Castleisland is well used to days of great excitement for one reason or another – and it was always so.
None greater than ‘The Day the Box was Seen by Jackie Browne’ to borrow the title of Castleisland radio journalist David Nelligan’s Radio Kerry documentary on the event now a half century ago.
The documentary title itself is one that’s begging for a tune and it was borrowed from a song composed by the late great Gabie Keane in her Tops-of-the-Town line of duty.
David has been nominated for an award in the Gay Byrne Newcomer of the Year category and his documentary is nominated in the ‘short feature’ category in the 2023 IMRO Radio Awards.
The day in question was one of the most outstandingly different from any of this kind of day before it and even since.
Reporting on the incident, The Kerryman described it as a day of considerable chaos in the town.
Why Not Castleisland?
The year was 1973 and and the Island of Saints and Scholars was veering towards an island of bombs and bullets yet again. It is now the midway point between the end of the Irish civil war and this year of 2023. And it was a very turbulent period in the history of the island of Ireland.
It wasn’t entirely strange then that there would be a bomb warning in Castleisland. Why Castleisland / Why not Castleisland?
However, our ‘bomb’ was a hoax. But it was easy to be wise after the event and the memorable day put at least two men’s names into the folklore of the town for as long as there are people who remember the day.
Traffic Diversions at Headley’s Bridge
Postman Jackie Browne and Fireman Michael ‘Mac’ Sugrue were the names most associated with the infamy of the day.
That ‘bomb warning’ on a Friday afternoon in the middle of April 1973 caused a huge amount of disruption to the normal business of a rural town and there were traffic diversions in place as far away as Headley’s Bridge.
The Kerryman of the following week carried the report that the shoe-box with the word ‘Bomb’ written on it was discovered at about 4pm on that Friday afternoon.
After All That
An army bomb disposal unit was brought from Cork and they arrived around 7:30pm. After some delicate manoeuvres and a controlled explosion, the box was found to contain a stone.
The Kerryman also reported that Gardai from Killarney were drafted in and that spectators who watched the proceedings were kept well back.
Have a listen to David Nelligan’s documentary with good wishes to him for when the envelopes are opened at the IMRO awards in Kilkenny in October.
Click on the link here: https://www.radiokerry.ie/podcasts/documentary/the-day-the-box-was-seen-by-jackie-browne-344332
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