This fascinating natural phenomenon occurs when freezing rain coats apples, causing them to decay from the inside. As the fruit decomposes, it loses its original shape, leaving behind only a thin, transparent layer of ice—creating what is known as a “ghost apple.”
At first glance, these icy formations resemble glass apples, but they are entirely made of ice. While they maintain the shape of an apple, the actual fruit is long gone, leaving behind a delicate, hollow shell of frozen water. This rare occurrence is yet another example of nature’s artistry at work.
Have you ever heard the saying, “Nature is the greatest artist of all time”? Occasionally, we come across images that perfectly illustrate this idea. Recently, old pictures of ghost apples have resurfaced on Twitter, once again mesmerizing people. IPS officer Dipanshu Kabra shared two such images on the platform, leaving users in awe. Though these ghost apples aren’t real fruit, they are stunning ice formations that naturally take on the shape of apples.
The original photos, which first went viral years ago, were captured by Andrew Sietsema in an icy orchard in western Michigan, USA. In a 2019 interview with CNN, Sietsema explained how ghost apples form
“I guess it was just cold enough for the ice coating the apple to remain frozen, but warm enough for the fruit inside to turn into complete mush (since apples have a lower freezing point than water),” Sietsema told CNN. “And when I pruned a tree, the movement caused the mush to slip out, leaving behind a hollow ice shell,” he added.
Kabra also provided an explanation for this phenomenon in his tweet: “#GhostApples. This unusual event happens when freezing rain coats rotting apples before they fall. As the fruit turns mushy, it eventually slips out, leaving behind an icy shell still hanging on the tree.”
