by Pastor Dunkin, ©2026
(Mar. 4, 2026) — “The stories about first cousins marrying in Tennessee are true. It seems that the Appalachia area is prone to inbreeding, but let’s not rule out other places in the State, such as Cheatham County, east of Nashville, where breaking the law yesterday is okay because the law wasn’t broken today.”
“At Last” (3:06)
“And that’s my opening. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to ‘The Pulse of the Nation,’ the place to hear it here first. This is a land-grab story through deed manipulation. In Tennessee, all one has to do to change a survey is to present a survey to the clerks in the Deed Office. You don’t have to be a lawyer or a professional surveyor; anyone can present a survey, even a homeowner. The clerks will register the new survey and present it to the applicant.
“Here’s how it works. Sometimes the same applicant will present a changed survey for the same property multiple times in the same day. The clerks just type up the new survey and register it. I’m not making this up; it really happens this way in Tennessee, and the judges are too stupid to understand the term ‘DEED MANIPULATION.’
“With us to help us understand how stupid the judges are is our favorite fortuneteller, Madam Shylock (‘Fortune Teller’ (2:41). Welcome to ‘Pulse,’ the most-watched information show in its time slot.”
“And thank you for having me. I liked your opening because it rang true. I used to live in Tennessee, in the very county you mentioned, Cheatham.”
“Small world.”
“Isn’t it so? I bought a house on about five acres and there was a house next door. One day I decided I’d like to have a fence, so I hired a surveyor and his result was that the house next door was on my property. It turned out that the property was never subdivided and the law of the county was only one house per deeded property.”
“So, you discovered two houses on one deeded property?”
“It gets better. We’ll call him ‘Mr. G.’ Mr. G bought a house and after a couple of years decided that he could put up a manufactured house next door for his son, which he did. Only trouble was he never informed the county and never paid for the permit of subdividing his property.”
“That sounds plausible, crooked and underhanded, but plausible. How did he fool the post office?”
“You won’t believe it.”
“Try me.”
“Well, the son’s mailbox was Mr. G’s original mailbox, never moved, so all Mr. G had to do was stick a new mailbox a little bit farther down the road.”
“But you have to apply to the post office for a new address, right?”
“Not in Tennessee you don’t. Mr. G’s original house number was 1024, so he stuck his new mailbox in the dirt and called it 1026. Then he wrote himself some letters to 1026 and the mail lady just delivered the mail to 1026 as if it was a normal everyday legal address, which it wasn’t, but how was she to know 1026 was an illegal address? Here she had letters addressed to 1026 and there’s the mailbox. End of story.”
“So, Mr. G got to have his son live next door without paying the county one red cent; is that what you’re saying?”
“They cheated Cheatham County.”
“And you discovered the fraud. How?”
“After I got the report from the survey saying there were two houses on one piece of property, I went to the Deed Office and there it was, all documented; each time Mr. G and Son visited the Deed Office to make changes in the deed was right there on record. A couple of times twice in the same day.”
“Well, they had to fine-tune it. Amazing.”
“But it gets better.”
“No way. How so?”
“After Mr. G and Son realized that they got away with deed manipulation, each went to a separate bank and took out home loans for their houses. Mr. G went to a bank and said his house is on this piece of property and please give me a loan, which the bank did.”
“And I take it the son did the same, but at another bank, each house being on the same piece of property. Amazing.”
“Yes, the banks were just so happy to give them the money. And then Mr. G and Son disappeared. Took the money and ran.”
“No way. And then you came along and bought, which house, 1026?”
“Yes, that’s what I did, mailbox and all.”
“But there’s a problem, right?”
“You won’t believe this, but the person who owns 1024, the son’s house, the illegal building, thinks she owns the original property.”
“But her building was put up years after Mr. G’s house.”
“That’s right. And still not subdivided legally.”
“It seems there’s an illegal building on that property.”
“Tell it to the judge.”
“You mean to tell me the judge can’t figure it out?”
“Well, we’re in Tennessee, remember that.”
“Seems like a no-brainer if you ask me.”
“But we’re rational. No telling what the judge is.”
“Well put. So, the judge can’t figure out deed manipulation. How come we get it and he doesn’t? And that’s it for this episode of ‘Pulse.’ Thank you for watching. This is Pastor Dunkin, along with Madam Shylock, wishing each of you a goodnight: Goodnight.
“Good show. Burger time: my treat.”
“Songbird” (3:40)
Pastor Dunkin
Interesting editorial. I’ve two questions for Madam Shylock:
#1: The 1026 (formally 1024) must have a deed so how did they fool the bank?
#2: How come the surveyor didn’t figure out that there was a crime of deed manipulation? I understand he called the homeowner of 1024 that she owned the whole 5 acres. Is that unprofessionalism or what?
Thank you for your questions, Chief.
The answer to question #1: It just so happened that, bordering Mr. G’s property, there was a narrow strip of land that had a road on it that was for sale, too small for a house but big enough for a shed due to the road’s requirements. Mr. G. put a shed on it that he told the bank that was also the property of his house. It wasn’t, Mr. G. lied. The house of Mr. G. is in the same location it was when it was built and hasn’t move one inch since then.
The answer to question #2 is that, quite obviously, the surveyor was just, face it, unprofessional in his laziness in not taking the 20-minute drive to the county’s deed office to discover what I did in a few minutes of research, and I’m not a professional surveyor. I paid the surveyor over $1,000 for a lie that he knew was a lie as reflected in his remark, “There’s something wrong here.”