The 'moving' statue of Ballinspittle
Witness History

The 'moving' statue of Ballinspittle

B1IntermediateSeptember 8, 202610 min
  • Documentary

In 1985, reports of a moving statue of the Virgin Mary drew thousands of people to the village of Ballinspittle in County Cork, Ireland. Helen Ledwick speaks to Ita Dungan, who travelled there as a teenager and remembers the crowds gathering at the shrine. Similar reports soon spread across Ireland, and that summer became known as the 'summer of the moving statues'. Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and archive. Each weekday, in around nine minutes, we...

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0:00

Hi, this is Witness History from the BBC World Service. I'm Helen Ledwick and if this is already one of your favourite podcasts, then feel free to skip ahead a few seconds. But if you're new to us, then welcome. We're the podcast that takes you back to a moment in history by speaking to those who were there and digging out incredible archive to bring

0:26

it all to life. Episodes are just nine minutes long, they come out every weekday, so if that sounds like your kind of thing, hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts and turn your push notifications on. And now I'm taking you back to 1985 and a small village on the south coast of Ireland

0:46

where something very strange is happening. South of the border, many worshippers at Ballin Spital in County Cork say they've seen a concrete statue of the Virgin Mary move its arms and shake its feet and they've now mounted an all night vigil next to it.

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