Farmer denied horse shelter permit builds giant table and chairs? Not really.

I’ve seen this picture twice now on Twitter. The story is that a farmer was denied a permit to build a horse shelter so he builds a giant table and chairs which don’t need a permit. Brilliant, right?

horseshelter
It’s a cool story but according to Snopes it’s not true.

Although the photographs are real, the claim about the giant furnishings’ having originated as a way of skirting the law is a bit of fiction: the structures were built to serve the dual purpose of providing some shelter for the equines and serving as a visual advertisement for their owner’s business.

I haven’t had a chance to do this in a while but here’s some advice for when this story starts to show up in your inbox with lots of FWs in the subject line. Hit reply all and link back to the story on Snopes. It’s kind of a jerky thing to do — it’s just a story about horses! — but every time you do it one less email gets sent out about autism being linked to vaccines, Barack Obama being born outside of the states, or whatever nonsense is being spread around right now. I don’t really know. I don’t get these emails anymore.

That said, I wish the story was true. The real story kind of sucks.

5 responses to “Farmer denied horse shelter permit builds giant table and chairs? Not really.”

  1. A little bummed. The fake story definitely trumped the true version.

  2. I usually correct chain emails with a private reply containing a link to the appropriate Snopes article. Perhaps Reply to All is a better solution to discourage people from propagating these hoaxes.

  3. There was a giant chair sculpture in Hampstead Heath in London a few years ago that looked very similar… the same artist, maybe? It was rather wonderful; shame it was temporary.

  4. […] is to advertise for the farmers customer furniture business. And, provide shelter for his horses. Farmer denied horse shelter permit builds giant table and chairs? Not really. | Ian Daniel Stewart […]

  5. This actually did happen. This is in my town. The permit for any structure over 10×12 is up to 30k now. It’s insane and we’re all having to get creative.

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