One tourist town mayor has an idea on how to capitalize on visitors. His plan involves a shoot out, a trial, gallows, and hanging himself.

In a story that could be stranger, the mayor of Medora asked a stunned planning commission to allow him to build a gallows at his property in the town of Medora. His plan is to stage his own execution after performing in a short play that features a street shoot out and trial. Planned to be no longer than 20 minutes a showing, the performance could help provide additional entertainment for the throngs of tourists that flock to the town each year.

The city of roughly 100 people has a population that grows by 300 during the summer, as nearly everyone works to service the needs of some 200,000 tourists. They come to see a western town that hasn’t changed much since its founding 1883. The play would dramatize the vigilante lynching’s from the 19th century.

From the Associated Press:

The mayor of the southwest North Dakota tourist town of Medora is seeking permission for a hanging, and he is sticking his neck out by volunteering to be the one to go to the gallows.

Mayor Doug Ellison wants to erect a gallows on his property to stage mock hangings for tourists, and he has taken his request to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

Read the full article here.