|
No.4 |
With its tales of conspiracy theories and alien abductions, the X-Files has been one of the TV phenomena's of the late nineties, striking a chord in this age of unanswered questions and pre-millenium tension.
Perhaps more than anywhere else, however, the series has touched a nerve in Tramore, re-awakening long dormant memories of a particularly bizarre chapter in local history.
It all started late one night in the summer of 1971, when Knockenduff farmer Willie 'I've been to Memphis' McDaid was disturbed by a sound he described as "like two ferrets fighting over a pigs ear".
What Willie saw that night has stayed with him to this day, almost pushing him to madness such has been the effect of the experience on his psyche. The following are Willie's exact words, taken from his garda statement at the time.
"The first thing that struck me was that the cows heads were not in their usual place on their shoulders. They were off down by their arses. I didn't know what was happening, sure I didn't", said the Knockenduff man.
The baffled Gardai had no answers, and in September of 1971 a new department was set up designed to investigate the string of bizarre incidents, ranging from Willie 'I've been to Memphis' McDaid's headless cattle, to break dancing Chickens, abducted pigs, and countless sightings of UFOs, flashing lights and alien beings.
The new investigative agency was headed by Rathgormack man Superintendent Anthony 'hammer' McBride. A controversial yet highly intelligent figure, McBride's views on the occult, Extra-terrestrial beings and the healing powers of rabbits had polarised many of his contemporaries, and there were those who saw his appointment to the new department as a means of silencing him.
Unconvinced by the official line that the freak occurrences were the result of a tear in the fabric of the space-time continuum, McBride became convinced that they were in fact the consequence of a long-running communication between an alien intelligence and the farmers of Tramore and surrounding boroughs.
"There can be little doubt that the current spate of inexplicable incidents are linked to an extra-terrestrial presence. How else can you explain Willie 'I've been to Memphis' McDaid's headless cattle, Sniffer Brennan's upside-down goats and Jamsie Shanahan's cross eyed geese ?", maintained McBride.
McBride's theory was backed up by swathes of circumstantial evidence, ranging from UFO sightings to alleged abductions. The most famous of these was that reported by former County and Provincial Marbles Champion Dessie 'bacon' McGrath.
"I was coming back from Marbles training one evening and I saw this mad light in the sky. Jaysus, says I, what in the name of Ginnty McDougal's goat is that ?, he recalls.
" Before I had a chance to do anything, this beam of light came down and before you could say "Up the Ra", there's me, Dessie 'bacon' McGrath, in a dirty great big spaceship.
" To tell you the God's honest truth I wasn't that scared. There were all these mad looking lads with big heads walking around the place doing experiments and the like. Then one of them turns to me and says 'Are you Dessie 'bacon' McGrath ?', and I says, ' Sure who were you expecting, the Shah of Iran?
"That kind of broke the ice and in no time we were all having a great craic. Apart from sticking a couple of wires in my ear, they didn't do me any harm. And sure look at me now, still going strong".
McBride collected all such testimonies, and presented his report to the then Tramore Superintendent Willie 'nails' Brady, with the expectation that it would soon after be made available to the public.
However to his dismay the report was deemed unsuitable by Brady, who described it as 'great reading if its a laugh yer after', and McBride's agency was disbanded.
The whole affair had a devastating effect on many of its chief players, notably McBride who was dismissed from the force the following year. He continues to maintain that the events of 1971 were a consequence of alien activity, and now runs a charity dedicated to helping farmers traumatised by extra-terrestrial encounters.
"I went down to the field with my torch and the first thing I seen was that my dog, Adolf, wasn't in his usual place by the gate. Then I looked over and I saw he was over in the lower field with the cows, barkin' away like an eejit.
McDaid's experience was to be the first of many, with a string of equally bizarre sightings being reported by frightened farmers over the followings weeks and months.
If this had been the intention then it was to fail miserably, as McBride soon set about getting to the bottom of the mystery in his own inimitable style, and in the process becoming a household name all over the county.