The Source Arts Centre Programme of Events Summer 2020 Source Arts Centre Programme Summer 2020_Med Res | Page 22

Summer 2020
s…
The Back Page
Furey Speaks!
I
n Sean McLysaght’s ‘History Of Strange
Occurrences in Tipperary’ (Tower Press, 1992),
he outlines twelve supernatural or unusual events
which took place in the county that defy rational
or scientific explanation.
There was the famous ‘Beast of Newport’ in the
1700’s in which a hairy, ungainly half-upright
creature, known to steal sheep, eventually carried
off a small child before it was hunted down and
shot near Cratloe. And the well-known ‘UFO over
Garrykennedy Incident’ in 1961 in which a ‘large
silver cigar-shaped object’ swooped low across the
lake leaving a tidal wash, bringing almost 500
gasping fish, dead and dying to the surface.
My own interest in this book stems from my
involvement in the chapter ‘The Exorcism of Benny
Ryan’ which I myself witnessed in 1978. The
account in the book is taken from unnamed
sources, and so in that regard I can only vouch for
what I saw, which differs somewhat from the story
in the book.
The Ryan’s were second cousins to my mother and
I sometimes stayed with them up in the house in
Hollyford. Benny was younger than me, twelve to
my sixteen, and he was one of identical twins. The
other brother, Sonny, capricious for a twelve-year
old was a strong, wiry character and had a shock
of blonde hair. Benny, soft-spoken, dark-haired and
gentle of mind was the more avuncular twin in that
regard. So they were only identical twins according
to the laws of Gregor Mendel.
The true villain of this piece was the boy’s father,
Allie, a stonecarver, who was given to flights of
fancy and set the whole event in motion. Benny on
coming home one day announced that he wasn’t
going to play for the ‘f**king Hollyford under-15
hurling team no more’. He promptly threw up on
the kitchen floor and began cursing and swearing.
Alarm bells were rung for the father, when Benny
took a fever and went to the bed. His mother, Alice
(our cousin), had a weakness also, so she was no
help. The rumour then went around that Sonny
22
The Source Arts Centre
had given his brother magic mushrooms and the
boy had been seen dancing with the Devil in the
forest just below the dip in Reafadda.
One thing going wrong is bad enough, but the
confluence of events created panic amongst the
extended family. As a visitor, I heard the long
discussion into the night; aunts, uncles and
grandparents all arguing ‘what to do about Benny’.
Eventually a priest was called. His father insisted
on getting a fellow from Cashel who could speak
Latin, because English or Irish would be of no
interest to the Devil. This man came out of a taxi
in the night like an Irish Max Von Sydow. But when
he opened his bag to bring out the tools of his
work, he began to mutter.
“Christ, I must have brought the wrong bag,
entirely” he said, revealing a lump hammer and a
stake, rather than holy oils of extreme unction.
Either way he gathered himself and everyone went
to the boy’s room, where an evening of hard prayer
ensued. Deep into the night as everyone was
wavering, twelve-year old Benny Ryan sat up in the
bed, wiped his brow and said softly to the
gathering:
“I’d love a cup of tea. And a bit of toast… with
some jam.”
So my point is that there wasn’t an exorcism per
se. More like a prayer meeting with a child at the
centre of it. McLysaght in his book, would have us
believe that a ‘white devil’s shadow’ leaped up out
of Benny when he awoke, but I saw nothing of the
sort.
Still Benny stayed true to his word. He didn’t put
on the Hollyford Jersey again. The last I heard of
him was that he was working as a contemporary
dancer beyond in New York.
Yours
Micheal Furey