The disturbing video of a New Mexico man being rescued after being nailed to a tree is difficult to watch.  The man was discovered crucified to the tree after a city worker heard his groans for help.

The worker said he was a little concerned at the sight, so he decided to call the police for help not knowing what else to do. “He kept yelling, ‘Help. Help,’ and so I came and I saw him and I kind of freaked out because I didn’t know if there was any other guys around,” the city worker told police.

Once a police officer was finally able to locate the crucified man, identified as Jose Duran in a wooded area known as the Bosque, the officer immediately called for help. The man was groaning in pain and asking for help with both of his hands nailed to a tree.

While awaiting paramedics, the cops tried to figure out how a man comes to be nailed to a tree in the United States of America. “Hey, what happened man? Paramedics are on their way. OK?” one officer said.

Once all of the first responders arrived, it took hours for 12 people to save Duran.

Duran initially refused to give the officer his name but finally gave a few details about how he ended up crucified in New Mexico. Duran alleges that two men were sent to threaten and scare him after he was involved in an ugly real estate deal, which he says is all laid out in the documents. He claims he was taken at gunpoint on a Monday morning and had his hands nailed to a tree, against his will, by two people he doesn’t know.  “I’m scared because… nobody believes me,” Duran said.

But his hands show the trauma of the ordeal he’s gone through.  Duran has no criminal background but authorities did find document relating to a long-standing real estate dispute that he had mentioned. He also took reporters to the tree he was nailed to and it has obvious holes in it.

He said it all started on that fateful Monday morning around 8 o’clock while he was walking with a folder full of documents. He says Bosque walks are common for him but this time, he was approached by two men.  “He (said, you don’t) listen, (you’re going) to die,” said the man, recalling what he says the perpetrators told him when they were marching him into the Bosque at gunpoint.   “Two people pointed a gun at me and told me to go down below,” said the man.

“So they wouldn’t shoot me, I agreed,” said the Duran. After trekking roughly 50 to 100 feet off the path, into the trees, the man says the gunmen grabbed him, told him they were “going to make him disappear,” and pulled out a hammer. “That’s when they grabbed one of my hands and nailed it to a tree, then the other one to another tree so I wouldn’t move,” he told KRQE News 13. He also says that one of the gunmen “grabbed a nerve” in his neck causing him to pass out.  As he fought consciousness, the gunmen took off, allegedly spooked by passersby.

Duran later took cameras to the spot where more than a dozen first responders worked for hours to free him.  Duran is saying not many believe him, including the police, who are still looking into whether or not Duran had someone nail him to the tree in an effort to make those fighting him in court look bad.

No arrests have been made.