 1953).

   This tree alien had no apparent mouth, but considering the jagged appearance of the aliens' word-balloons, and the fact that Billy Jones was able to understand them, I think its a fair bet to assume that these aliens communicated telepathically.

   Although the pilot of the spaceship was never depicted, I'm assuming he was of the same race as the criminal and also had a tree-like appearance.

   Billy Jones was the protagonist, but there were very few images in the story that clearly depicted him.

This story was reprinted in Creatures on the Loose#13 (September, 1971).

Images by Markus Raymond.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
This tree alien should not be confused with:

• GROOT - giant tree-like extraterrestrial--Tales to Astonish I#13
• GROOT - Guardians of the Galaxy member, long mistaken for the original Marvel Monster--Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord#1
• ROOTAR the IRRESISTIBLE - tree-like Inhuman--Fantastic Four I#398
• TIMBERIUS - tree-like Inhuman--Incredible Hulk Annual#1
• any other characters who look like trees

Billy Jones should not be confused with:

• BILLY JONES - encountered Manoo--Amazing Adventures I#2/1
• any other characters with similar names

alien spaceship Its planet of origin unrevealed, it was "flying saucer"-type space-vessel that transported a criminal extraterrestrial to Earth, where he would serve his one-year prison sentence.

After depositing the criminal on Haunted Hill, the spaceship returned to outer space, presumably to its home-world. One year later, when the criminal's sentence was over, the spaceship returned to retrieve him, then returned home. --Tales to Astonish I#28/2

Billy Jones A young teenager (perhaps thirteen years old), he lived in an unidentified small town with his father Sam Jones and his unidentified mother. Late one rainy night, the imaginative Billy was reading an issue of a comic-book (Tales to Astonish) when his father told him that his dog Rex had run off again, and that he'd better go find him. Billy mentioned that he was in the middle of reading a fantasy story, and his father admonished him for reading that "junk" and sternly ordered him to go find the dog, so Billy complied.

Billy went into the forest behind his house and found Rex, but then he saw a spaceship land atop Haunted Hill; he overheard two aliens talking to each other (see comments), but couldn't see them because it was dark and raining so hard. He learned that one of the aliens was a criminal who was being exiled to Earth for one year. Billy told others about the exiled alien criminal, but no one believed him; he eventually told the sheriff and a reporter about the alien, and they went with him to Haunted Hill to investigate -- they found nothing atop the hill except for a single gnarled tree; but thinking the event could bring publicity to their town, the reporter printed Billy's story in the town's newspaper, and Haunted Hill became a money-making tourist attraction, although many of the townspeople still mocked Billy's claim. One year later, when the alien criminal's sentence was supposed to be over, large crowds gathered at the carnival-like attraction that Haunted Hill had become, to see the spaceship that would supposedly return to pick up the alien. But a spaceship actually did land at midnight, and the alien was revealed to be that "tree" atop the hill; the alien climbed aboard the spaceship and the vessel departed from Earth. The spectators realized they had missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, because they had a real alien living in their midst all along. Realizing that no one would ever mock him again, Billy  thought to himself that it was a shame the world was filled with so many doubters, and so few believers... (Comment: Although a caption on the first page mentioned that his name was "Billy Jones," one of the doubting townspeople on the fourth page addressed him as "Billy Brown".) --Tales to Astonish I#28/2

images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p4, pan4 (tree alien, surrounded by sheriff, reporter, and other townsmen)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p6, pan3 (tree alien begins to move)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p6, pan4 (tree alien begins to walk)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p6, pan5 (tree alien walks up spaceship's ramp)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p2, pan5 (alien spaceship, first seen by Billy Jones)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p3, pan6 (after leaving tree alien on Haunted Hill, alien spaceship departs from Earth)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p6, pan1 (alien spaceship returns to Earth; tree alien atop Haunted Hill [background])
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p6, pan6 (tree alien returns to alien spaceship)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p3, pan3 (Billy Jones overhears aliens talking)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p3, pan7 (Billy Jones, running through rain with his dog)
Tales to Astonish I#28/2, p3, pan8 (Billy Jones [rear-view, foreground] tells his parents about spaceship)

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#28/2 (February, 1962) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Jack Kirby (pencils), Sol Brodsky (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), John Duffy (letters)