70,000 Beer Cans

This is a true story. Though some of the circumstances, in my opinion, are a matter of conjecture. The photos were taken of a vacated residence in Ogden, UT in 2005. The former tenant was reported to have lived there for 8 years, and had accumulated approximately 70,000 cans of Coors Light, which he had not so ceremoniously piled up around his home.

The rest of the story, as explained at the usually reliable website Snopes, doesn't make any sense. Basically, the local Utah media reported that the resident was a raging alcoholic who drank 24 cans a beer a day for 8 years, yet somehow interpreted the man's preference for Coors Light as some kind of recognition on the man's part that he had a drinking problem. Then there are the highly questionable details; the man was the perfect tenant, always paid his rent on time and never complained. The mailman believed the home was empty because he never delivered mail there. The man had been living for some time without water and electricity. Yet, somehow, other than the beer can mess, the home was in good shape. Oh, for the truly gullible, as the story goes, the man, in the end, conquers his alcoholism, gives up beer, finds a job and a new home.

Am I the only one who doesn't believe this story? Am I the only one who looks at these photos and sees a staged scene?

Aside from the illogic of a person disposing of all garbage except beer related garbage and maintaining an otherwise clean home, all of the beer cans and cartons in the pictures look alike. Even if a person were to take brand loyalty to this kind of extreme, breweries, especially the "big boys" like Coors, do tend to noticeably vary their packaging seasonally.

To my thinking, this is a tenant's practical joke on his landlord. It's also natural to assume that he had collaborators. That said, if one does the math, if you've got 20 buddies buying beer for you, 70,000 cans, that's 145 cases per buddy.