Caught in the trunk
You could clearly see that the creature in the tree trunk had tried to climb out at one point. He didn’t appear to have succeeded. The loggers wondered aloud what had happened to the creature. They all had their own theory. Only one of them turned out to be right.
They found a clue in the creature’s mouth. The sharp teeth gave away the correct answer. It took them a moment to clearly see what had been hidden in that tree all those years. In the end they came to a unanimous decision. Luckily it wasn’t a monster.