In a now forgotten 2014 article, The Irish Times, wrote the headline ‘The Trouble with the Septic Tank Story’. The article brilliantly outlined some of the problems with the Tuam story, which had morphed from a tale regarding children without proper records, into an urban myth that involved the public imagining 800 babies being ‘dumped’ in a ‘septic tank’ on site.
That story begins with:
‘I never used that word ‘dumped’,” Catherine Corless, a local historian in Co Galway, tells The Irish Times. “I never said to anyone that 800 bodies were dumped in a septic tank. That did not come from me at any point. They are not my words.”
The story that emerged from her work was reported this week in dramatic headlines around the world.
“Tell us the truth about the children dumped in Galway’s mass graves” – The Guardian.
“Bodies of 800 babies, long-dead, found in septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers” – The Washington Post.
“Nearly 800 dead babies found in septic tank in Ireland” – Al Jazeera.
It proceeds:
The children’s names, ages, places of birth and causes of death were recorded. The average number of deaths over the 36-year period was just over 22 a year. The information recorded on these State- issued certificates has been seen by The Irish Times; the children are marked as having died variously of tuberculosis, convulsions, measles, whooping cough, influenza, bronchitis and meningitis, among other illnesses.
The deaths of these 796 children are not in doubt. Their numbers are a stark reflection of a period in Ireland when infant mortality in general was very much higher than today, particularly in institutions, where infection spread rapidly. At times during those 36 years the Tuam home housed more than 200 children and 100 mothers, plus those who worked there, according to records Corless has found.
What has upset, confused and dismayed her in recent days is the speculative nature of much of the reporting around the story, particularly about what happened to the children after they died. “I never used that word ‘dumped’,” she says again, with distress. “I just wanted those children to be remembered and for their names to go up on a plaque. That was why I did this project, and now it has taken [on] a life of its own.”
We are not going to focus too much on the contents, but you get the drift, the initial claim took on a life of its own. You can read the full article here: Tuam mother and baby home: the trouble with the septic tank story (irishtimes.com)
Another story has now taken on a life of its own, the Canadian Residential School story.
The initial claim of finding children buried in a mass grave at a home run over the course of a century has now morphed into an ever evolving urban myth where the Catholic Church ran a house of horrors where children were intentionally murdered and then dumped into a mass grave.
Never mind that the British established the Mother and Baby system in Ireland and that Anglicans, not Catholics, established the residential system in Canada for natives, the media is now determined to deliberately try to provoke violence against churches. This is a very serious situation and timidity is not the solution.
The Canadian bishops must hire historians, open their records and deal with this situation head on and immediately. Churches cannot be allowed to burn like this.
