#manson murders

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS

RESEARCH: THE MAAMTRASNA MURDERS

A couple of friends were going for a drive through Connemara and invited me to come. They said they were going to see a house where a family was murdered over a hundred years ago. My curiosity got the best of me, though more than likely any excuse to leave the house would have been met with a similar enthusiasm. 

There was also a sense of excitement, as I knew I could tie this into my project. 

‘The Downward Spiral’ was written and recorded by Trent Reznor at his home at the time, 10050 Cielo Drive, in Benedict Canyon, California. This was the home of Sharon Tate and where she and her unborn child were brutally murdered by the cult followers of Charles Manson in 1969. 

The Maamtrasna Murders took place in 1882. John Joyce, his wife Brighid, his mother Mairéad, his daughter Peigí and son Micheál had lived together in a small stone cottage near the Galway/Mayo border, miles away from the nearest village. One day all five of their bodies were found, with no witnesses or suspects. 

Authorities believed it to be a personal attack, perhaps provoked by an argument over land, or sheep rustling. As a result, eight men were convicted and three men were sentenced to death. The names of those that were executed were Myles Joyce, Pat Casey and Pat Joyce. They were not given the chance to defend themselves during trial proceedings, mostly owing to these proceedings being carried out entirely in English, (Ireland was still under British rule at this time, and therefore answered to the British courts.) 

Myles Joyce, Pat Casey and Pat Joyce spoke only Irish.  

Covering the incident, London-based magazine The Spectator wrote the following:

The Tragedy at Maamtrasna, investigated this week in Dublin, almost unique as it is in the annals of the United Kingdom, brings out in strong relief two facts which Englishmen are too apt to forget. One is the existence in particular districts of Ireland of a class of peasants who are scarcely civilised beings, and approach far nearer to savages than any other white men; and the other is their extraordinary and exceptional gloominess of temper. In remote places of Ireland, especially in Connaught, on a few of the islands, and in one or two mountain districts, dwell cultivators who are in knowledge, in habits, and in the discipline of life no higher than Maories or other Polynesians.

It was discovered by scholars investigating the case that Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time , John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, had compensated 3 alleged eye-witnesses to the sum of £1,250, equivalent to €157,000 (by 2016 rates) to provide testimony against Myles Joyce, Pat Casey and Pat Joyce.

On the 4th April 2018, Irish president Michael D. Higgins issued the men a pardon. 

The U.K. government is yet to acknowledge the miscarriage of justice and the murderer(s) were never identified. 

My Once Upon a Time in Hollywood poster illustration!
I did this as part of Poster Posse tribute to Quentin Tarantinos 9th film
Can’t wait to see this!