In the spring of 1975 the decision was taken to tunnel out of Cage F Magilligan. As one of those ‘cleared’ volunteers I was asked to help in the dig. The mouth of the tunnel was in the half hut. I was apprehensive about entering such a confined space. It was bad enough to be in jail without volunteering to be squeezed into an even tighter space. Yet when I got down it there was a sense of freedom.
Wood
coming in for handicrafts was ‘liberated’ and used for shoring up the tunnel in
order to prevent a cave-in. So sporting
only a pair of football shorts beneath which I had already taken the precaution
of shaving my pubic region, down I went. The mouth was wide enough to allow me
to get down and turn round so I faced into the tunnel. Lights had been rigged
up so that we could see along it. There were a few of us down it. The person
working at the face would pass back the dirt in one of the steel containers
that delivered the dinner. There was a pulley type system whereby the trays
were passed along and beneath our bodies down to the end. After that people
would bag the dirt and walk over to the showers where it was concealed in the
wall cavity.
As
the tunnel progressed towards the perimeter wall a large chamber was dug well
up its course. It was equipped with a light and enabled a person to sit
comfortable. It allowed us to store our digging implements and refreshments
there. It also meant a longer stay beneath ground was possible. I would go down
and sit for ages, once taking a porn book down.
One
of our greatest fears was the fart. Once that happened down the tunnel the
smell lingered forever and the rest of us would mumble and grumble. But not
shout too loud just in case a screw was on patrol in the yard above.
The
experience I got after becoming accustomed to the closed space was the sense of
freedom. I was in jail but out of it at the same time. In a space both
forbidden and unknown about by the authorities I felt outside of their control.
It was to be short lived.
Our
endeavours came to an end before the perimeter wall could be reached. The
screws during a cage search would tap the floor with a hammer. If a sound more
hollow than normal was emitted the suspicion was that a tunnel was in the
course of being made. And so our tunnel
plan collapsed to the touch of a hammer.
Apologies for straying off the subject, I welcome the opinion of the smart people on this site.
ReplyDeleteMy sister died in December aged just 45, I went to se A Dublin medium this week. She told me my sister's dead siblings (3)first names, and how they were present @ the end of my sister's hospital bed,what caused her death and how she waited to die until I briefly left the hospital. She then told me that my father suffered from ms and had become stooped as a result. This was the word my sister had always used to describe my father. Impressed ? I was left gobsmacked. I live 70 miles away, death wasn't published anywhere.She gave a perfect physical description of my father. She knew what he worked as , a lecturer!
1 last thing, during the 50 minute reading, my watch stopped, it worked perfectly after I left the room. She told me that was standard.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI totally believe this but you'll never convince Mackers!
Nuala,
ReplyDeleteif I ever get the chance to meet one of them I would ask for the name of the next Cheltenham winner! They never seem to be able to tell us that!
Mackers,
ReplyDeleteThey only deal with the other side!
I must admit, like Dave I'm a fully fledged believer lol.
Nuala,
ReplyDeletewhatever gets you through the night! I spoke to people before who swore by this stuff but it never had any traction on what I thought. They never seem to be able to produce it under lab conditions and never predict a winner. I am as baffled by David Blaine and his tricks but I don't believe it is magic.
Mackers,
ReplyDeleteI don't know how spiritualists do it either. Ok some are charlatans but others are quite impressive.
Remember years ago, some old lad had women queued around the block performing all sorts of favours because people believed he could predict the lotto.
He could predict human weakness for his own advantage lol.
For some of them it is a skill whatever they do. But I believe none of it
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAM you want them to give you a few winners at Cheltenham , Fionnuala says they only deal with the other side after 3 days of dealing with my Turf Accountant I now firmly believe that all horses that I have been betting on are on the other side . I don’t for a moment believe in any Tarot card readers or such like but I do find the stories very interesting what intrigues me is how they do their tricks
Boyne Rover,
ReplyDeletethe horses you bet are pantomime ones!
I am interested in how they do their tricks too. They can be good at it. I dislike the way they take advantage of grieving people. Seems very cruel to me. Yet some people seem to get comfort out of it. So nobody wants to criticise someone who is getting relief from pain.
Some Magicians are impressive for sure and watching them can be great fun, I was also impressed by the way some pick pockets went about their trade. Until one day in a souk my close friend had her bag taken without feeling a thing I suppose in their own way they are all artists.
ReplyDeleteBut trading on folks sadness, grief and loss is about as low as someone can get, these folk are wicked. It is a con, often a clever con but still a con. All the signals are there not least the doubt they place in the marks mind.
Dave, its mind games.
Mackers,
ReplyDeleteThey differ from fortune tellers, they only speak to the dead.
Back to the Magilligan post.
Read a brilliant piece about Magilligan today about their resistance in the wake of the burning of the kesh.
How can someone be clever enough to tell someone something that the teller could not possibly know ?
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteWatched a documentary once on cold reading, its an unbelievable skill they have, they get people to divulge information without actually knowing it. I must be honest i've never had any time for these people, i mean if it was entertainment fine, but they exploit people who are usually going through emotional distress.
Nuala,
ReplyDeletethey are great cue finders and then reinforce the loop. They have an ability to ascertain what a person wants to hear. As David says it is a great skill. Much like David Blaine's. Some people believe it much as they believe in miracles. My approach is I will believe in miracles when someone with one leg goes to Lourdes and comes back with two. Were I a religious person I would be demanding equal access to cures for amputees. Why should they be discriminated against?
I have to admit getting a wee laugh at the fart in the tunnel not that I had ever thought about a fart in a tunnel before but the reason the gas lingered is due to the lack of flowing air or oxygen to disperse the particles and the heat only intensified the stink.
ReplyDeleteHad a second laugh reading the comments as I thought I was on the wrong thread.
I would have to agree that spiritualist advisors are just scammers with a system of tells. For example of a, tell when I play a game of poker studying the players is more important than watching the cards.
One person may make an unconscious body movement indicating the strength or weakness of his hand.
The system for extracting information from people is not that difficult if you factor in it is what people want to hear.
The frame of mind for the person being read is so focused on the mysticism they practically unconsciously give up certain clues for the so called reader to build on.
Hardly a science but if one is willing to hear what they want to hear then naturally if the reader comes close it is good enough.
That doesn’t mean there are no people with intuition but the information they pick up is usually very general.
Anyway the escape story was more entertaining even if it was brief.
What the fuck size of a tunnel were you lot digging if a long bastard like you was chosen to go down and dig!! I realise your optmistic intention was to take the camp with you but fuck you could have discounted the huts!
ReplyDeleteI only ask as the American tunnel rats in Vietnam were chosen by their small stature....now that I think about it, their stature probably reflected the fact that the tunnels were already dug by Asians who generally are small in comparison to Westerners.
They find a way of getting into your house when you're out and then read your letters and papers - or have someone do it for them.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent novelisation of their techniques is a book "attack of the unsinkable rubber ducks"