'Mysterious' beach crater turns out to be hole dug by locals
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Journalists get it right most of the time. When they don’t, factually incorrect information can spur protests or even topple governments. But sometimes, it just gives us all a reason to laugh.
That’s exactly what happened at an Irish TV news agency when they reported that a mysterious crater had been found at the Portmarnock beach in North Dublin.
How it unfolded
The crater was discovered by local astronomy enthusiast Dave Kennedy while he was walking his dog four days back. He said that the crater was a result of a meteor strike, and he also found a rock inside the crater, which he was certain was a meteorite.
"When I looked at it and saw how uniform it is – the blast crater – I knew immediately that what I was looking at was an impact site," Kennedy told Virgin Media News.
"As you can tell by here, there's a scorch mark on this side here, so that would have been at the angle it came down at. And it's weighty, I'm not sure of its composition but we're definitely going to have to find out," he added.
Kennedy also went on to explain the scorch marks on the rock, which he said was due to the angle at which the rock came from above.
And that was enough evidence to go on for Ireland’s Virgin Media News, who sent their reporter Hannah Murphy on the site with Kennedy. The media outlet said in a broadcast, “A mysterious hole on a beach has caused a stir in North Dublin. A local astronomy enthusiast is hoping the crater in Portmarnock could be the aftermath of a cosmic event.”
Murphy, in her report, stated, “It’s a huge mysterious crater that looks out of this world. But is it?”
#WATCH A mysterious hole on a beach has caused a stir in North Dublin.
— Virgin Media News (@VirginMediaNews) September 13, 2023
A local astronomy enthusiast is hoping the crater in Portmarnock, could be the aftermath of a cosmic event. @Hanelizaa reports ⤵️#VMNews pic.twitter.com/cGJiyd3eZj
Well, it wasn’t
As it turns out, the crater wasn’t actually a crater but a giant hole dug by a couple of locals a day prior to its discovery. It was just a bunch of ‘lads’ fooling around on the beach and digging a hole in the sand, as is a common activity among beachgoers.
There’s also a video of the men digging the hole.
lads I’m in bits. Virgin Media news is after reporting on a hole on portmarnnock beach that ‘Could be the aftermath of a cosmic event’. Some fellas literally dug it the day before with a kid’s shovel
— spochadóir (@spochadoir) September 14, 2023
The way your man was talking about the rock being an asteroid had me in tears https://t.co/dNFNanF8Mn pic.twitter.com/GoTTNkcA5U
Shortly after, Virgin Media News had to retract their report. They wrote in an X post, “Meteorite mystery solved!”
🚨 Meteorite mystery solved! 🚨
— Virgin Media News (@VirginMediaNews) September 14, 2023
The mystery of the hole on a north Dublin beach has apparently been solved - denting the hopes of a local space enthusiast, who had hoped it was the site of a meteor strike.#VMNews pic.twitter.com/zhqKbhzvNY
But the damage was already done. Social media users were not going to let this go. What followed was a barrage of memes and hilarious posts on X.
It was just a lad and his mates digging a hole the day before. Wild how this has become a news segment
— Paul North (@Paul__North) September 14, 2023
Quality journalism again from Virgin Media 😂😂
— Declan 🇮🇪 ✝️ 🙏 ☘️ (@DeclanDeclan100) September 14, 2023
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