I agree, the only possibility I can think of ( though hard to believe) is that the rod end we are seeing sticking up was attached until ground impact. The lower end (hidden) is the fork fitting and is jammed into the ground. The eye end punched out of its pin and clip assembly on impact. A straight sheer force from directly below might not deform the rod but hard to imagine all the variables lining up to produce this.
Neat that you noticed this ....
Last edited by TylerMonkey; 2nd May 2016 at 01:28.