Timothy Birdnow

Here's a fun story.
A woman had a registered claim to one acre on the Moon back in 1955 when she was a five year old girl. It was legally recorded via a quitclaim deed in Belleville. When Apollo 11 landed on the Moon she tried to assert her rights, asking for some moon dust,but was rebuffed by NASA in an official letter.

She also had beach rights on the Sea of Tranquility.

Nancie Munie may have had a joke deed, but it was recorded by the St. Clair County Illinois Recorder of Deeds (who charged three bucks) and her grandfather pressed her claims with NASA in a letter.

The article statess:

The silliness may have stopped there if not for Nancy’s grandfather, L. David Mantle, who wrote the letter to NASA on Oct. 2, 1969, and signed her name.

"It appears that Apollo 11 landed on my acre on the Moon,” the letter stated. "Consequently, I would greatly appreciate being furnished with a 145th sample of rock-soil-sand collected by the Astronauts from my Moon holdings.”

Nancy received a reply three weeks later from Associate General Counsel E.M. Shafer on NASA letterhead.

"You appear to be aware already that your deed is an interesting but efficacious document,” he wrote. "Legally, the grantor conveyed to you only the same right, title and interest in the area described in the deed as he himself possessed. Unfortunately for you, he possessed absolutely nothing.”

End excerpt.

I wonder if the woman is part Native American; it wouldn't be the first time the U.S. cheated an Indian out of land!

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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