Raleigh – Memphis Flyer

Collierville is home to more cheaters per capita than any other area in Shelby County, according to a new list from AshleyMadison.com, the hook-up website for extra-marital affairs.

A little more than nine percent of the 50,000 Shelby Countians who are registered to use that website live in Collierville. Raleigh, however, is home to the most faithful Memphians, according to the website. They make up about six percent of the site’s local users.

Here’s the AshleyMadison.com list of Shelby County’s least faithful neighborhoods.

1. Collierville 9.1%
2. Arlington 8.8%
3. Downtown 8.6%
4. East Memphis 8.3%
5. Germantown 8%
6. Midtown 7.7%
7. Barlett 7.3%
8. Lakeland 7.2%
9. Millington 6.9%
10. Raleigh 6.4%

Additionally, they found that 43 percent of adulterers in Memphis are female with an average age of 35. Bartlett cheaters tend to have the most children, and Lakeland cheaters tend to have the most affair partners.

Noel Biderman, CEO and founder of the site, said their study of stats across the country tended to show the most cheating occurring in more affluent neighborhoods. But that may be more related to the digital divide than anything else. Cheating in lower-income areas may not necessarily be arranged on hook-up sites.

PHOTO COURTESY BING / MICROSOFT

Ah, Memphis is just full of mysterious places.

A friend of mine was driving along James Road in Raleigh and happened to turn south on a little road called Epping Way. The road ends after just a few blocks, and he came to a rather fancy gate, with stone pillars on either side. This gate is padlocked (I believe he told me that), and there is a rather prominent sign on one of those posts, proclaiming “NO TRESPASSING – PROPERTY OF MEMPHIS CITY SCHOOLS.”

Now this, in itself, is intriguing because I never knew that Memphis had a school in that area. But it’s only when you turn to Google or Bing for a good aerial view of the property that the mystery deepens. As you can see from these two images, taken from different angles, beyond that gate is a double driveway that curves back to some type of school-looking building, which seems to be rather unkempt and abandoned.

And then look to the side of it: not just one, but SIX overgrown tennis courts, side by side. There’s even a nice little gazebo, if you look closely, all by the shore of a very nice lake.

I’ll go ahead and tell you that if you go to Bing and rotate their birds-eye view option, looking at this site from various angles, at one point the building completely disappears, leaving only some kind of concrete foundation. So it’s safe to say that this structure has been torn down, though various aerial views — apparently taken weeks or months apart — don’t consistently show it.

But what was this place? Why all the tennis courts? And what does the Memphis City School system have to do with it?

Does it surprise you to learn that I sent these images to the good folks at the school system and asked them this very question, and they didn’t even bother to respond? No, it didn’t surprise me either. Either they don’t know, or they don’t want to say. And after my family gave them that fine Lauderdale School, too. So disrespectful!

If anybody know what this curious property is — or was — please tell me.

PHOTO COURTESY BING / MICROSOFT