Skip to main content

THE VANISHING OF MARY BOYLE

Mary Boyle (born 14 June 1970) was a six-year-old Irish girl who disappeared on the County Donegal-County Fermanagh border on 18th March 1977. To date, her disappearance is the longest missing child case in the Republic of Ireland. The investigation into her disappearance has been beset by allegations of political intervention and police incompetence. While arrests were made over many years, nobody has ever been charged in connection with her disappearance.

Mary Boyle was last seen at 3:30 pm on 18 March 1977 near her grandparents' rural farm in Cashelard, near Ballyshannon, County Donegal. The family, including Mary's mother Ann, father Charlie, older brother Paddy, and twin sister Ann, had gone to Mary's maternal grandparents' house on St Patrick's Day from their home in Kincasslagh in The Rosses, further up the coast. They stayed at the grandparents home overnight into the day of her disappearance. In total, there were eleven people at the household gathering, six adults and five children.

On the afternoon of March 18th, Mary was playing outside with her siblings and two cousins when her uncle Gerry Gallagher left to return a ladder to another farm (the McAuleys), 370 metres across the hillside and about short of a five minute walk across a pathway and three stone walls.

Mary followed her uncle until they reached a small pool of water that was too deep for her to get through. What happened then remains uncertain depending on witness statements and what would later be related to family and gardai.

Whether by her own decision or by her uncle's instruction, Mary turned around about halfway into the journey saying she was going back. Her return journey should not have lasted longer than three minutes, whilst her uncle stayed at the neighbour’s farmhouse for thirty minutes for a chat.

After discovering that Mary had disappeared, her family instituted searches of the local area and questioned passers-by if they had seen the girl.

Mary Boyle was reported missing about two hours after she disappeared, around 6.20-6.30 pm that evening. The Vanishing of Mary Boyle is a 47-year disappearance that would tear a family apart amid accusations over decades.

 

Comments

POPULAR POSTS

WOKE: The Trope That Doesn't Work

WOKE - a word we now hear so often used in ridicule of others on social media commentary. But like so many tropes used against others, its user - by the mere act of using it - clearly demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of its true meaning and origin. If anything, its usage, now defines more the user, than the intended reciprocate. And its not a new word by any stretch of 21st Century meaning. It dates back more than 80 years but has only in the past few years reignited its common and increasing usage in everyday English language. ORIGIN - THE WOKE It originally dates back to a comment from an African American United Mine Workers official in 1940 (USA), stating: "Let me tell you buddy. Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we'll stay woke up longer." Think of all the times in exchanges online (primarily social media) that you've been described as 'woke' in a derogatory way. Ask yourselves, have you noticed how often those throwing

The Case of Raonaid Murray

The body of Raonaid Murray (17) was found at Silchester Crescent, Glenageary, Dublin, less than 500 metres from her home on September 3rd, 1999. She was returning at approximately 11.20 pm from a night out at Scotts pub in Dun Laoghaire town centre. Her intention, made known to friends by mobile phone (using her friend's device at Scotts), was to return home, change, and head out to a local nightclub around midnight. She never got home. She was stabbed to death near her home (about 10 minutes away) while walking up a footpath with a one-and-a-half inch knife around midnight or shortly before. Forensics revealed that she was stabbed multiple times, but many initial wounds were not fatal or intrusive and would case death, as if punishment wounds. She staggered some 15 metres before the fatal stab wounds were delivered to her side and piercing vital organs. She bleed to death and about 20 minutes later and was discovered by her elder sister out with her friends earlier when they exite

Things That Happen (7)

Today blazed colours we dream of. Only the mountains and the sea—the sky anew, the earth anew—conduct the orchestra of music in our lives. We choose to let our hearts dance steps—giddily—or simply lie silent in mystery; unheard. We dare to step out in the rain and end up drenched in sunshine. We dare to step out in the sunshine and end up drenched by showers from the sky weeping uncontrollably above us. She must have wanted him to know... He must have wanted her to know... ...and now... no one knows. As we passed through all those paths in life—me holding your hand—I had to close my eyes, as fields of fire blazed when we passed so many memories. The gardens of our hearts outstretched with blossom and summer chores to be done and enjoyed. I saw him snatching a glance as I leaned over to his world. My hand in his—gripped—wishing I didn’t have to go. Knowing I wanted to haunt him for the rest of the days of his life. Fields of fire blazed when he spoke about a colour in the rainbow of my