Irish Lunatic Asylums.

‘I am monarch of all I survey,

I am lord of the fool and the brute,

From the centre all round to the sphere,

My rite there is none to dispute.’

“We're Lost and Everything is Dirty”.

During the early days of the Lunatic Asylums they were the scenes of terrible acts of cruelty, tragedy and death, sanctioned by the church and the state.  In many ways these buildings could be described as castles of despair and the history that surrounds them is enough to make the hair rise on the back of your neck.  It is no wonder that the poor desperate souls that were condemned to live out their lives in these institutions were surrounded by such a feeling of hopelessness and abandonment that their spirits were trapped within those terrifying walls.

In the mid nineteenth century, pauper lunatics were dealt with under the poor law, criminal law or vagrancy law.  They invariably ended up in the workhouse, prison or houses of correction.  In 1808, the County Asylums Act was passed by parliament and it encouraged local magistrates to build county lunatic asylums to house pauper lunatics in their county.  In 1845, this became compulsory.  The Lunacy Act of 1890 widened the role of the Asylums and patients with financial means began to be admitted to them.

However, what was the role of the lunatic asylums?  Before the advent of psychiatric drugs people that were deemed mentally ill were housed in asylums.  They often contained hundreds of patients ranging from people who may have disagreed with powerful members of a family, unmarried girls that had become pregnant (even through rape), disabled people, alcoholics, homeless people, people suffering from depression, full blown psychotics, attempted suicides, children and the elderly all thrown in together.  These places were often huge buildings with hundreds of wards and treatment rooms, some were humane and offered what treatments they thought appropriate, however, there were some that were places of indescribable cruelty with sinister reputations and ‘treatments’ that can only be described as barbaric.

In Clonmel Asylum for example, according to Department of Health files there were lines of naked people, faeces covering the floors, food served up with pitchforks, and people kept like animals.  Not exactly what you might expect to read from official files.  As late as 1958 Ireland led the world in locking up its citizens in mental institutions, at this time it was reported that more than 21,000 people were held behind the walls of these institutions, on a per capita basis it was even ahead of the old Soviet Union.  If you were to compare prison numbers, in the 1950s prisoner numbers rarely exceeded 600, in 1958 the number stood at 369.  However, in Clonmel Asylum alone, 900 patients were locked up, and unlike prisoners these poor unfortunates had no right to a trial, no legal representation, no appeal, and no end to a sentence for which they had committed no crime. Stripped of their rights, their dignity, and their hope they were condemned to suffer for years in conditions that were so bad that even the Department of Health officials were shocked by the abysmally low standards of Clonmel.  However, Clonmel was not unique; the same story was played out across the country.

In 1959 it was decided to send out a circular to the 20 or so institutions medical supervisors or chief psychiatrists to ask how they felt things could be improved.  Six did not bother to reply, and the rest were defensive.  All the more shocking when you consider that these doctors were charged with the well being and treatment of their patients.  According to one senior psychiatrist mental patients had no feelings, were oblivious to their surroundings and led little more that a vegetable existence.  Could it be that it was the environment that they were forced to endure that reduced them to this type of existence?

Some of the treatments were beyond belief, lobotomy and insulin coma therapy was common.  By injecting people with enough insulin to put them into a hypoglycaemic coma it was supposed to cure them of mental illness, and these types of treatments continued into the mid 1900s until they were discredited and eventually abandoned. As for the practice of lobotomy, this left people so damaged that they became incapable of normal independent living, or even using a toilet.

Why did we have so many people in these places anyway? 

The reasons were often related to social conditions rather than medical reasons.  The personal possessions of patients long dead are now being examined by historians.  When these people died thay were buried in unmarked mass graves and their few modest belongings were stored in the attics or damp basements of many of these institutions.  Many of these have now been rescued and are in the process of cataloguing and it is hoped that they will provide a unique social record of a sad time in our history.

However, have attitudes changed regarding mental illness.  Are we still trapped within a system where doctors and psychiatrists are still all powerful?  Where managers control the budgets and the patients have neither any say or control over their lives or their treatment?  We should always remember that patients will remain vulnerable because they are powerless while under the control of the powerful.  It is up to each and every one of us to change our attitudes towards mental illness, depression and suicide.  Unless and until it stops being considered a taboo subject we are all in danger of becoming a fly trapped within a web for who knows when or if it will visit someone within our family or circle of friends.

 Some of the language used in this article was representative of the time and does not reflect modern terminology.

Top Image: I apologise to the person who painted this as I have forgotten their name.  However, if they get in touch with me I would be extremely grateful as I believe it perfectly represents depression, and I would be delighted to put their name to their painting.

Bottom Image: Castlebar District Lunatic Asylum County Mayo.  It is now the home of G.M.I.T. College.  I have just finished my degrees there.  However, I never came across anything unusual (not related to the otherworld anyway).  I'm not going to mention some of the oddities walking the corridors today.

The Lighthouse Keeper.

The Lighthouse Keeper.

Lighthouses are lonely places, places of desolation, solitude and danger.  Those who live or sometimes just exist within that environment are trapped by some of the harshest conditions on earth.  Some lighthouse keepers were allowed to be accompanied by their wife and children, sometimes with tragic results as children were swept from the rocks by an unexpected wave, to join other lost souls drowned at sea.  Some keepers were condemned to work with assistants they may not have liked or even grew to hate, for long periods of time. 

Can you imagine being trapped in such circumstances, slowly driven mad, the waves crashing up onto the rocks, no access to the mainland for extended periods of time?  None of the modern conveniences that we have today and in cramped dark conditions often damp and uncomfortable, is it any wonder that the spirit of the lighthouse keeper, their families and even those souls that were lost at sea remain behind to haunt the place that was responsible for their unhappiness. 

There are many stories that have been told over the years, of jealousy, tragedy and despair. Were they stories based on true events or were they just made up by lonely or bored keepers for their own amusement?  We will never really know.

            One such story concerns a lighthouse perched high upon a desolate piece of rock off the west coast of Ireland.  It was almost impossible to get to the island during the long winter months and once there it became your prison until the boat from the mainland arrived in the spring.  The story concerns Fergal O’Malley who was found guilty of poaching by the local magistrate who was also the local landowner.  He was given the option of transportation for life or the job of Keeper of the Lighthouse where he would remain for the rest of his days.  O’Malley chose the latter stupidly believing that it couldn’t be as bad as people made it out to be and as he had recently married he could take the wife with him so he’d have a bit of company.

The following day O’Malley and his young wife were taken by boat to the island, they were allowed to take with them only what they could carry, together with the supplies provide by the landlord.  O’Malley knew his wife would feel lonely on the island so he brought with him a tin whistle for her to play a bit of a tune.  He was unable to read music but his wife was better educated and she was able to read music so he presented her with the whistle and a sheet of music that had upon it just the one tune.  She was delighted and having settled in and lit a fire they began to feel quite happy with themselves and she played her tin whistle much to O’Malley’s delight. 

The late summer turned into autumn and the nights grew longer, the weather began to turn and stormy nights kept them imprisoned within the stone walls of the Lighthouse.  O’Malley’s young wife played her tin whistle, over and over again, the same grinding tune slowly driving him insane even when he suggested to her that she played something different she continued to play the same tune over and over again.

Eventually he could take no more, reaching for the axe he used to chop wood for the fire he tore the whistle from her hands and smashed it to pieces.  She screamed in protest and turned upon him in desperation trying to wrench the whistle from him, in a rage he hit her with the axe, again and again to the tune he could hear in his head he brought the axe down upon her.  As his rage began to leave him he realised what he had done but by then it was too late, she lay upon the stone floor her eyes staring up at him as though accusing him in death.  He went up to the lighthouse platform and taking down one of the ropes that hung upon the wall he fashioned a noose, placing it around his neck he stepped over the edge and hung himself. 

A couple of days passed and the people of the mainland noticed that the light had gone out and realising something was wrong they went to the local landlord, he ordered that on the first calm day a boat should be sent to the island to find out why O’Malley was failing to carry out his duties.  As they approached the island they saw his partly decomposed body swinging in the wind, inside they found his wife lay where he had killed her.  

The Lighthouse is no longer in use, it is now a bird sanctuary and tourists are taken over to the island by arrangement with tour guides on the mainland.  It is said that on quiet nights when the winds are silent if you listen carefully you can hear the sound of a tin whistle playing a soulful tune, or could it just be the sound of far off sea birds?  I’ll let you decide.

My exams are now complete and I await the results sometime around the 17th June.  Thank you for your good wishes. 

Tadgh Dall O'Huigínn. The Matchstick Man of Straide ?

Tadgh Dall O’Huigínn.  The Matchstick Man of Straide.

c1550-c1591.

Tadgh Dall O’Huigínn was a bardic poet and scholar that came from a long line of distinguished Irish poets.  He received his training within his family and may also have received training in the bardic school in Ceall Cluaine (in County Galway) where a number of his family had been trained.  The attachment of ‘Dall’ to his name suggests that he had a visual impairment and he may have been blind in one or both eyes although it has been suggested that he may not have been completely blind.

Tadgh was a wealthy man by today’s standards and he owned land and property throughout Sligo and Mayo that amounted to hundreds of acres and he enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle.  As a poet of note he was welcomed in all the great houses of Ireland where he spent many weeks being wined and dined by his hosts.  It was the custom in ancient Ireland for the poets to compose poems that spoke of the hospitality and nobility of the nobility, these poems could make or break the reputation of the ruling chieftains so poets were treated extremely well.  The treatment of the bard would then be reflected in what he wrote and the reputation of the chieftain would be enhanced in the eyes of all through the public reading of the poetry or verse.  This made Tadgh an extremely powerful man in the Ireland of his day in much the same way as a highly influential journalist would be considered in the Ireland of today.

However, Tadgh was also said to have a sharp tongue and the gift of satire and it was this that cost him his life. Tadgh was murdered in Banada at Corpus Christi Friary on a Sunday afternoon in 1591.  Tadgh visited Cormac O’Hara of the O’Hara Bui (yellow); he received such a welcome and was treated so well that he wrote a poem that praised the O’Hara Bui to the highest.  The poem became the talk of Connacht and made the O’Hara Bui famous for their prowess in battle, their lineage and genealogy and their magnificent hospitality.

In Connacht there was another branch of the O’Hara.  They were known as O’Hara Rua (Red) and when they heard of this they were extremely displeased.  They were already in contention with O’Huigínn regarding the title to some land and this insult to their line just heightened their intense dislike of him and they decided to seek retribution.  One night, when Tadgh was away on his travels the O’Hara Rua decided to pay a visit to his house.  Six of the O’Hara Rua broke in and stole food and drink before leaving. Tadgh was to return and found his house in a mess that he had to clean up.  This led to great animosity between the O’Hara Rua and the O’Huigínn and the greatest fear the O’Hara Rua had was that O’Huigínn would write a poem ridiculing them for the actions of the six.  In a time when there were no televisions or newspapers the poetry of the bard’s was eagerly awaited by the people and a few well written lines could make you either a hero or a laughing stock and the O’Hara Rua knew that their reputation could be ruined by O’Huigínn.
 

This is exactly what happened, a poem was written about the six that made them the laughing stock of the countryside, no matter where they went people pointed and sniggered.  At last they could take no more and they decided to kill Tadgh O’Huigínn.  They hatched a plan, they set an ambush and lay in wait for him one Sunday as he was returning home, he managed to escape and fled on horseback to the nearby Friary of Corpus Christi and here he claimed sanctuary believing that this would give him the protection of god’s house.  Unfortunately for Tadgh, the Prior of the Friary was an O’Hara that was related to the O’Hara Rua and he just turned his back on O’Huigínn and refused to help him.  Tadgh was pulled from the Friary and died a horrifying death.  The O’Hara Rua cut out his tongue then slit his throat; they also gave orders that his wife and child were to be murdered at the same time. 

The O’Hara Rua responsible for these horrendous acts were eventually captured and taken to Sligo were they were tried for the murders in 1593 but due to the apparent lack of witnesses and evidence they were released.  Tradition suggests that Tadgh Dall O’Huigínn was buried in the grounds of Straide Friary in County Mayo and it is his grave that is marked by the grave marker that shows a carving of a matchstick man.  Is it Tadgh ?  I cannot say for there is no name on the marker so I'll leave it for you to decide.  Keep smiling.

The source used for some of this information was,    As the Waters Flow - Banada Through the Ages by Séan Owens.

Hugh Lane Controversy.

Hugh Lane Controversy.

                              Hugh Lane born in 1875 at Ballybrack House, county Cork.

Hugh Lanes 1904 exhibitions were critical in the history of the establishment of Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane, (originally called The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.  He launched one of the exhibitions of modern Irish art to tremendous success in the Guildhall, London, where over eighty thousand people paid admission to visit it.  It was the first time that modern Irish artists were exhibited side by side with the Impressionists painters.  Pictures by Monet, Manet, Degas, and Pissarro hung alongside Irish artists such as O'Brien, Osborne, Orpen, and J.B.Yeats amongst others. Lane saw the gallery as a place where people could see and appreciate art.

He went on to say that a gallery of modern art in Dublin would encourage both an interest in the arts and the purchase of art by the Irish people. He believed that people would not purchase art if they did not know about art and that such a gallery would serve as an inspiration to student artists which would enable them to express their soul.  Hugh Lane went on to exhibit three hundred and six paintings at the Royal Hibernian Academy; one hundred and six of them were presented to the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art when it opened in 1908.  This was done without any public financial support and it was to show how Hugh Lane's of visual art was to play such an important role in the birth of modern Ireland.

The Hugh Lane Controversy.

On the 7^th May 1915 the passenger ship RSM Lusitania was sank off the coast of Cork.  Among its dead was the art collector Sir Hugh Lane.  Lane was a private collector of art and the favourite nephew of Lady Gregory of Coole.  One of Lane’s greatest wishes was to present a large collection of important paintings to Dublin and the Irish nation but there was to be one condition, they must be housed in a suitable gallery.  His collection was opened in 1908 on a temporary basis in Clonmel House, Harcourt Street. 

However, Lane became irritated by Dublin’s failure to come up with a permanent home for his paintings and what he saw as a lack of commitment by the authorities.  In a fit of pique he withdrew thirty nine of the most important paintings from the gallery and made a will leaving them to the National Gallery of London.  Lane was to tell a colleague that he had done this in order to shake up the crowd in Dublin but at the end of the day it was his intention that Dublin should have them.  He wrote a codicil to this effect but unfortunately it was not witnessed. Here begins what became known as The Hugh Lane Controversy.

The National Gallery knew it had a great treasure and was not about to give it up.  The codicil attached to Hugh Lanes will was not witnessed and although a number of prominent people at the time insisted that it was Lane’s intention to bequeath the paintings to Dublin and the Irish nation, it was not to be.  In order to legalise the codicil it would take an Act of Parliament which no politician was willing to support.  The National Gallery was in possession and legally entitled to keep the paintings, morally there was a strong argument in favour of Hugh Lane and his last wishes but they were not giving up their legal right. 

This provoked a controversy that lasted throughout the twentieth century, many people including members of the ‘Coole Set’ such as W.B.Yeats and Lady Gregory campaigned to get the paintings returned to Dublin but to no avail.  To an extent the issue remains unsolved, however, a compromise was reached in 1959 and it was agreed that the main works in the collection were to be displayed at different times by both galleries.  It provides that the thirty nine Lane pictures will be divided into two groups, which will be lent, in turn, for public exhibition in Dublin for successive periods of five years, over a total period of twenty years. 

In 2008, the centenary of the opening of the Municipal Gallery, the centrepiece of the gallery’s display featured the full collection of thirty nine pictures for the first time since 1913. Hopefully we may see them permanently reunited one day to hang in the gallery that bears his name.

1st Image = Academy House 1938-1967 15 Ely Place. (www.royalhibernianacademy.ie)
2nd Image = Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh lane (originally the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art. (www.royalhibernianacademy.ie). 
3rd Image = Royal Hibernian Academy as it is today 15 Ely Place. (www.royalhibernianacaemy.ie)
4th Image = Royal Hibernian Academy, Lower abbey Street, Dublin. 1824. (www.archiseek.com).

The Resurrection Men.

There was a time in Ireland when people feared the nocturnal activities of a group of men that went under the name ‘Resurrection Men’. They specialised in grave robbing and body snatching and were particularly prevalent during the early 1800s. Some of these nefarious characters would be happy just stealing the valuables that had been buried with the dead but some went further, they stole the bodies and sold them to supply doctors who used them in the study of human anatomy.

In order to thwart the activities of these grave robbers people resorted to a number of ingenious measures which included burying bodies in backyards or cellars until the remains were so far gone they were of no use as objects of anatomical research.  People stood guard over recently buried relatives and some people who could afford to erected grills, cages or iron bars around the grave site, these were known as ‘mortsafes’. Mortsafes date from the beginning of the nineteenth century and were designed to protect corpses. They came in a variety of designs and sizes and could be reused after six to eight weeks.

Two of the most notorious grave robbers were Irish and were active in Edinburgh, Scotland during the 1820s.  At the beginning of the eighteenth century Edinburgh had become an important centre for the study of anatomy. Students were assigned one cadaver – usually an executed criminal – on which to practice their studies. However this was not a sufficient amount and gradually students and surgeons began to seek other ways in which to obtain corpses to dissect. Grave robbing was such a common occurrence in Edinburgh at that time that some graveyards had high walls and railings around them and watchtowers were even erected with armed guards standing guard.

William Burke and William Hare were both from Ulster and had gone to Edinburgh to work as ‘navies’ on the New Union Canal.  They worked at this occupation during the day but once night fell they took to their other more sinister and profitable trade.  At first, grave robbing but eventually murder.  Their victims were the homeless who wouldn’t be missed but they soon began targeting drunks and others who they would follow down the dark streets before strangling them.  It was to be another Irish connection that would lead to the eventual end of their gruesome activities.  That connection was a recent arrival to Edinburgh in the shape of Mrs Docherty.  She had recently arrived from Ireland and Burke who met her in a local shop befriended her. He invited her home to his lodgings for a bite to eat and it was there he murdered her. It was believed that Burke and Hare murdered up to thirty people but Burke was the only one prosecuted and then it was for the murder of Mrs Docherty.  Hare turned Kings Evidence against him and Burke was hanged on 28^th January 1829.  Hare was reported to have died a penniless pauper in London in 1858.

There is a twist to the story, Burke’s body was donated to medical science for dissection, and his skeleton is still displayed in Edinburgh’s University Medical School. His skin was used to make a pocket book and this is displayed at the Police Museum in Edinburgh.
The Anatomy Act 1832,  allowed the bodies of paupers who died in workhouses to be used for anatomical research, this helped to end the activities of the body snatchers.

Now let us return to the tale of the Irish Resurrection Men.

The fear of being buried alive is as old as the hills.  Famous bards such as Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe have written grisly stories regarding it.  Macabre tales of narrow escapes when people who were discovered buried alive when grave robbers opened their coffins.  Contorted, twisted, petrified bodies of those poor unfortunates who upon waking found themselves trapped in a box doomed to a horrific death.  Here follows a story of one such woman who found that being buried alive would become a terrible reality.

Margorie McCall c1705.

Margorie McCall was married to a doctor and they lived in Lurgan, County Armagh.  They were very happy and content with their lot in life. Unfortunately Margorie became ill and although her husband was a doctor he was extremely worried. It should be remembered that in the early 1700s medical science was not what it is today and simple illnesses we would consider as easily cured today could prove fatal at that time. Sadly poor Margorie was to succumb to her fever and she passed away, she was buried in Shankhill Church of Ireland Cemetery not far from where they lived in Church Place.  Her burial was a speedy one for at that time fever was feared as it was known to spread; this should have been the end of the story.

Margorie was buried still wearing a beautiful gold wedding ring.  Her husband could not remove it from her finger due to the fact that her fingers had swollen since her death. People talked of the buried treasure and the Resurrection Men were listening. Here was a chance to make some easy money, not only could they sell the body but they were in for a bonus. That evening, before the ground she was buried in had time to settle upon poor Margorie’s coffin the boys paid a visit.  In the graveyard they worked under cover of darkness, digging down silently until they heard the scrape of the spade upon the lid of her box, they reached down and prised of the lid.

They saw the glitter of gold upon her finger. Realising the story they had heard was true they attempted to remove the ring, it would not budge. Well times were hard and money was as tight as that ring so they decided they were not about to let such a prize go to the surgeon’s slab. She was dead already so she wouldn’t need her finger would she? It was agreed, that they would cut off the finger to free the ring.  Unfortunately for them the shock of the knife slicing through her finger was just what she needed to wake her up from the catatonic state she had been in.  She sat up, eyes wide and screamed like a Banshee. Some say that one of the body snatchers had a heart attack and dropped dead on the spot, others say they took off like the devil himself was after them never to be seen again.  They were even reported as giving up their rather profitable trade.  Margorie rose from her grave and began to stagger to her nearby home
.
Back at the house her husband was sat talking to some relatives that had remain behind after the burial when he heard a bang at the door. He stood up, went to the door and opened it.  There like a scene from The Shining stood his wife (HI Honey I’m Home).  She was still wearing her dirt covered death shroud and she was dripping blood from her part severed finger.  Some stories tell us that he dropped dead from fright and was buried in the plot of ground his wife had recently vacated.  The poor relatives are not mentioned and it’s unsure whether they were pleased to see her alive or upset to see him drop dead.

It is said that Margorie went on to re-marry and to have a number of children.  Some say she was even pregnant when she rose from the grave.  She is still seen wandering the cemetery at night, although you would think she had had enough of that place.  If you visit the graveyard you will see her gravestone, upon it is written “Here Lies Margorie McCall, Lived Once, Buried Twice.

It is also said that some people hide behind the curtains and jump out shouting “it's me, it’s me, it’s Margorie” Now off you go to bed, sweet dreams, and try to Keep Smiling.

This will be the last entry until after my exams. I shall return on the 1st June, until then Keep smiling and look after each other.

Top Image = Mortsafes in various sizes.

Middle Image = Margorie McCall's grave marker.

Lower Image = Security railings around a grave.

 

FRANCIS TUMBLETY

FRANCIS TUMBLETY
(1833-1903)

What is it that makes a series of horrific murders so fascinating for a particular group of people?  They were the first set of murders that caused a media frenzy.  The story went global, it remains unsolved and it is still as popular today as it was over 120 years ago. There have been countless books written about it, television programmes and films made about the events, stage shows and stories.  Yet no one was ever apprehended, no one was convicted, no one ever served a single day in prison, and right up to today the crimes remain unsolved.  There is as much speculation now as there was in 1888-1891 as to who committed these horrific murders.  The question remains "Who was Jack"?

The last to fall victim to the knife of the Ripper was an Irish woman called Mary Kelly but there was another Irish connection.  One of the least likely suspects was a rather dubious character who was called Francis Tumblety (1833-1903) who was thought to have been born in Ireland although he may have been born in Canada.  However, he certainly had Irish parents, James and Margaret and was one of eleven children.  He spent his early years in Rochester, New York and it was there that his rather unsavoury personality was forged.  Neighbours remembered him to be a dirty scruffy boy who was uneducated and always getting into trouble.  By the time he was a teenager Tumblety was working for a shady pharmacist and was also selling pornographic material.  It looks like his life was mapped out.

It’s possible that while working for the pharmacist Tumblety picked up a little knowledge as he began to practice as an “Indian Herb Doctor” or as we call them today “Quacks” selling pseudo cures and ‘snake oil’.  This may also account for his basic knowledge of the anatomy as he had no real medical training although he paraded himself as a doctor.  It is important to point this out as Jack the Ripper was suspected of having some knowledge of anatomy as was shown by the extraction of various organs from his victims.

In 1857, Francis Tumblety was known to have been in Montreal where once again he posed as a doctor.  He was actually arrested for trying to carry out an abortion by administering pills and liquid medication to an unfortunate prostitute, for some reason he was released within a week.  In 1860 he had made his way to St. John where once again he found himself in trouble with the law.  He was questioned regarding the death of one of his ‘patients’ who had died after taking medicine prescribed by Tumblety.  He went on the run to Maine and from there to Boston, all the while making a handsome profit from his medical pretence. This is another important point as some experts believe Jack was a wealthy man.

While in Boston, Tumblety hit on another addition to his deception, he began dressing in pseudo-military uniform and wearing service medals that he certainly had never earned the right to wear.  He began to ride around the streets on a white horse and developed a huge air of self importance and believed himself to be above everyone else.  A trait that Jack was to portray only too well.  He left Boston and began to move around the country, the Civil War saw he arrive in Washington, D.C. where he posed as a surgeon in the Union Army and he impressed all he met with stories of heroism.  He also claimed to have met many famous people including President Abraham Lincoln.  Another point worth considering is that while in Washington it transpired that Tumblety let it be known that he hated women with a passion.  Another link to Jack the Ripper.
 

Tumblety was reported as calling women nothing better than cattle especially fallen women.  When asked why he had such hatred he replied that he had once been married only to find out later that the woman in question was a prostitute.  What happened to her was never made clear.  At a dinner party given by Tumblety, one of the guests took note of a hideous collection of jars containing human uteruses, each marked by medical condition and category.  They were also marked regarding social class of the people they belonged to.  This was exactly how Jack the Ripper acted.  This does not mean that Tumblety was the Ripper but it certainly sounds suspicious.

Next we head to Missouri. Here Tumblety was arrested twice for wearing medals that he was not entitled to.  He was also arrested in connection with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (later released), and he was arrested for having homosexual affairs (quite possibly true).  He was also arrested in 1888 in Liverpool, for indecent exposure and indecent assault.  Jack the Ripper committed the first of his known murders in 1888.  Francis Tumblety was arrested on November 12^th 1888 concerning the murder (he was a likely suspect in the case at that time).  He was bailed out on November 16^th and fled the country eight days later heading to France (the murders stopped).  He returned to New York where the Police arrested him.  However, there was no proof that he had committed any of the Ripper murders so he was released and he then returned to Rochester.  Here he was to live with his sister; he died in 1903 in St. Louis after amassing considerable wealth as a medical quack.

There was never any proof that Tumblety was ever violent against women so all of this is just mere conjecture. In fact in 1888 when the first murder was committed Tumblety was 55, older than anyone described by witnesses at the time.  Homosexual serial killers usually prey on their own sex rather than on women.  However, serial killers are not exactly predictable.  So here we leave the story once again, it won’t be the last time you will read something on Jack, as long as no real evidence surfaces there will always be speculation.  I'll leave you to make your own mind up.

Upper Image-Artists impression of Jack the Ripper in Whitehall.

Lower Image- Francis Tumblety.

Source= www.casebook.org/suspects/tumblety 

The Island Magee Witches.

March 31^st 1711 was to be the date of the last witch trial in Ireland.  No one was burned at the stake; no one was ducked or drowned.  However eight women were to serve one year in prison and time in the public stocks. Here they were to suffer the indignity of being pelted with rotten fruit and the jeering of their neighbours on market day. Some threw so violently they took at least one woman's eye out.

These eight women became known as the Island Magee Witches as all of them were from that area of County Antrim. They were tried at Carrickfergus court and were found guilty of bewitching a local girl by the name of Mary Dunbar.  It was said that Dunbar suffered fits, trances, and vomiting up household objects.  She was also known to throw bibles while uttering gross profanities.  She blamed all of this on witchcraft and said she had been cursed by those she accused.  The community and local clergy were easily led by this young girl as the women accused fell short of their sanctimonious charges.  They were all poor, some drank (frowned on by the community), some were disabled, and therefore they failed to meet the standards of womanly beauty and female behaviour. They must be witches.  They were an easy target, and it suited the politicians at the time as it was seen by them as furthering their goals.

However, in order to understand the background to the accusations and subsequent trial we need to go back a little further. A series of extraordinary incidents preceded the events that led up to the arrest of the accused. In September 1710, Mrs Anne Haltridge, widow of the Rev. John Haltridge, late Presbyterian minister at Island Magee was staying in the house of her son of the same address.  It was reported that every night she suffered great annoyance from invisible objects that threw stones and sods of turf at her bed. The curtains around her bed opened on their own, pillows were pulled from under her head by unseen hands and the bedclothes were pulled from the bed. Although a thorough search was made of the room nothing was discovered to account for these disturbances. She requested she be moved to another room as she was afraid to remain in that room on her own.

We now move forward to December 11^{th 1710}, surprisingly Mrs Haltridge is still there.  Sitting by the kitchen fire at twilight she is joined by a little boy who sits beside her. He looks as if he is around eleven or twelve years of age, with short black hair, an old hat upon his head, he is wrapped in an old blanket that trails behind him and he wears an old torn vest.  He keeps his face hidden by the blanket.  Mrs Haltridge asked him if he is hungry, where he came from, who he is and so on but to no avail.  Instead of answering her he jumps up, dances around the kitchen, out the door and disappears into the nearby cowshed.  Mrs Haltridge sends the servants to search for him but they can find no trace of him. However, when they return to the house the boy is stood beside them.  Each time they try to catch him they fail. Eventually the boy vanishes and they are not troubled by him again until February 1711.

On the 11^th February 1711, Mrs Haltridge, (yes, she is still there), is sat reading her book. She puts the book down for a moment, nobody but her is in the room.  She reaches for her book only to find it missing. The following day the apparition of the young boy reappeared, breaking a window he thrust in his hand with the missing book in it. He told a servant girl that was standing there that he had taken the book and that her mistress would never see it again.  When she asked him if he could read it he replied that he could, and that the devil had taught him. He further stated that within a few days a corpse would leave the house but he refused to name it.

Mr Robert Sinclair, the Presbyterian minister, and two of his elders came to the house and stayed there with the distressed family, spending much of their time in prayer.  Mrs Haltridge went to bed as usual in the haunted room but got very little rest and around midnight a scream was heard.  Mr Sinclair rushed to her room asking what had happened; Mrs Haltridge said she felt as if she had been stabbed in her back with a sharp knife.  Next morning she left the haunted room and went to another but the pain in her back persisted and by the end of the week, on the 22^nd February, she died.

Now we come to Mary Dunbar. Around 27^th February 1711, a young girl of around eighteen years old came to stay with Mrs Haltridge junior to keep her company after her mother in laws death.  There was already a rumour spreading that Old Mrs Haltridge had been bewitched into her grave and this had a bad effect upon Mrs Haltridge junior.  It was on the night of Mary’s arrival that strange things began to happen. When Mary and another girl retired to their room they found a number of their clothes had been removed from their trunk. When they went looking for the missing items they found them scattered throughout the house.  That night Mary was seized by a violent fit, when she recovered she cried out that she had been stabbed in her thigh and that she had been attacked by three women who she went on to describe. Around midnight she was to suffer a second fit in which she saw a vision of seven or eight women talking together and calling each other by name.

When Mary came out of her fit she gave the names as Janet Liston, Elizabeth Cellor, Kate McCalmont, Janet Carson, Janet Mean, Latimer, and one known as Mrs. Ann. She gave such a good description of the women that even those she did not name were guessed at. All the women were sent for and those she had not named were paired with other ‘innocent’ women, Dunbar then identified each of them as her tormentors. One was even picked out of a group of thirty women.

Between the 3^rd and 24^th March seven women were arrested, their names were

Janet Mean, of Braid Island.
Jane Latimer, of Irish quarter, Carrigfergus.
Margaret Mitchell, of Kilroot.
Catherine M'Calmont, of Island Magee.
Janet Liston, alias Sellar, of Island Magee.
Elizabeth Sellar, of same Island Magee.
Janet Carson, of same Island Magee.

The accused women were brought to trial on 31^st March 1711 at Carrigfergus before judges Upton and McCartney.  Dunbar stated that her tormentors had told her she would be unable to give evidence against them in court and she was reported as being struck dumb the day before the trial, this was to continue through the whole trial.  The accussed had no legal representation and no medical evidence regarding Dunbar was ever given.  Of course they all denied the charges, they even went as far as to take communion and call upon god as their witness.  Judge Upton in his summing up instructed the jury that in his opinion they could not bring in a guilty verdict based upon the evidence of one person’s visions.  He went on to say that there was no doubt in his mind that there appeared to be some diabolical work going on but if the persons accussed were really witches and in league with the devil they would not attend service and partake of communion on such a regular basis. Unfortunately his brother judge on the bench was not so open-minded.  Judge McCartney instructed the jury to find them all guilty. The jury lost no time in doing so.

This ended the last trial for witchcraft in Ireland.  Judge Anthony Upton committed suicide in 1718.

We live in better times yet some people still view the disabled as 'not fitting in'. So we're only one step away.

Upper Image: A 17th century Ducking Stool.

Middle Image: A 17th century stocks.

Lower Image: A disabled woman, did 'not fit in' so she must have been a witch.