RAYMOND, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
A picture making the rounds on Facebook is creating a stir online and in the community. The picture is of an effigy of President Barack Obama hanging outside a gas station.
Those posting to WLBT's Facebook page claimed it was taken at a Shell station in Raymond, but after a quick drive there we learned that wasn't true.
After a little digging, we found the picture was actually a cropped version of a photo making it's way through the Internet, that may have been taken in Charlotte, NC. The photo was snapped of a trailer full of hanging dummies.
The truck is owned by a man who calls himself "Patriot Phipps". He claims he created the hanging dummy trailer, with number of other "hanging" elected officials, to bring attention to the murder of a man named William Henry Phipps, which he claims the federal government has ignored.
Phipps claims the trailer isn't designed to create racial hatred towards the President.
The owner of the Shell station in Raymond says the Internet rumors have had a negative effect on his business, including people calling there threatening to blow it up.
Copyright 2012 WLBT. All rights reserved.
WLBT 3 - Fox 40
