Many stories and myths abound about hanging trees in the Old Wild West,
but this is the real McCoy, having been the instrument of death in many
documented hangings, dozens to as many as the low hundreds by some counts,
which is a bit of an irony as this species of tree is called a ‘Live’ Oak.

It is located on the north lawn of Courthouse Square, the building behind
the tree being the Goliad County courthouse, and from the years 1846 to 1870
criminals convicted of capital crimes inside the courthouse were immediately
brought outside and their death sentence carried out at the end of a rope.

Photographed in Goliad, Texas, USA.