No Bidders For Possibly Booby-Trapped Land In New Hampshire, Former Owners Plotted To Kill Federal Agents

A large home sitting on 100 acres in New Hampshire remains on the market after no bidders came forward at the town’s auction. The home had an opening bid of just $250,000 for the large fortress-like home along with the 100 acres it sits on located in Plainfield, New Hampshire. The land is warned to possibly contain booby-traps, leaving potential buyers unwilling to open their pocketbooks and take a chance on the property.

ABC News reports that the property was owned by tax-dodgers Ed and Elaine Brown. Prospective bidders were not allowed to tour the properties, in part because the U.S. Marshals Service raised the possibility that explosives or other booby traps could be buried on the residential property. The back story behind the seizure of the Brown property is a legend in itself.

The Browns were part of the 2007 standoff with federal marshals that lasted for nine months to avoid prison time for tax evasion. The Browns welcomed a parade of anti-tax and anti-government supporters including Randy Weaver, whose wife and son were killed along with a deputy U.S. marshal in a 1992 shootout on Weaver’s property in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. However, the Browns were ultimately captured by undercover agents posing as pizza delivery men.

The court has ruled that the Browns and any heirs have no claims to the properties or any assets from their sale due to the Brown’s refusal to pay property taxes. If the properties ever sell, the first entities to be paid would be the municipalities of Plainfield and Lebanon, which are owed back property taxes amounting to $191,300. In fact, so much is owed to the town that it accounts for 40 percent of the town’s total delinquent taxes.

The Brown’s home and land weren’t the only properties up for auction. Elaine Brown’s dental office in a prime Lebanon commercial zone also was being auctioned with a minimum bid of $507,500, but it too attracted no bidders.

The Browns were convicted in 2009 of amassing weapons, explosives, and booby traps and plotting to kill federal agents who came to arrest them. This has led those in the community to believe that booby traps could possibly still be active on the land. It appears no home buyers are willing to take a chance on a property that may have explosive devices lurking under its surface.

The Browns will not be coming back for their property anytime soon. Both Ed and Elaine Brown are in their 70s and are serving more than three decades in prison for their crimes associated with the standoff and tax evasion.

Would you bid on the property, booby-traps and all?