An oak tree, hailed as a symbol of hope for appearing in a key scene from The Shawshank Redemption, has been toppled by heavy winds in Lucas, Ohio.
In the film, Red, played by Morgan Freeman, travels to the site of the tree on the advice of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) after receiving parole following a 40-year sentence. There, he finds some money and a note left by his friend directing him to Zihuatanejo in Mexico. “Remember, Red,” the letter reads. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Red skips parole to cross the border and the two are shown reuniting on an idyllic beach in the film’s final scene.
The tree had become a landmark for fans who visit locations that appear in Frank Darabont’s 1994 tearjerker, which was filmed in and around an old prison in Mansfield, north-central Ohio. The New York Times reports that fans had flocked by the thousands every year to the oak.
Since the news of its toppling (in 2011, the tree was discovered to have rotted in the middle), fans of the film have expressed their dismay on social media.
So long dear friend, you will be missed.... RIP #ShawshankTree :-(
— John Leonidou (@UEFAcomJohnL) July 25, 2016
Slowly all my heroes are dying :( #ShawshankTree
— Cabbie (@PakiCabDriver) July 24, 2016
Read the book when I was 9, watched the movie last night, and found that the tree had fallen this morning. RIP #ShawshankTree <3
— Gloria Sun (@gloriasun) July 25, 2016
It’s unknown what the landowners, who do not let visitors on to the property, will do with the tree. Jodie Snavely, an official with the Mansfield/Richland Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the New York Times it was likely it would be removed since the owners farm around it.
Most of The Shawshank Redemption was shot at the former Ohio state reformatory in the summer of 1993. The prison had closed its doors three years previously. Today, it is a museum.
The Shawshank Redemption is the top user-rated film on IMDb, ranked above The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.
