The "Screamers" on Innisfree

[macdarawhitfield]

The Clew Bay gang were not screamers as far as I know.Sid Rawls was a 'digger',sort of back to the land thing.Bill 'Ubi' Dwyer would have known him well.That was the island Lennon gave them,cant remember the name now.

The people 'in period costume' a previous poster described are not a cult at all.Just a couple of English ladies who like to dress up.They lived in Letterkenny in the 80/90s,but I dont know if they are still around.


This James woman does sound like a bit of a control freak and Primal therapy can be misused.But so can Christianity -like Waco,Texas.Or that 'prayer house' in Achill one reads about. I suppose in a small enclosed group,the powerful can take their negative feelings out on those more vulnerable?

[grioghair]

The Clew Bay gang were not screamers as far as I know.Sid Rawls was a 'digger',sort of back to the land thing.Bill 'Ubi' Dwyer would have known him well.That was the island Lennon gave them,cant remember the name now.

The people 'in period costume' a previous poster described are not a cult at all.Just a couple of English ladies who like to dress up.They lived in Letterkenny in the 80/90s,but I dont know if they are still around.


This James woman does sound like a bit of a control freak and Primal therapy can be misused.But so can Christianity -like Waco,Texas.Or that 'prayer house' in Achill one reads about. I suppose in a small enclosed group,the powerful can take their negative feelings out on those more vulnerable?

It was Dorinish Island. (John Lennon?s Irish ?Beatle Island? | Private Islands Magazine). I had a hard time swallowing the fact the John Lennon actually donated money to Atlantis. During my stay there they were actually openly discussing the fact that Arthur Janov was appalled that they were operating such a place. He felt that Primal Therapy in untrained hands was extremely dangerous. None of these people were licensed therapists. The feeling back then was that Janov wanted the place closed down. It would seem strange, indeed, if Lennon had then given them money to proliferate even further. They were not love and peace hippies - James' parents were both communists. (Although they were both dead by the time this commune came into existence.)

[CiaranMc]

That house in Burtonport attracted all sorts - the Silver Sisters were there for a while after the Screamers. It was, to say the least, a surreal sight seeing them pottering about the Port in their Victorian garb. Don't know who owns the house now, but it was done up (on the outside at least) a couple of years ago.

[grioghair]

It would be interesting to find out who owns that property now. Does anybody know?

[QuizMaster]

In the book "Angels and Rabies", Manchan Magan (of TG4 travelogue fame) recalls his visit to the Screamers in Colombia in the 1990s.
Very very interesting.

Angels and Rabies: Amazon.co.uk: Manchan Magan: Books

Or I can lend you a copy if you're anywhere near Derry.

[Molly Maguire]

perhaps he heard a distant echo...

:d:d:d

[Molly Maguire]

A lot of this should be seen in its historical context.

Back in the good old black and white TV days, a British television talk show featured Stokely Carmichael, the Black Power leader, in front of a live studio audience and watched by 10 million viewers (3 channels back then).
The audience were invited to ask questions, one young woman stood up and said, "How do you see the role of women in the Black Power movement".

To which Stokely Carmichael answered, "Horizontal, Baby, Horizontal.



No wonder they were screaming.

[rockyroad]

Actually the women who ran the commune, and it was a matriarchal thing, weren't feminists. They made a point of stating this all the time. They made a big thing of the difference between the natures and physical capabilities of men and women. The men would do the hard physical labour while the women would cook and wash and sew.
In the early days, in Ireland, it was a therapeutic community and the screaming was due to their beliefs in Reichian psychology and Primal Therapy, and letting it all hang out kind of thing.
The women were in charge, though, especially in the bedrooms. We men certainly had to jump to attention when requested!
They left Ireland because of fear of social workers who tried to take their children away. They had plenty of money for and used it to fight for the return of one of Mary Kelly's children.
I stayed a few weeks, but had a mate who lived with them for years.

[thetruthsback]

I was curious. There was an article in one of the papers about them
a few years ago.

Also, a friend of mine used to work in the unemployment office in Cork, and
he told me a woman who'd been associated with the Screamers used to
come there every so often.

Was that Kathleen Lynch or Deidre Forde!!!!!

[owedtojoy]

Remember the group of English feminists who set up a group
on Innisfree years ago? They were called "the Screamers" due to
the fact they practiced a therapy which involved reenacting traumatic
moments in their lives. Does anyone here have any memories of them?

I knew one of the Inishfree group, who was an anarchist before he joined the group.

Every time he went home, when his folks tried to talk to him, he started screaming at them. He broke their hearts.

If they are gone, they are no loss. I don't know what happened to my acquaintance - I just hope he got sense.