Timesuck with Dan Cummins - Short Suck #14 - Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland

Episode Date: July 26, 2024

Ever heard of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins? The Big Fellow? His heroic contributions to the fight for Irish Independence, while ignored/overlooked/misunderstood for many years, are beginning to get noticed and appreciated again. While short, what a life he led! WATCH THIS EPISODE: https://youtu.be/Bw8hfxfUf9oFor Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

Welcome to another edition of Time Suck Short Sucks. I'm Dan Cummins and today I will be sharing the story of the Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the Big Fellow. Considered by many to be one of Ireland's finest sons, he has also been called the man who made Ireland. The intelligence arm of the Royal Irish Constabulary, Ireland's all-powerful police force from 1822 until 1922, was for a full century key to maintaining Britain's cold, oppressive grip on the Irish populace. By the end of the 19th century, intelligence forces from the RIC had spies and

informants not only watching over revolutionary groups like the Irish Republican Brotherhood, but also keeping tabs on civilian groups like the Gaelic Athletic Association, which organized Irish sports, and the Gaelicic League which promoted the Irish language. Every part of Irish life was monitored closely by British intelligence. Any signs of a possible rebellion were looked for, any possible revolutionaries targeted and eliminated. Beatings and deaths with or without trials was commonplace. In spite of the ever-present danger and defying the ever-watchful minions of the British crown, 28-year-old Irish revolutionary Michael Collins would simply walk to the door of the RIC's Detective Headquarters one night in April of 1919 and gain all the information he needed

to take it down. How was the charismatic young Michael Collins able to succeed where so many other Irish revolutionary leaders had previously failed and dismantled the British intelligence system. How did Collins, known to most by the imposing nickname of the Big Fellow, go from an uneventful childhood in the largely rural county Cork in southern Ireland to sitting across the conference table from luminary figures like Winston Churchill and Prime Minister Lloyd George negotiating for Irish independence? And why does he remain an incredibly controversial figure in Ireland to this day? We will begin today by telling the full story of how Collins broke into the RICs, the Royal

Irish Constabularies, Detective Headquarters, and then I'll dive into the short but eventful life of a man who is perhaps Ireland's most polarizing revolutionary figure, with a focus on the many fascinating and often unbelievable exploits the Big Fellow took part in. Also, before we begin, for any listeners who might be interested in learning more about the organization Collins played a large part in developing the IRA the individual retirement account which can truly grow you some wealth for your later years through the miracle of tax free compound interest if you start when you're young and give that seed money time to grow or any listeners who might remember hearing Collins mentioned in

another episode Time Suck episode 74 covering the history of the IRA, also that also mentions Collins among other contemporaries in the beginning of that episode. And of course the IRA referred to here as the Irish Republican Army, not an individual retirement account. But if you don't have an IRA, you should try and start one. Play around with the compound interest calculator. Blow your own mind when you realize how for example a $5,000 balance can turn into $230,035 years if the stock market performs at its historical rate of return.

Anyway, let's talk about something more exciting. Let's begin. The year that Collins broke into the RIC headquarters 1919 was an incredibly consequential one in Irish history. On January 21st, representatives from Ireland that have been elected to serve in the British Parliament, Collins Collins included would abstain Get fucked British dogs and form their own separate Irish Parliament called Doyle Aaron On the same day Irish nationalists would kill two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Irish War of Independence would begin

Michael Collins born in 1890 had been part of the Irish Independence Movement since 1908. When he was just 17, Edwin played a very active role in leading it since 1916. By 1919, he was the Doyles, the Irish Parliament's Minister of Home Affairs and the Irish Republican Army's IRA Director of Intelligence. We'll go into further detail on Collins' role in the general Irish Independence Movement later. Useful now to know the positions' role in the general Irish independence movement later. Useful now to know the positions Collins held in the movement to understand the importance of his adventure into the Irish police force's detective headquarters.

The reason he was able to gain access into the building itself was because Collins had a very special talent for finding potential double agents within the British intelligence system. Many British intelligence agents and police officers were actually Irishmen born in Ireland, those treasonous double-crossing wankers, and Collins would poke around, find agents who weren't really down for the cause of British subjugation, guys who maybe just needed a paycheck, who had sympathies for the independence movement, and he would convince them to share crucial, important information. One such agent, a police detective named Ned Broy, was working at the RIC's detective headquarters as a confidential clerk when he was approached by Collins in 1917. Years later, Broy would explain

his reasoning for double-crossing the British government to biographer and notable Irish historian Tim Pat Coogan. I love that Coogan goes by Tim Tim Pat by the way. Could have went by Tim, could have went by Pat. He's like now I'm keeping them both. He was born Timothy Patrick. Apparently decided they didn't want to be called by both names in full but also didn't want to choose between them. Rare move but I like it. Anyway, Ned Breu told him, I come from Kildare. We were reared in grimmer tradition than most. We remembered 98, the Yeomanry, and what they did. Yeomanry, excuse me, the Yeomanry, what they did. There was a church once near where I was born.

They rounded up the women and children, locked them in, and set fire to the church. We remembered that, the pitch capping, and the flogging. For context, Breuil was referring to a failed rebellion that took place in Ireland back in 1798. The Yeomanry were the upper class British soldiers that brutally put down the rebellion. There were many instances of them using forms of torture like flogging and pitchcapping. You're probably familiar with flogging, maybe not so with pitchcapping. Pitchcapping was the act of placing a canvas cap on a prisoner's head, soaking it in pitch or tar, then adding some gun powder and lighting it on fire.

Or this could be done by placing a conical paper cap on someone's head, pouring hot tar or pitch into it, letting the pitch or tar seal the cap to the victim's head, and then violently ripping it off. It'll be ripped off in both instances. Either way, the victim permanently maimed, losing a good chunk of their scalp in the process. Sometimes they would die. Fairly often, the British would also cut an ear off of the prisoner for good measure, so they could easily later identify them as someone who had been a problem.

Forms of this method of torture had been used going back to Roman times, but it was never used more than it was used during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The British truly treated the Irish like they just weren't even human. Treated them like they were savage, dangerous animals. British intelligence organizers working in the early 20th century often failed to appreciate this history of torture and repression that the Irish had lived under when hiring intelligence agents. They didn't fully account for how deep Irish hate ran. How the memories of atrocities like these would make it probable for men like Ned Broy to become double agents.

Now with Broy turned, with a man well placed to allow Michael Collins entry into the building to store basically every intelligence file the British had on the Irish Revolutionary movement, the actual process of breaking in and accessing the information was shockingly easy. Collins picked a date in early April 1919, when Broy would be left alone in the record section of the Detective Headquarters building overnight. And one of Collins' friends from prison, a man named Sean Noonan, was walking in Dublin when Collins spotted him. And Collins, I love this, just impulsively invited him along on this important adventure. Just a little bit of, uh, hey dude, I'm gonna go steal some shit that will get me killed if I get caught. You wanna tag along?

And I love that this guy was like, alright, not doing anything really, might be fun. Well, Collins and Noonan just walked into the headquarters. Broy simply let the two men in. Broy and Noonan would proceed to watch Collins spend the entire night combing over British intelligence records, making meticulous notes. Noonan would later remember Collins laughing as he read the contents of his own file, as it opened by saying, he comes from a brainy cork family. The information Collins gained from this stunt would prove essential in dismantling Britain's

entire intelligence network in Ireland. But before seeing how Collins used it, let's take a look at his early life, how the youngest child of a brainy cork family would find himself going toe-to-toe with the might of the British Intelligence Administration and the power of England's government. Michael Collins was born on October 16, 1890, on the Collins family farm of Woodfield in County Cork, Western Ireland. No middle name for this badass. This fam kept it simple.

No pretenses. I like it. He was the youngest of eight children, born to Michael Collins Sr. and his wife, Mary Ann Collins. Although certainly less eyebrow-raising at the time than now, Michael's parents would marry when Michael Sr. was 60 years old and Mary Ann was 23. They would affectionately call each other Sweet Puss and Gray Dick. That's not right.

No, they'd affectionately call each other Sugar Tits and Sour Moobs. I don't know what they called each other, but that was something. Contemporary records stress the happiness of their marriage in spite of the large age gap, but the age gap would also mean that when Michael Sr. died at the age of 81, Michael Collins was just six years old, a 44 year old Marianne would now have to run

the family farm basically by herself. And if you're doing the math, you might also realize that Michael Sr. married when he was 60, had his last child at 75, had eight kids total, which meant he fathered eight kids in 15 years, starting when he was 60. His pencil may have been weathered, but it still had some lead in it. Collins was apparently spoiled and doted on by the rest of his family, typical of a youngest child.

How did that kid become a revolutionary? Well, he gained a lot of his revolutionary views, not from his family, but from his incredibly strict school teacher, Dennis Lyons. In stark comparison to Collins' mother and older siblings, Lyons was a man who, according to biographer, old Timpat, Timpat Keoghan, could never be accused of spoiling any child through sparing the rot. Not seeing the irony of himself being a person empowered using physical violence to keep those he ruled over in line, Lyons was also an active member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood,

an organization focused on fighting against British rule and increasing levels of Irish nationalism. He would include many of these intensely anti-British beliefs into his lessons. Although Collins' family certainly did not support British rule, many of his more radical nationalist views were imparted to Michael by Lyons. In spite of Lyons' harsh methods, Collins would look back on his teachings fondly, recognizing how they shaped his early beliefs. Putting modern young adults to shame, Collins was done with his basic education by the time he had turned 14, and his mom Marianne decided he had no future in County Cork, made plans for him to go work in London. Collins moved in with Margaret, one of his sisters

in the town of Clonokilty, a few miles away to study for exams that would allow him to go work for the post office. Spent a year and a half in Clonokilty, passed the exams, moved to London in July of 1906 to work at a post office savings bank, stay now with Joanna Collins, another one of his sisters. And London was where Collins would make

his first revolutionary contacts. He would join the Irish nationalist political party, Sinn Fein, in 1908. An year later he would join the same organization that his teacher had been involved in, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secretive oath-bound fraternal organization dedicated to freeing Ireland from British rule and turning Ireland into a democratic republic. It went around since 1848. Collins spent nine years in London, and while he was active in many revolutionary circles,

contemporary Irish writer and nationalist P.S. O'Hagarty, who was a member of the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, would later note that, there was very little of the Mick Collins of those days to give promise of the man who was to come. Yet he showed enough promise to be promise of the man who's to come. Yet he showed enough promise to be worth luring back from London to Dublin to assist the members of the IRB there who were planning a new rebellion against British rule. Collins would move back to Dublin in January of 1916, with the IRB promising him that a

rebellion, or rising as they called it, would definitely take place and soon. This rebellion would end up being the infamous Easter Rising of 1916. And although it would fail gloriously, the rebellion would give Collins his first taste of serious military action and give him the opportunity to help lead the Irish Independence Movement through the difficult times that would follow. Let's backtrack and lead into that Easter Rising now. While Collins had spent the first part of the 1910 slowly making a name for himself in nationalist circles in London, the independence movement within Ireland had experienced many

setbacks. For one, the commencement of the First World War led the British government to halting any efforts to give Ireland's long sought-after Home Rule, which was a name given to the general movement attempting separation from England by peaceful and constitutional means. A bill in favor of Home Rule had been pushed through in 1912 and was actually set to become law in 1914, but then it was suspended for the duration of World War I. Many moderate Home Rule supporters were content with waiting for the war to be over before continuing to push for Home Rule to the British Parliament, with 30,000 of the moderate nationalists even enlisting in the British Army.

A minority of the nationalists, however, were not content, and 10,000 of them split off from the moderate group and began to militarize against the British government. This group was strongly against the idea of enlisting to fight for the British and saw World War I as a chance to take advantage of Britain's focus being elsewhere. Another issue the Irish independence Movement faced was that of violent Northern Irish Unionists who strongly opposed any separation from Britain. Unlike the rest of Ireland that was majority Catholic, Northern Ireland had a large population of pro-British Protestants who wanted to remain under British rule. For decades, Northern Irish Unionists from County Ulster had

resisted Home Rule efforts and by the start of World War I, they'd even started forming paramilitary groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force. In response to both the halting of the Home Rule bill and the rising militarism of the Northern Irish, Irish nationalists, many of whom were part of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, established a rival paramilitary group known as the Irish Volunteer Force. The Irish Volunteer Force would then ally with the previously established Dublin-based Irish Citizen Army, a group formed by Republican socialists fighting for the interests of the working class. Both sides began smuggling weapons into the country, and after the outbreak of the First

World War halted any efforts to achieve a resolution through peaceful means, tensions were now at an all-time high. So this was the scene Collins found himself in when he traveled back to Ireland in 1916 and tensions would come to a head very quickly after his arrival. During the first few months Collins spent in Dublin prior to the Rising he worked for the wealthy Plunkett family as a financial advisor but this job was only a cover for his work in the Nationalist Movement. Collins assisted in preparations for the rebellion that was planned to take place on Easter Monday,

actually in 1916. Some sources say Sunday. I think it was actually Monday. While Collins himself remained in good spirits as the date came near, the leaders of the planned uprising began to realize that it had virtually no chance of succeeding, as the majority of Ireland not in favor of a violent uprising. And the Irish forces that were ready to rebel were massively outnumbered by British forces. Despite their reservations, the rebellion would go on anyway, with the leaders deciding

to follow a tradition of attempting some sort of uprising against the British every generation. On the first morning of the rebellion, which was Eastern Monday, not a commonly known day, I know, sounds like I should be saying Easter Sunday, April 24, 1916, Collins would experience the first of a countless number of close calls with enemy forces. While Collins and another man were visiting the hotel room of a member of the Plunkett family, they received a warning that they might be stopped on their way out by a small dark-haired man. They were given automatic pistols in case they did see this man and left to join a meeting of rebellion leaders. Tense times, all hell is about to break loose.

You can only imagine the insane rush of adrenaline you must feel in moments like that when your minutes or seconds away from Possibly killing or being killed in action as they walk down the stairs They found a man matching description waiting Collins and the other man could see British Army officers filling the lobby the hotel and they prepared to make quick and deadly use of their pistols Luckily, they were not suspected of being members of the rebellion. And the man only said, Good day to you gentlemen, before letting them pass. Close call. After almost dying before the rebellion even began, Collins traveled to the planned meeting.

Just before noon on Easter Monday, the rising began. And the rebellion wouldn't even last a week. Nationalist forces captured many strong points in the city before British army reinforcements arrived quickly and forcibly, subduing the smaller force. Northern Irish Unionists offered to send 50,000 men from the Ulster Volunteer Force to help put down the rising, but the British government would refuse, hoping not to inflate tensions further. Collins would spend the week in the operations room of a captured General Post Office, a building that functioned as the headquarters of the Irish rebels. He would watch as British forces closed in throughout the burning city,

and after the post office building was shelled by a gunboat, he would lead the evacuation and eventually convince his fellow Irishmen to surrender. By the end of the rebellion, Collins and another Irish nationalist, these two's destinies would be entwined, Eamon de Valera, would be the two most significant members of the independence movement to avoid execution. Davellara spent the rising, captaining an isolated group of men attempting to hold Boland's Mill in the eastern part of Dublin. His isolated post would be the last one to surrender British forces, and this extra time would give his mother the chance to prove that he had American citizenship, thus lightening

his sentence from execution to imprisonment. Collins would escape death in a much more haphazard way. As part of the group of captured rebels, Collins sat on a gymnasium floor watching detectives from the Royal Irish Constabulary select certain important prisoners for a harsher punishment, which in most cases meant execution. Collins would be selected by these detectives, but after sitting with the other selected prisoners for a few hours, he heard his name being called from across the room. He thought he did. After getting frustrated, he couldn't see who was calling for him. He would risk walking across the room.

He would not be noticed by the detectives as he walked across the room. And while he didn't know if he found the person calling his or we don't know if he found that person calling his name, we do know that once he got away from that selected group, he just sat down somewhere else, stayed put, and they didn't seem to notice. Irish writer Frank O'Connor would later write that the police detectives, by letting Michael Collins escape from the group marked for execution, quote, left behind them the one really dangerous man, the man who in a few short years would kill off the craftiest of them and render the rest so impotent that he would be able to walk the streets of Dublin undisguised.

Although Collins avoided execution mostly by a freak stroke of luck, thanks to someone or several someone just having a lapse in concentration, he was not able to escape punishment entirely. He would be sent to the Frongach prison in Wales and along with some fellow Irish nationalists. Many of the leading figures of the East arising, as I mentioned, would then be executed and the public outrage at these executions actually led to a short stay for the prisoners at Frongach as Collins and most of the other prisoners would be released by the end of 1916. So I've got a bit lucky again. Before moving forward, while the

British did suppress this uprising, they also lost more men in the skirmish. Irish rebels killed 143 British soldiers, wounded nearly 400 more, compared to the Irish losing 82 men themselves, and 16 more to executions. The number of wounded is unknown. Sadly, Irish civilians fared the worst. 260 died, and over 2,200 were wounded. Moving on now, according to Professor Michael Laughen of University College Dublin, it was at Frongach Prison where Michael Collins would go from relatively insignificant to undoubtedly the most important figure in the Irish Revolution.

Collins emerged from Frongach as a leader and he would spend 1917 working very successfully for the Irish National Aid Fund, accepting massive donations from the many Irish and Irish-American people that were sympathetic to the defendants of those who fought in the Easter Rising. Then in 1918, the British would begin attempting to conscript Irishmen into the army to fight in World War I, and send them over to fight the Germans rather than have them fight the British.

This would actually prove to be a massively unpopular effort, and Collins would even go on the run to avoid getting called up to join the fight the combination of these conscription efforts and the public executions of some Easter Rising leaders would make the British government massively unpopular in Ireland more unpopular than it already was and the hardcore nationalist Sinn Fein Irish political party party full of revolutionaries that wanted nothing more than to secede from Britain political party, a party full of revolutionaries that wanted nothing more than to secede from Britain, would win 73 out of a possible 105 Irish seats in the House of Commons of British Parliament, with Collins himself winning a seat for his home county of South Cork. Now we finally made it back to 1919, the year in which the story of Collins breaking into

the Royal Irish Constabulary's Detective Headquarters takes place. As previously mentioned, the Irish War of Independence began on January 21st with Sinn Fein members assembling for their own independent Irish Parliament, known as the Doyle, and with the unauthorized shooting of the two Royal Irish Constabulary officers by members of the Irish Volunteer Force. This all happened just two months after the end of World War I, which led to 880,000 British casualties, nearly 420,000 of which were deaths. They went right from one war, which lasted over 880,000 British casualties, nearly 420,000 of which were deaths. They went right from one war, which lasted over four years, to another. Collins would play a very

prominent role in this new war. Also from January 1919 on, the Irish Volunteer Force would now be called the Irish Republican Army. IRA motherfuckers! During the Irish War of Independence, which lasted from 1919 to 1921, Collins would hold a large number of roles, the most important of which undoubtedly being his position as the IRA's Director of Intelligence. From this position, Collins came to direct a large number of spies and informers, even let a group of ruthless assassins known as the Squad. That's a pretty fucking dope name for some assassins. It reminds me of the Boys, like Garth Ennis' graphic novel and Amazon TV series. Gareth Ennis born in

Belfast by the way. The number of events that Collins took part in are directed over what would possibly be the two most important years in modern Irish history is incredibly large so we're gonna try and stick to a highlight reel of both the most important and the most interesting ones. One of Colin's first acts as the IRA's Director of Intelligence would be to break in, excuse me, to break the other prominent Irish nationalist that survived the Easter Rising, Eamon de Valera, excuse me, out of prison. Love a good prison break. After the rising, De Valera had become the leader of the Nationalist Sinn Fein party, but a British attempt to discredit the party in May of 1918 had landed him and 72 other nationalist leaders in prison. Interesting side note, Collins was one of the men the British had hoped to arrest in that raid. Collins would receive warnings of the May 1918 arrests from his

informants in British intelligence and warn De Valera and other nationalist leaders, but unfortunately he was mostly ignored. Even though he knew of the plot beforehand Collins was still lucky to avoid arrest himself. Excuse me, one of the nights of the arrest Collins attempted to warn any, warn an IRA leader but the man's house had already been raided. After realizing he was too late to warn the man Collins just stayed in that dude's house. He correctly assumed that the British police would not raid the same house twice in one night. I love it. He's just there, he's like, you know what? I'm not gonna show myself out. Do you mind if I brew a fresh pot of tea? I'll be staying in your place a while. Why don't you freshen up a bed for me? One of the few men that heeded Colin's

warning and also avoided arrest, nationalist leader Harry Boland, would end up assisting Collins in breaking de Valera out of prison. Back to that prison break now. de Valera would be held in Lincoln Prison in eastern Dublin. Since the prison had opened in 1872, not a single prisoner had been able to escape in nearly 50 years. With the help of Collins and the IRA, de Valera would be the first. In early 1919, the IRA sent de Valera a blank key and a set of files that were baked into a

oblong fruitcake. Made it past unsuspecting prison guards. Classic. Oh, the days before metal detectors. Back when people were a lot more trusting than folks now, as well. Back when prison officials, some of them at least, way too trusting. Oh nice, now a giant cake. You can hide a whole set of files in that bad way. It's heavy too. Oh did the lady make this thing out of a bunch of metal files? I hope not! That sounds harder than teeth. Enjoy lads, smells delicious. Fascinatingly this blank key was actually the third key successfully sent in by the IRA through a fruitcake. Just fucking send it in tons of cakes with keys in them. The guards caught none of these. The other two, although they

ended up not working, yeah, also made it past the guards easily. Another prisoner who had broken open one of the prison locks using the contraband screwdriver was able to use this knowledge to fashion the blank key the IRA had sent into a master key that would work all around the whole jail. And they're just sending all kinds of tools into this jail. Thanks to this working master key, Dave Valera and two other prisoners would just sneak out on February 3rd, 1919, unlocking every fucking gate in the prison. Just casually making their way to the prison's outer wall, where Michael Collins and Harry Baldwin were waiting for him. Oh, the days before guards manning the outer walls or

security cameras. Once Dave Valera and the other prisoners reached the other side of the wall, Collins attempted to use a duplicate key he'd brought to open up the last gate, the outer prison gate. But at the final step of the breakout, he snapped the key off inside the lock. Whoops. Testimony from Boland would describe what happens next. Collins said in a heartbroken tone, I have broken a key in the lock, Dave. Dave Valera uttered an ejaculation and tried to thrust his own key into the lock from the other side. By an extraordinary piece of luck, he succeeded in pushing out the broken key with his own, thus opening the gate. Bolin here is using the lesser known archaic version, definition of ejaculation here, which is something said quickly and suddenly. Just wanted to make sure you weren't confused.

Just wanted to make sure you didn't think he started just suddenly beating off until he came and then he used that key. Just a group of guys awkwardly silently waiting for him to be done jerking off. Then just, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Let's just push our key out with this key. Once these prisoners had been freed, British soldiers outside were too busy flirting with their girlfriends. He came to fool around with them while they were at work, apparently. To notice two of the most prominent Irish nationalist leaders just sneaking right by him. And before we continue with the daring exploits of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the Big Fellow, time for today's mid-show sponsor break. If you don't want to hear these ads, you can sign up for our Patreon, become a spacer for five bucks a month, get the entire catalog ad free and more.

I'm back and it's time to reconnect with Mr. Michael, Big Fellow Collins. After that daring prison escape, Dave Valera will be elected president of the Doyle in April of 1919. Collins will then be part of Dave Valera's cabinet, moving from Minister of Home Affairs to Minister of Finance. Then in June of 1919, Collins would smuggle Dave Valera to the U.S. for an 18-month tour of the country with the goal of fundraising and getting American recognition for an independent Ireland. While Dave Valera traveled through the U.S., Collins stayed in Ireland, using his position as the IRA's Director of Intelligence to carry out hits on prominent British officers, detectives, and spies.

Within two days of his April 1919 raid on the Royal Irish Constabulary's detective headquarters, Collins began warning detectives that any actions taken against the Irish Independence Movement would have dire consequences. Some officers took the hint. One such officer, after being gagged and tied to the railings of a police station, would refrain from taking any action against the IRA, even remarked that being warded was quote damned decent. They're damned decent, aren't they?

Love it. Many officers, however, would not be so easy to convince and they would suffer since the price for disregarding a warning from Collins was often death. In July of 1919, Collins would unofficially organize a group of men who would later become known as the Squad to function as a hit squad working directly under his orders. The Squad originally made up of 13 men, but its numbers would grow over the two years it was in operation to somewhere around 20. It fluctuated a bit. Made up of young Irish nationalists who had no scruples against taking lives. First job of the squad would be proving that a warning from Collins should be taken

seriously. After an officer named the Dogg Smith was warned, he replied by saying he wouldn't let Collins tell him how to do his duty. No one tells the dog to heel! Sorry, that howls probably a bit much. In response, men from the squad would ambush the dog near his home on July 30th, 1919, where a battle would develop. The dog would be shot four times, but still succeeded in making it through his front door. He would succumb to his wounds a month later. Tough son of a bitch. In response to this, Collins would change out his men's.38 revolvers for.45s.

He felt they needed more firepower. The squad would be officially formed two months after this killing in September of 1919. Also in September, British authorities would respond to the shooting of the dog by now banning the Sinn Fein party from Parliament, but that would not stop the work of the squad. And Sinn Fein had their own Parliament in Ireland now anyway. Not officially recognized, but whatever, fuck them. Collins' order hit on another police detective in September and one more in October.

Both men would die. The squad's success made things difficult. British intelligence did not appreciate that the ragtag Irish independence movement was winning the intelligence war. And they responded by sending one of the British Secret Service's best agents to attempt to infiltrate the IRA. The agent, given the code name Jameson, just like the whiskey, had worked for the British Secret Service for many years and even gone undercover in Germany during World War I. His cover story, while he attempted to

infiltrate the IRA's intelligence administration, was that he was a salesman of musical instruments with an interest in bird watching. Okay, that feels pretty random. It feels like they maybe got a little too clever there, maybe overthought it. Whatever, could have picked something more normal. I'm written writing, could have picked something more normal. I'll blend right in, won't stick out at all. I'll be a typical Irish guy who likes to click stamps, works as a director in a theatre for blind orphans. Wears a monocle, oversized top hats, travels exclusively by coal powered motor-sized unicycle. Jameson's plan to gain access to Collins began before he even traveled to Dublin.

He infiltrated Irish nationalist groups in London by posing as an avid communist giving speeches in Hyde Park as a communist podium and the Irish independence podiums were right next to one another. After making friends with the London Irish, James would Jameson would travel to Dublin where he was interviewed by Collins himself. Collins initially liked Jameson but some of the other IRA officers began to sense something was wrong. like Jameson, but some of the other IRA officers began to sense something was wrong. Who the fuck is this sparrow watching Tubuslinger, really? Although there were a few other hints that Jameson was a double agent, Collins' luckiest break came when a British officer told off a group of his subordinates by telling them, you were supposed to look for Collins. You've been after him for months and

never caught sight of him, while a new man just over from England met him and talked to him after two days. Unknown to the officer, one of the subordinates, he was yelling out was a double agent working for Michael Collins and this information was passed on and the IRA would set a trap for Jameson to confirm he was indeed the new man over from England. Jameson delivered a shipment of guns to the IRA shortly after this but as soon as he left suspicious IRA soldiers moved the guns to a different location. Jameson would then give British forces information to stage a raid in the building he had just delivered weapons to but the British would find no guns and the IRA had now just confirmed that Jameson was indeed the double agent they were looking for. Rather than string him up right away

the IRA would bide their time with him. Jameson would make multiple trips back and forth between London and Dublin giving reports to the British Secret Service, reports that they were feeding him with false intelligence. Finally, at the beginning of March 1920, Jameson would be informed that Collins wanted to meet with him. Two members of the squad collected Jameson, seemingly to bring him to Collins, but they instead brought him to a quiet location, far enough outside of the city for him to, I imagine, feel a lot of sweat trickling down the crack of his ass. And they bluntly informed him that they knew he was a spy and that he was doomed. Jamison, possessing balls of steel apparently, not only did not beg for his life, he didn't

fucking flinch. He reportedly stood to attention, stared solemnly into the middle distance with a stiff upper lip, and took a bullet to the head. While the story of this tough-as-nails spy Jamison is a good example of the caliber of men Collins was up against, one of the best examples of the British persistence to take down the Irish rebellion comes from an absurd chase sequence that took place in October of 1920. The two men who had started the entire war by killing two royal Irish constabulary officers back in January of 1919, Dan Breen and Sean Tracy, had found themselves in Dublin assisting Collins and the squad with various jobs. Once British intelligence had located them, they would stage an ambush on the home of Republican

sympathizer Professor John Carollan, where the two men were staying. The ambush took place on the night of October 11th and British forces broke in as the two men were in bed. Somehow the two men fought their way out of their beds, even killing two British agents as they made it out of the building. What a way to wake up! The men would split up and after making it out of the house, Breen proceeded to fall through a glass conservatory roof, cutting himself so badly he had to sneak into a nearby hospital, where luckily nurses would shield him from British forces? Holy shit Professor who was hiding him was shot in the head by the ambushers

But miraculously survived long enough to discredit the British reports that were fabricated say that brain had shot him So that's that's awesome only two days later Tracy who had made it out of the ambush unscathed Would attempt to break brain out of the hospital But then he would be ambushed again this time by the British military. After the soldiers began shooting Tracy would try to escape on a fucking bicycle that some other IRA man had left for him but he fell off and got shot in the head. The British were determined once they found a rebel to stay on him until they were captured or dead. By that same fall, the fall of 1920

Britain's intelligence forces were getting stronger. They were beginning to close in on IRA leadership. Two of the IRA's leading intelligence officers, men crucial to Collins' success, were arrested and questioned by British forces. And although they were ultimately released, it was clear to Collins that something had to be done to shift the intelligence war back to his favor. Subsequently, Collins' officers prepared a list of 50 suspected British agents throughout Dublin to be killed, a list that would later be shortened to 35.

The plan was to kill all of the targets on the same morning. And early in the morning of November 21, 1920, multiple groups of IRA forces would attempt to do just that. In total, 15 British officers would be killed that morning, many of them shot in their beds, some with their wives and even children present. Although most of the intended targets would survive the day the operation was considered a massive success, with the British Army reporting, the murders of November 21, 1920, temporarily paralyzed the Army Special Branch. Several of its most efficient officers were murdered, and the majority of other officers were brought into the Dublin Castle in the Central Hotel for safety.

While some reports claim that Collins was pleased with the results, he was reportedly white and defiant, with no expression of pleasure after hearing of how the shootings went. He attempted to get a Gaelic football match that was meant to take place that Sunday afternoon now called off, fearing retribution, but the match's organizers replied it was too late to cancel. That would be a terrible decision on their part. British authorities suspected that some of the men responsible for the killings had disappeared into a crowd of spectators watching the match in Dublin's Croke Park Stadium. Armed police were sent with orders to block exits and search spectators but a massive lack of discipline on the part of the police caused a panic and soon the police began shooting seemingly indiscriminately into the crowd. Fourteen people would be killed by the shooting, with fatalities including three schoolboys under the age of 15 and two former British soldiers.

The events of November 21, 1920, a day that would later become known as Bloody Sunday, marked a new phase of the intelligence war. This is a different Bloody Sunday, in case you're wondering, than the one sung about by Irish rockers U2. That Bloody Sunday would take place in Northern Ireland in 1972. British intelligence is now furious with Collins' success in taking out their agents, and they became committed to defeating him. For the rest of the war, Collins would have a number of close calls, and it seemed he was always barely avoiding capture by British forces. None of those close calls seemed to make him consider giving up or running away though.

Brave, brave dude, the big fellow. One of those close calls would occur Christmas Eve 1920, barely over a month since that bloody Sunday. Collins was celebrating the holiday with a number of his closest friends and fellow IRA officers dining at the famous Gresham Hotel in Dublin when it was raided by British soldiers. Throughout the war, the British didn't actually, when it was raided by British soldiers. Throughout the war, the British didn't actually have a clear idea of what Collins looked like. This being one of the main reasons he was able to move so freely throughout Ireland. So much easier to be a revolutionary in the days before video footage and easily passed

around high-def digital photos. While he wasn't instantly found out, he was still searched. Soldiers first found a bottle of whiskey, which he explained was for his landlady. Then the soldiers found his notebook. One of the soldiers flipped through the notebook and found an entry titled rifles. Collins responded, reportedly responded by saying, oh no, that's supposed to be refills. Just didn't spell it right. The guy bought it. Clearly he was charismatic. After this, one of the soldiers attempted to compare Collins like this to one of the few, luckily bad, photos the British government had of Michael.

And the dude in the pic didn't quite look like the dude in the hotel. And Collins was incredibly allowed to go back to his table where he ordered enough whiskey for both himself, his friends, and the British soldiers to drink. And then they fucking partied together. Now he's drinking with the same dudes trying to find and kill him. Legendary. Let me know if I can help you find the bastard boys. Aye, Michael Collins. We'll not rest until Michael Collins has been found, captured, and

hanged. When the Brits were drunk and distracted, Collins slipped out of the hotel with no one noticing. Bravo. Only a few days after this, on New Year's Eve 1920, it was not Collins who would have a close call but one of his informants. This informant was Ned Broy, that guy who helped him break into the detective headquarters only a little under two years prior. Although Broy had escaped suspicion for multiple years, a raid by British forces in late 1920 would capture various files that hinted at him possibly being a double agent. Broy was arrested on suspicion, and while Collins realized that it would be impossible

for him to continue to gather intelligence, he still acted quickly to save the man's life. He was loyal to those who were loyal to him. Admirable quality. Collins first sent a warning to Broy's superior, that anything happened to Ned would fucking kill you. And the warning worked out well enough, that the officer destroyed some important incriminating evidence. He then convinced, or threatened rather, another detective who worked in the same office as Broy to leave the country

suspiciously now so the British will think they've had the they've captured the wrong man. And that guy did. Finally Collins arranged to have a letter discovered by British intelligence asking why Broy had been arrested when he had always been such a die-hard enemy of the IRA. Although Broy would remain in prison Collins was able to cast enough doubt on him being a double agent that he would not be executed. And Broy would eventually be released at the end of the war. Well done Michael Collins. Now we're up to 1921, a year of massive change in Ireland.

The last year of the Irish War of Independence. Eamon de Valera, who had returned to Ireland in December of 1920 from his fundraising trip to the US, would begin communicating with the British government, and in July of 1921 a truce between both sides was negotiated. Although British forces had severely weakened the IRA and still massively outnumbered the Irish rebels, there was a lot of pressure from back home to bring an end to this conflict. While Dave O'Leara had negotiated the truce, he would actually stay behind during the diplomatic conference that followed, where the controversial Anglo-Irish Treaty would be signed. De Valera would include Collins in the diplomatic team, a decision that angered Collins.

Collins argued that by sending him to London, the myth of the shadowy intelligence director would vanish. He reportedly pleaded with de Valera for three hours one night, excuse me, before being sent away, arguing, for several years years right or wrongly made no difference, the English had held me to be the one man responsible for the smashing of their secret service organization and for their failure to terrorize the people with their blackened tans. The important fact was that in England, as in Ireland, the Michael Collins legend existed. It pictured me as a mysterious act of menace, elusive, unknown, unaccountable, and in its respect I was the only living Irishman of whom it could be said."

This argument would not produce its intended effect on Dave O'Leara. Dave O'Leara wanted to be the sole leading figure in Ireland. He was very competitive, it seems, of Michael Collins. He hated the idea of allowing another to have this mythos surround them. He would now push Collins harder to travel to London. Collins eventually relented, joined the negotiating team in the form of a soldier obeying orders that he disagreed with. Collins and three other Irish Republicans would be led by an older nationalist figure,

Arthur Griffith now, longtime friend of Collins, and the founder of the Sinn Fein Party. The team left for London in October of 1921 and negotiations would last for two months, with the Anglo-Irish Treaty being signed December 6, 1921. Although Collins had pleaded not to make the trip, he proved to be an incredible diplomat. The English team including figures like Prime Minister David Lloyd George, future Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and they would recognize Collins and Griffith as the two best Irish diplomats and work with them to carry out the majority of the talks. Griffith and Collins did very well for the majority of the talks, focusing on

resolving the problem of Northern Ireland. They wanted Northern Ireland to be unified with the rest of the island, but Prime Minister Lloyd George would not budge on that. Instead, he promised to set up a boundary commission to determine a border between southern and Northern Ireland. The treaty that would be signed on December 6th was not ideal for the Irish. It did not guarantee a united Ireland, also forced a new Irish government to recognize the Crown. In effect, Ireland was given dominion status, similar to commonwealth states like Canada, South Africa. But in Collins' eyes, this was the best they could get.

If Ireland did not accept loyalty to the Crown, Britain would inevitably go back to war with the Irish, and would likely win. And since the Truce period had allowed Britain to see all of Collins' intelligence agents out in the open, it would be impossible for him to now build a new intelligence force of similar strength. Also, the bulk of Ireland would now at last govern itself, with their own recognized parliament and the ability to make their own laws. Collins would see this treaty as a stepping stone towards full Irish independence, and although it would not unite the entire island,

we will see that Collins clearly did not plan on following the treaty's rule regarding Northern Ireland. When Collins and other negotiators presented the Irish government with the treaty, many die-hard nationalists fucking hated it, wanted to destroy it entirely. The treaty would be hotly debated in the Doyle, Ireland's parliament, but it would pass on a vote of 64 to 57, with the margin being close enough to convince the anti-treaty nationalist to continue the fight in other ways.

Dave Allera himself strongly opposed the treaty, which I'm sure pissed Collins the hell off since he had chosen not to go negotiate it like Collins wanted him to, and then he would resign as president of the Doyle in protest. After the treaty was ratified in January of 1922, Arthur Griffith would become President of the Doyle and Michael Collins would be the chair of the new Provisional Government. Now, before we get into the violent Irish Civil War that will come out of some controversy surrounding this Anglo-Irish treaty, fighting's not over, we're going to take a brief detour to illustrate Collins' position on Northern Ireland.

Although Collins had signed the treaty that partitioned Ireland into two states and would lead the provisional government of southern Ireland that remained under British rule, he still worked to undermine Britain's position in Northern Ireland. One event in February of 1922 shows the double role that Collins maintained, maintaining law and order in the south, in the island of today, while spreading disorder and dissent in Northern Ireland, trying to convince Britain that holding onto a piece of island was just not worth the trouble. On January 31st the chief of staff for the new Irish Army would inform Collins that in order to ensure support for the treaty in one county right on the border of Northern and Southern Ireland he was planning to

kidnap a hundred prominent orange men in two northern counties. Another motive for this was the recent arrest of ten members of the Monaghan County football team on January 14th for being caught with documents revealing their intent to three fellow Irishmen to break out of jail, three fellow Irishmen who were jailed in Derry and who had been sentenced to death. Orangemen, by the way, are men belonging to the Orange Order. It's a group organized in Northern Ireland with the goal of protecting Protestants and one that had been very controversial for harboring a lot of anti-Catholic sympathies. Every Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from its partition in 1921 to the return of direct

rule in 1972 was an Orangeman, as are a number of current ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive. Well, Collins saw an opportunity to both win support for the treaty in Southern Ireland and chip at the northern Protestant power base through kidnapping a bunch of these orange men and he took it. The kidnappings would take place on the night of February 7th and Collins responsibility for them would remain completely hidden. They wouldn't take the full hundred men but they would take close to half, 42, and they would send the rest terrified

into hiding. A negotiation would ensue that would lead to the release of those 42 men and the 10 Irish footballers. A telegram from Alfred Cope, a British civil servant in Ireland that Prime Minister Lloyd George trusted greatly, would show how little Collins was suspected. After giving instructions to Northern Irish Prime Minister James Craig on what his officials could do to prevent further violence, he would write, If he, Craig, can do this, there will be no more incursions from the south and Collins will have an opportunity of squaring up things. To think that the fruits of our long labor should be jeopardized by damn fools makes

me sick. Collins has given very firm orders to his people against repetition. Collins' position on Northern Ireland would actually remain so hidden that many in Ireland remain upset with him to this day, thinking he did not make an attempt to keep the island united. That he was not on their side as much as he should have been, not the revolutionary they thought he was, etc. But he was. By April of 1922, a few months after the treaty had been signed and a month after Collins

kidnapping Stunt Up North, anti-treaty forces in the IRA had become so enraged by the likelihood of the treaty succeeding that they would lash out against Collins new provisional government Hello infighting man so common revolutions Just because everybody wants to overthrow the current regime that doesn't mean they all agree on how the new regime should be running shit The first major act was seizing control of the four courts building in Dublin Collins was the first reluctant to fire on his fellow Irishmen in this in-fighting, but with the knowledge that his opponents did not have the same reservations, and that failing to do so would only make

the bloodshed last longer, he would take the building back by force, ironically with the support of the British government, marking the beginning of the Irish Civil War. While the anti-treaty leaders were brave and idealistic, they did not have the same fighting experience as Collins, who had taken charge as commander in chief of the new Irish States Army and he would defeat them. Long after the civil war between the Provisional Government and the IRA had ended, one former anti-treaty soldier would recall that during the battle for the Four Courts building, he was making his way through Dublin when he found a large group of anti-treaty leaders,

including Dave Valera, who had joined anti-treaty forces after his resignation, all cramped together in the Gresham Hotel, apparently, quote, without purpose. Collins' army would eventually be successful in defeating Dave Valera and the anti-treaty Republicans, due in large part to his experienced leadership. But sadly, Collins himself would now not live to see the end of the war that would come in May of 1923. Nine months before that, August 22, 1922, 31-year-old Michael Collins was ambushed, shot in the head by anti-treaty IRA forces, after he chose to leave the protection of the armored car he was traveling in, in his home county of County Cork, just a few miles from where he was born,

and actively engage those trying to kill him in a gun battle. He chose to stand out in the open so he could get a good view of some man who was running away, a man who had shot at him. And while he shot at that man, another IRA man, a former British Army sniper named Dennis Sonny O'Neill, dropped him in one shot. He died like he lived, fighting for Ireland, fighting for what he believed in. According to the British newspaper, The Observer, he was then given the greatest funeral any Irish leader ever had, and his funeral procession, beautifully, was three miles long.

Many conspiracy theories have arisen from Colin's death, with a lot of people blaming everybody from the British Secret Service to a cabal within the Irish cabinet. Eamon de Valera has long been suspected of having a hand in Collins' death, of handing him over to his assassins, his political rival, a man while he was alive. He was much more popular then with the general Irish population. Seemed that Eamon was very jealous continually over Collins' popularity. Much of the conspiracy speculation likely comes from the fact that Michael Collins' own brother, Johnny Collins, was quietly able to make peace with Michael's killers and a lot of folks just couldn't understand how

that could be possible unless there was some conspiracy like he was in on it or something. Johnny's granddaughter was quoted in an Irish Times article about Michael Collins saying that, After the war, despite fighting for anti-treaty forces, one time My grandfather made peace with people. If Johnny Collins can make peace with people, that's good enough for me. After the war, despite fighting for anti-treaty forces, one time Michael Collins' strong ally, later his Irish Civil War enemy, Eamon de Valera, would go on to form one of Ireland's two major political parties, Fianna Foyle in 1926 and in 1932 would even become Ireland's prime minister. It was very clear to, he was very near, excuse me, to where Collins was ambushed in County Cork on the fateful day in 1922,

which again added to speculation he had a hand in Collins' ambush and assassination. But one of the soldiers Dave Valera was traveling with would later recount how he broke down upon hearing of Collins' death. Quite a lot of the 15 miles or so to Callan were done on foot across country, and during that time, Dave Valera seemed very distressed and he appeared to be talking or muttering to himself. Several times when he spoke out loud, not addressing me or anybody in the escort, I distinctly heard him say, I told them not to do it. He even pleaded with them, but they wouldn't listen to me. And now what will become of us all?

Dave Valera was so distressed that when he spoke out I felt like he was crying. Although his private distress clearly shows that Dave Valera at least recognized how important Michael Collins was to Ireland, and maybe had nothing to do with his killing, he would publicly attempt to belittle Collins' legacy in very odd ways after the man's death. Why? Gange just thought he was jealous of the man he would never stand a chance against in an actual fight that he was never as popular as in life. One example of Dave Valera's odd egoism and vindictiveness comes from 1938 when Johnny Collins and other members of the Collins family were trying to erect a memorial at Michael's grave. 1935 a longtime friend of Michael Collins, Joe McGrath, offered to donate a quarter ton of Italian marble for a beautiful memorial.

Collins, Joe McGrath, offered to donate a quarter ton of Italian marble for a beautiful memorial. After accepting the offer, the Collins family spent three years attempting to get this memorial approved to the government, but it got bound up with a bunch of fucking stupid red tape. Finally, in 1938, Johnny Collins would be able to meet with Dave Valera to talk about the memorial plans. While in their first meeting, Dave Valera agreed to consider it. In their second, he would agree to the memorial but with a weird list of stipulations. Irish historian old Tim Pat Coogan, his biography

on Michael Collins, describes the stipulations given by de Valera. He would not agree to the use of marble, but to a limestone cross and surrounds not exceeding 300 pounds in cost. There was to be no public subscription, no publicity. The inscription was to be totally in Irish in front. The inscription on the back had to include M. Collins erected by his brothers and sisters. The inscription in Irish had to be approved by him. He then went on, I'm sorry to have to say no, I'm sorry to have to say no member of your family may be present except yourself.

Fucking weird. The cross can be blessed by the chaplain to the cemetery and an altar boy will be necessary to carry holy water. Why would he do this? Again, just jealous of Collins contributions to a free Ireland. Worried that the more credit Collins was given, the less credit he would have. It would lower his stature. To this day there's a faction of people in Ireland who find Dave O'Leary to be a self-serving fucking weasel. Dave O'Leary would go on to become the third president of Ireland in 1959. He'd stay in office 14 years, until 1973. And a lot of people seem to think that had Michael lived, he would have become that president

instead. Well, Collins-Morra would at last be approved with Dave O'Leary himself signing an approval of the inscription in July of 1939. Just made him wait for fucking no reason. He still only allowed Johnny to attend the unveiling of the memorial. Apparently he forgot that Michael broke him out of prison in 1919, that fucking twat. There was a bleak and depressing picture of Johnny Collins standing solemnly in front of his brother's grave that perfectly captures the weird harm Dave O'Leara caused to Collins'

legacy. Johnny's son, also named Michael, would describe the day that the memorial was put up saying, It was the first time my father ever looked old. He was terribly hurt. Depressingly little has changed in Northern Ireland since Collins' death. While it's impossible to know if Collins would have been able to fix the Northern Irish situation in his lifetime, we do know that without him, violence and tension has prevailed in the region, most notably in the notoriously violent Troubles.

The start of 1968 would last for three decades, claiming the lives of over 3,500 people, injuring nearly 50,000 more through bombings and other sporadic violence. Collins, despite the efforts of David Lerary to seemingly bury a lot of his legacy, has at least gotten more and more recognition as time has passed on. Even being portrayed by Liam Neeson in a 1996 biographical movie named Simply Michael Collins. Liam prays for his portrayal. Haven't seen it, but the film received generally positive reviews. Hopefully Michael's contributions to Irish independence will continue to be recognized,

and the Ireland that that bad-ass motherfucker fought and ultimately died for will honor his legacy. The big fellow, balls of steel, did a lot for Irish independence. As a final note, doesn't look like Northern Ireland will unite with the rest of Ireland anytime soon. Recent polls suggest that while 50% of those living in Northern Ireland want to remain with the UK, just 27% want to unify with the Republic of Ireland,

and 23% either are not sure what they want or just don't have an opinion on the matter. And that's it for this edition of Time Suck Short Sucks. If you enjoyed the story, check out the rest of the Bad Magic catalog. Beefier episodes of Time Suck with a lot more of my observations for better or worse. Every Monday at noon Pacific time new episodes of the now long-running paranormal podcast, Scared to Death, every Tuesday at midnight with two episodes currently of nightmare fuel fictional horror thrown in the mix each month. A big thank you to my son and Irish history fanatic Tyler Cummins for the initial research. Well done dude.

And thanks to Logan Keith for recording and uploading today's episode. Please go to BadMagicProductions.com for all your bad magic needs and have yourself a great weekend, you beautiful bastards. Add Magic Productions