Courtesy of Warren Ellis: Every year a small town in Sweden erects 13-metre high wooden goat, and almost every year someone burns it down.
Goat Highlights:
1966: The first goat is burned down – beginning the tradition
1970: It is set on fire six hours after being erected
1971: Tired of arson, the project is abandoned. Schoolchildren build a miniature. It is smashed to pieces.
1976: A car crashes into the goat
1979: The goat is burned down before it is finished
1987: The goat is treated with fire-proofing – but still goes up in smoke
You have to love the Swedes: Grand design, quirky humour, indomitable persistence.
Hey, look: A year-by-year synopsis of the goat! They’re even crazier than I’d previously thought:
In 1989 the goat burned down before it was even built. A public collection was taken up and a new goat was built, which burned down in January.