You have to wonder if this was a total scam, or there really was some bit of land tucked away in the back of a swamp somewhere. 1 acre of land would translate to 6,222,649 square inches. So that would be a cool $6 million--plus you made the suckers pay for their own stamps!!
But of course it wasn't real, and certainly no more legally enforceable than buying a piece of the moon.
But what if it were real? And what if, years later, everyone who had purchased a square inch as a kid began to meet with a grisly fate? And it turned out the land was now valuable, because they discovered oil or uranium, or it's where the cartel hid a huge parcel of drugs and they have to secure the land before the developers do, and the last holdout won't sell and hires Jim Rockford to investigate and...
This is why I'm not allowed to write TV series re-launches based on old comic book ads.
From Tarzan #257 (1977)
This kind of thing still goes on today; see https://www.highlandtitles.com/
ReplyDeleteFor the low, low price of $A57 (probably less than $50 in US money) you can own* 1 square foot of Glencoe Wood in Scotland. This comes with the title** of Laird (or Lady) of Glencoe!
*You don't actually own the land - see the not terribly-fine print. They do say that you can do with the land what you please with the exception of shooting and fishing, which I found hilarious.
** Not a real title - again, see the fine print.
Your money goes toward maintaining the land as a nature reserve, and they're pretty upfront about that so I can't call them scam artists, but still, you're effectively paying for nothing.