VASHON ISLAND, Wash. (KCPQ/CNN) - It's a mystery that's been growing in the woods of Washington state for more than a half-century.

It's a child's bike, stuck in a tree on Vashon Island. A few feet off the ground, the rusty bike is embedded in the massive tree.

But how did it get there? That's a topic of much debate and local speculation.

"A soldier had left the bike there before going off to war," said Jack Chambers, a Vashon Island resident.

"The guy who put it there is still kicking. He was a little kid 50 years ago. Didn't like the bike, so he just stuck it in a sapling and the tree just grew over it," said Mary Kay Rauna, another resident.

There's even been a book about the bike in the tree, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and author Berkeley Breathed. It's called, Red Ranger Came Calling.

KCPQ/CNN