You'd have been forgiven for thinking that you'd stepped into a storybook, wandering through the Châtillon car graveyard in Belgium.
That's because it was here that a long line of abandoned cars ran through dense woodland, with rusting bonnets and dented bumpers slowly collapsing as the plants moved in.
When photos of the vehicles first began to circulate, the story went that American soldiers stationed in the nearby town Châtillon during WWII had left following the fall of the Nazis, and were unable to take their cars home with them.
Instead the once valuable vehicles were dumped in a line in a clearing of tress and left to rust, a strange reminder of the Allied war effort that appeared like a traffic jam.
The ghostly lines became a global phenomenon after they made headlines, prompting motoring and abandoned places enthusiasts to flock to the town.
When they did, not only did they irk landowners by ignoring the 'private property' signs, they also realised something was amiss about the original story.
Many of the cars in the eerie jam - a 1953 Pontiac Chieftain, a Renault Dauphine and a Ford Thunderbird - were built long after the fall of the Third Reich.
Intrigued by the discrepancy between the official narrative of how the cars got there, Ronan Glon visited the traffic jam to try and get to the bottom of the mystery.
Reporting for Digital Trends, he discovered that the cars were indeed left by departing soldiers, but not those who fought during the war and then rushed home.
Instead they were Canadian troops who had been stationed at two strategic air force bases within 100miles of the Châtillon, built in the mid-50s following the formation of Nato.
Many of them moved into the town of Virton, where residents often moved into their basements to accommodate the well paid soldiers above.
The time is still referred to as a golden era in the town, with the troops bringing with them cash, a love of hockey that led to the construction of an ice rink, and large American cars.
The mechanic shop in Châtillon was the only one in the area which knew how to fix the large motors. However, European and American motors were not compatible, so the owner started to collect old Yankee cars for parts.
At its height there were around 500 clapped out motors scattered around Châtillon and in the forest.
When French President Charles de Gaulle announced that his country would leave the alliance in the mid-60s, the Canadian troops were forced to leave the town for a base in Germany.
Although there was no longer a demand for the parts or his work on American vehicles, the garage's owner kept what was now an extensive collection, which filled a clearing in the forest as well as other parts of land around the repair shop.
Ronan explained : "The owner began winding down his business as he got older but he never fully retired. The cars that were new in the 1950s were now classics so his collection began to attract enthusiasts from Belgium and from a handful of neighbouring countries."
The shop was still opened when the owner died approximately eight years ago.
Unfortunately, adventurers hoping to explore the graveyard will be left disappointed.
A court order back in 2010 saw the cars being cleared out of the woodland for environmental reasons, so only a handful of car parts remain.
The cars had been disintegrating after both battling the elements, and the impact of visitors taking parts of the cars away as souvenirs.
Still, if you're feeling inspired for an adventure then you may also want to check out our guide to the world's best unusual forests...
