School: Radharc na Sionainne (roll number 6356)

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1. Famine Years (continued)

   

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   and a coffin was made which was called a slip coffin. A slip coffin is like an ordinary coffin but the bottom can slide back and forward. A man went through the towns and villages calling, "Bring out your dead". When he reached the pit he pulled back the bottom of the coffin and let the corpse fall in and then came back for more.

   In the Famine times there was a fever hospital at Grouse-Lodge where Miss Dean now lives. The people who were found ill were taken there and treated and fed. The people who died in the hospital were taken and put in the slip coffin and taken to a large pit where the bodies were thrown in. One man was taken from the hospital in the coffin and thrown in the pit. They thought he was dead but when he was a while in the grave he came to life again. He got out of the grave and climbed into the top room of the hospital with a ladder. When the people saw him they thought it was his ghost.

   The government sent relief to the district in the form of Indian meal. Then the porridge was made out of the meal

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Caitlín Ní Dhuirin

   Gender

   Female

   Informant

   Seumas Ó Fallamhain

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   67

   Occupation

   Feirmeoir

   Address

   Corderry, Co. Leitrim