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This is baffling. It's a good hook to listen to the podcast, but I'm not going to. My second thought was about insurance. The house is gone, it's up to their i
by jfoutz 5y ago
This is baffling. It's a good hook to listen to the podcast, but I'm not going to.
My second thought was about insurance. The house is gone, it's up to their investigator to determine the cause. In the worst case, they say, too bad. thanks for the premiums.
My first thought was to build a big ass fence at the property line. Generally be an ass, using my property in the least helpful way possible.
given the dearth of information about the story I'm still a bit befuddled. given the timeframe 1994, it's understandable there isn't much available on the internet. I doubt an island of 120 had a local paper, I doubt even more that the archives would be online. Apparently no records were found for the court case.
There's a temptation to victim blame, there's a temptation to think Presho and Digger cooked up a scheme to get a little attention for the island and Presho's career. I think there's more information, but it seems unattainable.
He won the court case, but got a pittance. There are no answers from the trial.
In the end, I suspect this is a story that will end up much like "where is the other sock" it will vaguely nag at me for a few days, then fall out of mind.
Interesting situation, possibly worth a listen, but clearly no satisfactory resolution is possible (for me anyway). Another fabulously unimportant unanswerable question to irritate my psyche for a few days.
- shawabawa3 5y agoSeems pretty clear cut to me. Outsider buys property on tiny island community, then disappears for 8 years. Islander gets annoyed about the vacant property blocking their view so decides to remove it. Other islanders refuse to rat them out due to being a tight community End of mystery
- tobltobs 5y agoThis tight community also did have to accept a high loss to the value of their properties as their houses became unsaleable. It is a mystery to me how all property owner would accept this, when only one or two have an improved view.
- Freak_NL 5y agoThe article mentions that the damages awarded by the judge wouldn't suffice to even buy a chicken coop on the island. My guess is that property prices are quite unaffected by this stunt.
- tobltobs 5y agoI don't get how you draw the connection between a not satisfying damage award and unaffected house prices. Maybe the real reason why nobody spoke out was the fact that the guy flattening the house was Tory’s biggest employer. The hotel Óstan Thóraigh has been at the centre of island life since the late 1800s. The hotel and general store was supplying everything from salted fish to marine chandlery to the island. The hotel is for sale now. It didn't survived Covid. See https://www.irishpost.com/news/irelands-stunning-tory-island-hotel-put-market-just-e400000-166346 https://www.irishpost.com/news/irelands-stunning-tory-island...
- ash 5y agoThe article is from May 01, 2019. Covid didn't exist yet.
- ThePadawan 5y agoImagine you're retired, you own a house on an island where you like life. Why do you care if your house is "worth" $50k or $1m? Maybe you don't have kids to inherit it. Maybe you consider yourself at home where you're living, so you wouldn't want to sell it anyway.
- maccard 5y agoHave you had that conversation with many people who are retired in comfortable positions? I've had it with many family members (Apparently I'm the one who is "good with money things"), and they all _do_ care, despite the fact they will never realize that value.
- 5y ago
- jfoutz 5y agoI'll go you one further. Outsider visits island for a few months and enjoys their time there, makes some great friends. Outsider's friend has a hotel, and wants to attract more clients. Outsider has a knack for storytelling, but hasn't been successful for a few years. Outsider spins yarn, friend fills up his hotel, both walk away happy. End of mystery. There are a million ways to fill in the blanks. We can't know _the truth_. I find this upsetting, and it'll bug me for days. but then I'll forget and it's ok. Your pat story is fine too. I REALLY want to know the truth, which is a fantastic hook. so I'm stuck with this story longer than you are.
- dmix 5y agoThere’s probably some lessons here about good headlines to draw you into a story via social media. Or if you go deeper the value of stories/fiction that were entirely invented in the first place, or documentaries about real things combined with the limitations of an hour and a half plus the biases and editing of the creator, or the podcast medium which lets you go even deeper into a topic, etc. There’s plenty of angles here in a meta way beyond the sum of the real story itself. But I do agree this is most likely going to be an unrewarding investment with a likely simple explanation like the hotel wanting views + very old basically vacant building in the way.
- rsynnott 5y agoGiven that he won in court, he was presumably at least able to establish that the house existed at one time, and he owned it, so it’s unlikely to be totally fictitious.
- TheOtherHobbes 5y agoThere would be a record in the land registry, with a map. Even if the house disappeared he would still own the land. Given that it was a very basic house it's likely the land was worth at least as much as the building.
- phkahler 5y ago>> Even if the house disappeared he would still own the land. Given that it was a very basic house it's likely the land was worth at least as much as the building. Don't underestimate the cost of building stuff on an island like that. Everything needs to be brought in by boat, including labor.
- scandox 5y agoYes I'm afraid they're trying to Wicker Man this up to 11. Basically some bollocks half knocked down his house. "The House that got partially knocked down by someone with small regard for abstract property rights".
- da39a3ee 5y agoThat's not how to use the word "bollocks".
- stormdennis 5y agoMaybe it is in Ireland.
- jamiethompson 5y agoNot in England, no. But it is in Ireland or Scotland.
- da39a3ee 5y agoOK thanks I didn't know and deserve my downvotes!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- scandox 5y agoIn Ireland we do say bollocks or Bollix meaning a person who broadly speaking is difficult to deal with.
- da39a3ee 5y agoAh OK thanks I had no idea. I gladly accept my downvotes!
- arethuza 5y ago"Islander gets annoyed about the vacant property blocking their view" Could well have been a vacant ruin after 8 years without any maintenance - we live in an exposed site half way up a hill in Scotland and I wouldn't leave our house for 8 weeks without arranging for someone to keep and eye on it and potentially getting repairs done.
- soneil 5y agoThat was my thoughts too. Go look up Tory Island on google maps - most of us would very quickly redefine our understanding of 'exposed'.
- silvestrov 5y agoeverything is within "walking distance", it's approx 2 miles long. Photos from Tory Island: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tory+Island,+Co.+Donegal,+Irland/@55.2663733,-8.2288592,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipNUjTuQRZDvc1zyIRgOCCwLootOq7bh2wnnzC-I!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNUjTuQRZDvc1zyIRgOCCwLootOq7bh2wnnzC-I%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i4096!8i3072!4m5!3m4!1s0x48f57e8bf39fc4f1:0x1800c7a937dfa470!8m2!3d55.2663733!4d-8.2288592 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tory+Island,+Co.+Donegal,+...
- rbanffy 5y agoMoved to Ireland about 5 years ago. The western coast is reputed as being hit by the worst weather and I assume an island in the northwest would be the worst possible place in terms of weather.
- uCantCauseUCant 5y agoUsually its a story of continued decline. House has rain water damage (roof caves in), village teenager break into house, one of them sets it on fire. Ruin ruins next door neighbours view, nobody willing to clean it up, so he does the work for free.
- sjg007 5y agoOk but you have to start civil proceedings to do so.
- uCantCauseUCant 5y agoOn a small island, usually far away from the mainland? Where even government mail arrives late or never? How to say it, the rule of law, while neatly painted on the maps, does usually not uphold well in remote places. Afghanistan is governed from kabul, we were told, right? But its not. Its a thousand villages, each being there own little "Afghanistan" in their minds. The nation state and the emotional investment in it, is a very recent western invention. Same might go for some island. Whatever the outsiders say goes, "when its police show and tell, else, we keep to ourselves and thats that".
- thatguy0900 5y agoIt even says he got a letter about storm damage. If the roof got messed up in a storm and noone came to fix it in two or three years why not just knock it down.
- aaron695 5y agoHere is the high court case, it's a sad story in the end, maybe, his mania probably sent him on this life adventure, it then made it complicated. It's a bigger adventure than most people ever live, who's to say I guess. https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5da053ed4653d07dedfd58b0 https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5da053ed4653d07dedfd58... It was a big case locally in the region, there's also a book and online articles.
- jfoutz 5y agoThis is satisfying. I made some uncharitable claims around spinning a yarn. Makes so much more sense that Presho was "of unsound mind" I feel sorta shitty for my other claims. but the court evidence and findings are great. Thank you.
- fsloth 5y agoThanks! Sounds like a slippery slope of first abusing property rights and then more nefarious plans enacted. "..the defendants commenced the construction of a hotel ... at the rear of the property" and "The ... defendant employed John McGinty as contractor ... (who) .. occupied house without consent of the plaintiff while the hotel was being built." Then they interact with the doofus caretaker, conclude he is a lame duck and arson ensues. The caretaker allows the workman to inhabit the property without the owners consent. Mind. Blowing. Negligence. "Thanks for that".
- rsynnott 5y agoOn insurance, most insurers just won’t cover a house that’s left vacant and unmaintained for eight years, certainly not as a normal product. The insurer, if there was one, probably just walked away when they learned of the circumstances.
- monkeynotes 5y ago> Presho and Digger cooked up a scheme Digger isn't the name of the neighbour, he owned a "digger" AKA brit-speak for excavator.