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Any evidence of cannibalism during Irish Famine

  • 26-02-2013 02:51PM
    #1
    Rabidlamb
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,202 ✭✭✭


    Reading last week about the North Korean famines & cannibalism made me curious enough to ask the unthinkable.

    Is there any evidence that we resorted to the same ?


«13

Comments

  • #2
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    Still better than taking the protestant soup...


  • #3
    CruelCoin
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,463 ✭✭✭CruelCoin


    Without a doubt it happened.

    You think 1,000,000 people starved to death and not one of them thought long and hard about having a man-wich?


  • #4
    Seachmall
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭Seachmall


    I've tried cannibalism but the smell of fish makes me heave.


  • #5
    DrumSteve
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,798 ✭✭✭✭DrumSteve


    Too soon.


  • #6
    JohnnyChimpo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,253 ✭✭✭JohnnyChimpo


    CreepingDeath wrote: »
    Still better than taking the protestant soup...

    Unless it was made from real Protestants.

    OP I'm pretty sure this did happen a lot, and is where the "Shepherd's Pie" originates from


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  • #7
    smash
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,808 ✭✭✭✭smash


    Seachmall wrote: »
    I've tried cannibalism but the smell of fish makes me heave.
    Are you a fish?


  • #8
    JohnnyChimpo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,253 ✭✭✭JohnnyChimpo


    OMG you can't just ask someone if they're a fish


  • #9
    Rabidlamb
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,202 ✭✭✭Rabidlamb


    DrumSteve wrote: »
    Too soon.

    Do you remember them gnawing at your leg while you were only sleeping


  • #10
    mikom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    Rabidlamb wrote: »
    Reading last week about the North Korean famines & cannibalism made me curious enough to ask the unthinkable.

    Is there any evidence that we resorted to the same ?


    Remember reading about this before....
    Cannibalism was likely practiced in Ireland during the Famine, Professor Cormac O Grada of University College Dublin told a New York conference on world hunger at Fordham University on Monday.
    O Grada, a leading expert on famine, said there were many rumors about it in Ireland, but one documented report involved a John Connolly in the West of Ireland who came before the court on theft charges.
    In the course of the prosecution, it emerged that the family were in such desperate straits that his wife had eaten some of the flesh off the leg of the dead body of her son.
    The son’s body was exhumed and it was discovered that his flesh was indeed missing. Connolly was immediately discharged, O Grada noted, as the desperate condition of the Famine victims was taken into account.
    http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Cannibalism-was-likely-practiced-in-Irish-famine-says-leading-expert-151504185.html


  • #11
    Rented Mule
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Rented Mule


    You'd need to eat an entire village in one go just to feel full.


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  • #12
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    When I heard cannibalism I thought of someone being murdered first... but I imagine there were cases were people died of natural causes/starvation and they were eaten by others.


  • #13
    MadsL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,299 ✭✭✭✭MadsL


    Didn't they make a film about this a few years back.

    Walking Ned.


  • #14
    starlings
    Closed Accounts Posts: 683 ✭✭✭starlings


    CreepingDeath wrote: »
    When I heard cannibalism I thought of someone being murdered first... but I imagine there were cases were people died of natural causes/starvation and they were eaten by others.

    terrible desperation to do it, and for very little nutrition from the body of someone who died of hunger. :(

    It's plausible that it happened - thanks for that link Mikom! - but I'd say the sheer awfulness of it means no one passed down the memory of it afterwards. I used to ask my grandparents about the Civil War and they'd clam up - some things weren't to be spoken.


  • #15
    DrumSteve
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,798 ✭✭✭✭DrumSteve


    Rabidlamb wrote: »
    Do you remember them gnawing at your leg while you were only sleeping

    Oh I was awake, bastards didnt even have the decency to wait.


  • #16
    Anyone
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭Anyone


    "Body of Eamon"

    "Ah Christ..."


  • #17
    Wompa1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,360 ✭✭✭Wompa1


    How could you eat meat like that without have some potatoes to go with it. SAVAGES!

    Ah no, terrible, terrible event.


  • #18
    Banjo String
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,380 ✭✭✭✭Banjo String


    JohnnyChimpo wrote: »
    Unless it was made from real Protestants.

    But 'I can't believe it's not protestant' is muck, poor poor substitute.


  • #19
    Corruptedmorals
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,195 ✭✭✭Corruptedmorals


    There are plenty of accounts of dogs being eaten and of people eating grass. Understandably, tales of cannibalism do not get passed down.


  • #20
    Truncheon Rouge
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 388 ✭✭Truncheon Rouge


    Nothing happened to 'us' or 'we'.

    The real 'we' have drivethru kfc, so we don't have to get out of the car, to save up energy to fight the Brits for another 800 years. Its tiring.


  • #21
    Duggys Housemate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,298 ✭✭✭Duggys Housemate


    Truncheon Rouge wrote: »
    Nothing happened to 'us' or 'we'.

    The real 'we' have drivethru kfc, so we don't have to get out of the car, to save up energy to fight the Brits for another 800 years. Its tiring.

    What an odd statement? Can a Jew say "we" or "us" with regard to the holocaust?


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  • #22
    Duggys Housemate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,298 ✭✭✭Duggys Housemate


    starlings wrote: »

    terrible desperation to do it, and for very little nutrition from the body of someone who died of hunger. :(

    It's plausible that it happened - thanks for that link Mikom! - but I'd say the sheer awfulness of it means no one passed down the memory of it afterwards. I used to ask my grandparents about the Civil War and they'd clam up - some things weren't to be spoken.

    There is documented cannibalism in the siege of Leningrad. I say if someone has already died.... go for it.


  • #23
    Rhyme
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,561 ✭✭✭Rhyme


    MadsL wrote: »
    Didn't they make a film about this a few years back.

    Walking Ned.

    Night of the Living Ned.


  • #24
    gobnaitolunacy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    If it did happen, it probably wasn't reported to the newpapers of the time so we wouldn't have a recorded incident.

    Pre dating the famine, there was a case of an Irishman, Alexander Pearse, an escaped convict, killing and eating his co-escapees in Tasmania.


  • #25
    MadsL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,299 ✭✭✭✭MadsL


    Rhyme wrote: »
    Night of the Living Ned.

    Glad someone finally got it. :D

    Sean-nós of the Dead?


  • #26
    Where To
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭Where To


    MadsL wrote: »
    Glad someone finally got it. :D

    Sean-nós of the Dead?
    Who said we didn't get it?:P


    As someone already said, it's not exactly the kind of story that gets retold around the fire of a February evening.


  • #27
    mark renton
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,696 ✭✭✭mark renton


    There are 2 conditions under which cannabilism is accepted, one is famine, other is a plane crash in snow capped mountain.

    This is why its important to stay skinny, survial.


  • #28
    Truncheon Rouge
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 388 ✭✭Truncheon Rouge


    Duggys Housemate wrote: »
    What an odd statement? Can a Jew say "we" or "us" with regard to the holocaust?

    Not really, no.
    'We' infers you were there during the event.

    'we' won the battle.
    'we' invented this product.

    'we' were born in the late 20th/ early 21st century and have never known medieval times, hand to hand battle, famine.

    when was the last time 'we' didn't have access to a mcdonalds.


  • #29
    Roger_007
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,886 ✭✭✭✭Roger_007


    Hard to know, there was no DNA testing of burgers at the time!


  • #30
    Duggys Housemate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,298 ✭✭✭Duggys Housemate


    Truncheon Rouge wrote: »
    Not really, no.
    'We' infers you were there during the event.

    'we' won the battle.
    'we' invented this product.

    'we' were born in the late 20th/ early 21st century and have never known medieval times, hand to hand battle, famine.

    when was the last time 'we' didn't have access to a mcdonalds.

    So a African American man can't say "We were enslaved"? And in talking about them as 3rd parties we must say. African Americans of that time but not now were enslaved....

    These are your own personal rules, right?


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  • #31
    Micky Dolenz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 44,079 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    Not at all relevant to the famine but this guy has some story.

    Shows the extremes some will go to for food.


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