'They got that awful black flu': Mary Morgan tells of how both of her parents contracted "Spanish Flu" in 1918.
Title
'They got that awful black flu': Mary Morgan tells of how both of her parents contracted "Spanish Flu" in 1918.
Subject
Spanish Flu
Description
Mary was born in West Cork near Kilmichael in 1922, her parents were small farmers. Their house and that of her grandmothers were ‘safehouses’ during the war of independence and civil war. In this excerpt, Mary describes how her parents contracted the Spanish Flu and survived. But not everyone in her locality was as lucky.
Excerpt length: 1 minute 11 seconds
Full transcript of this interview extract:
MM My Father and mother got married in 1918, In February 1918 a photograph over there in the corner but anyway they were quite comfortable that time like because that was 1914 to 1918 war farmers could sell anything, eggs, rabbits anything I’d say. They got that awful black flu, the Spanish flu the two of them. And my mother was expecting her first baby the baby was to be born in December the baby was to be born in February but was born in December. And people wouldn’t even come into the house to help them because they were terrified because it was so contagious and they both recovered. And next door was a farm rented out to dairy cows and the three bothers died, three young men, two sorry, two young men died there in next door to us. They recovered but they both died in their fifties. A doctor told me that anybody that got it they didn’t live to be old because it did affect their hearts it was a deadly flu like.
Excerpt length: 1 minute 11 seconds
Full transcript of this interview extract:
MM My Father and mother got married in 1918, In February 1918 a photograph over there in the corner but anyway they were quite comfortable that time like because that was 1914 to 1918 war farmers could sell anything, eggs, rabbits anything I’d say. They got that awful black flu, the Spanish flu the two of them. And my mother was expecting her first baby the baby was to be born in December the baby was to be born in February but was born in December. And people wouldn’t even come into the house to help them because they were terrified because it was so contagious and they both recovered. And next door was a farm rented out to dairy cows and the three bothers died, three young men, two sorry, two young men died there in next door to us. They recovered but they both died in their fifties. A doctor told me that anybody that got it they didn’t live to be old because it did affect their hearts it was a deadly flu like.
Creator
Cork Folklore Project
Contributor
Interviewee: Mary Morgan (nee Murphy)
Interviewer: Jamie Furey
Rights
Cork Folklore Project
Publisher
Cork Folklore Project
Date
31 October 2017
Format
MP3 audio file, 1 minute 11 seconds
Identifier
SP0006_CFP00642_Morgan
Citation
Cork Folklore Project, “'They got that awful black flu': Mary Morgan tells of how both of her parents contracted "Spanish Flu" in 1918.,” Health, accessed April 20, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/health/items/show/7.