# New York selling the Statue of Liberty to Biloxi, Mississippi?????\` **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304 "2006-06-27T02:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/1 "2006-06-27T02:56:13Z")
I was listening to a Biloxi radio station today and they read a press release that the city of Biloxi, Mississippi is planning to buy the Statue of Liberty from New York City to promote tourism. The press release detailed plans to disassemble the statue into 6 pieces and fly them to the Gulf Coast via helicopter. They also said that the city of New York was willing to do this to help promote tourism on the Coast which is all but gone since Hurricane Katrina. They said that it would take an act of Congress. They had people calling in, and they all said it was a stupid idea…some said that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of America and that it belongs where it is, and others argued that the infrastructure along the Coast couldn’t support the number of tourists it would draw, especially with US 90 still closed in some places. I tried Googling this and couldn’t find anything which triggered my bullshit indicator, so I figured someone here may have heard something about it. Is this just a new urban legend? (Snopes doesn’t have anything about it as of now) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/2 "2006-06-27T02:59:07Z")
Sounds to me like not so much an “urban legend” as a “radio DJ prank”. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/3 "2006-06-27T02:59:24Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > I tried Googling this and couldn’t find anything which triggered my bullshit indicator, so I figured someone here may have heard something about it. The title of the thread wasn’t enough? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/4 "2006-06-27T03:21:27Z")
We now have quantitative proof of how far Mississippi is behind the times - exactly 86 days. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/5 "2006-06-27T03:28:13Z")
[STATUE OF LIBERTY National Monument is a unit of the National Park System owned by the people of the United States and administered by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior.](http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/11/hh11o.htm) I don’t see anything about the Feds first selling the statue to the city of New York, so that they could sell it to Biloxi. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/6 "2006-06-27T03:35:04Z")
I’m sure the sellers agreed to throw in the Brooklyn Bridge for free, too. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/7 "2006-06-27T03:39:38Z")
I’m voting “radio deejay prank” on this one. [http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Statue\_of\_Liberty.html](http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Statue_of_Liberty.html) > [@](#): > > The total weight of copper in the Statue is 62,000 pounds (31 tons) and the total weight of steel in the Statue is 250,000 pounds (125 tons). That makes 156 tons of metal. 156 divided by 6 = 26. So each piece would be 26 tons. I know next to nothing about helicopters, but a quick trip through Google turned up the [CH-47 Chinook,](http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/h-47.htm) which has a carrying capacity of–if I’m reading this right–20,000 lbs, or 10 tons. So they’d need to cut it up into smaller chunks. If it was even for sale, which National Monuments normally aren’t, acts of Congress notwithstanding. Guess your local deejay’s entitled to a fairly large “gotcha”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/8 "2006-06-27T03:56:14Z")
I hear Fresno put in a bid for Mount Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/9 "2006-06-27T04:51:13Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > I was listening to a Biloxi radio station today and they read a press release that the city of Biloxi, Mississippi is planning to buy the Statue of Liberty from New York City to promote tourism. OK, that does it. Florida is the _first_ state I’m giving back. Mississippi is the _second_. Moving the _Statue of Liberty_! :smack: sigh. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/10 "2006-06-27T04:54:45Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > I hear Fresno put in a bid for Mount Rushmore. Yeah? Well, listen bub, Fresno is paying for that one _itself_. I am _not_ gonna let Aaah-nold raise my taxes so that Fresno can put a bunch of Dead Presidents in its back yard. :dubious: And just so you know, even Mt. Rushmore is not gonna improve Fresno. I grant you, it’s not as bad as Lodi, and the climate is better (slightly) than Bakersfield, but it’s got a _long_ way to go before one mountain makes much of a difference. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/11 "2006-06-27T05:09:01Z")
And the Grand Canyon is being disassembled and shipped to Long Island. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/12 "2006-06-27T05:36:35Z")
They are 27 years too late. Lady Liberty was [moved back in 1979](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/pranks/liberty.html) to the University of Wisconsin. The statue in New York Harbor is a fake. ---
**Author:** ![giuseppe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@giuseppe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/giuseppe)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/13 "2006-06-27T10:15:09Z")
Haha. The Statue of Liberty actually belongs to New Jersey just like Ellis Island. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/14 "2006-06-27T14:42:00Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > Biloxi radio station… Statue of Liberty… New York City… 6 pieces It could be that the DJ’s got a few details wrong and \*[this](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/nyregion/27pabst.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) \* is the monument moving to Biloxi: > [@](#): > > For many who gathered here on Monday, the day marked the passing of yet one more piece of New Jersey lore, an urban monument for drivers on the Garden State Parkway. > > It was the 60-foot-tall Pabst beer bottle, which had loomed 185 feet above Newark for 75 years, serving as a guidepost for countless weary drivers. > > But on Monday, after a lengthy struggle, the rusted bottle — which was actually a 55,000-gallon water tank — came down piece by piece over seven hours. For now it is five enormous pieces of steel and copper plate three-eighths of an inch thick, and its fate is far from settled. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/15 "2006-06-27T14:44:19Z")
> [@giuseppe](#): > > Haha. The Statue of Liberty actually belongs to New Jersey just like Ellis Island. > > 😃 Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty are within the territory of the State of New York, however, the land is owned by the federal government. In the case of Ellis Island, the original part of the island is within New York, and the landfill area is in New Jersey, as finally decided by the Supreme Court in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/16 "2006-06-27T14:45:24Z")
**YOU MOVED IT!** ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/17 "2006-06-27T14:59:10Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty are within the territory of the State of New York, however, the land is owned by the federal government. > > In the case of Ellis Island, the original part of the island is within New York, and the landfill area is in New Jersey, as finally decided by the Supreme Court in 1998. Um, there’s a landfill on Ellis island? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/18 "2006-06-27T15:16:34Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > Um, there’s a landfill on Ellis island? That is to say, much of the island was created by landfill (i.e., dirt and rocks) dumped there from excavations. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/19 "2006-06-27T15:22:31Z")
> [@633squadron](#): > > OK, that does it. > > Florida is the _first_ state I’m giving back. Mississippi is the _second_. Shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve got dozens more credulous red states left. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304/20 "2006-06-27T15:26:48Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > …snip… > > I tried Googling this and couldn’t find anything which triggered my **bullshit indicator** , so I figured someone here may have heard something about it. > > Is this just a new urban legend? (Snopes doesn’t have anything about it as of now) \*\* _my bolding_\*\* Your bullshit meter should have exploded. I do not thinks snopes is big on covering bad jokes that are not even slightly realistic or correct in their facts. 😉 Jim [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-selling-the-statue-of-liberty-to-biloxi-mississippi/362304.md?page=2)