‘Tilly the Talking Tree’, Grand Rapids’ Nightmare-Inducing Talking Christmas

It's that time of year when you've got your Christmas tree up, your Elf is on the shelf, and you're planning a trip to the mall with your kiddos so they can meet Santa and get that one thing they want for Christmas this year. Photos with Santa were always the highlight of the holiday season, but there was one place around Grand Rapids that did things a little differently.

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Instead of meeting jolly ol' Saint Nick, visitors were treated to a meeting with a massive talking Christmas tree that was honestly pretty horrifying if you've never seen Tilly the Talking Tree, which used to live in the Eastbrook Mall.

Tilly the Talking Tree

Like many things from pre-2000, it's a miracle that many mascots didn't give children nightmares because this talking Christmas tree was truly something to behold. The tree was located at the now-demolished Eastbrook Mall (now the Shops at CenterPoint) on the East Beltline during the 70s and 80s.

Tilly the Talking Christmas Tree, Eastbrook Mall
byu/jevchance ingrandrapids

Trees don't naturally talk, and the way Tilly spoke to passersby wasn't magic; it was someone hidden inside the "tree" with a microphone and speakers placed outside, with someone manually moving the mouth up and down.

READ MORE: Michigan’s Christmas Tree Ship Delivers 1,200 Trees to Chicago

Santa is known for his goodness, but Tilly was known for the opposite. She would mock people walking by and goof around with the kids who were fascinated by the tree. Tilly retired in the 90s, and where she went is still a mystery to this day.

We've reached out to the Shops at Centerpointe to see if Tilly's whereabouts are known.