The Miracles of 1920
On 16 August 1920, a Royal Irish Constabulary inspector was shot dead in Templemore by the IRA. That night, British forces carried out reprisals. Into this atmosphere of violence, a sixteen-year-old farm labourer named Jimmy Walsh announced he had received visions of Our Lady and that religious statues in his cottage and in Dwan's shop on the main street were weeping tears of blood. A holy well appeared in his bedroom floor. The story ran in every newspaper. Within days, up to fifteen thousand people a day were coming to Templemore - the newspapers called it Pilgrimville. Reported cures brought more. The IRA, concerned that a mass of civilians made ambushes impossible and Collins, suspicious of the whole business, had a statue sent to him in Dublin. He smashed it open. Inside: an alarm clock, fountain pen inserts, and pig's blood - a mechanism that expelled blood at a set time. Walsh was brought to Dublin and questioned. Collins concluded he was not to be trusted. Labelled a potential spy, Walsh's life in Ireland effectively ended. He emigrated to Australia in 1923, changed his name, and spent decades trying and failing to enter religious orders. The statues stopped bleeding.