The Search For Robert Emmets Remains

13th April 1969; An effort to locate the headless body of Robert Emmet was made by members of the Tralee Robert Emmet Society. The patriot was executed in Dublin in 1803 and subsequently beheaded. Legend has it that his body was smuggled from Dublin to Tralee by Patrick McMahon, who, at the time, was a carrier between Tralee and Dublin. The excavation was carried out in the old churchyard at Blennerville at a spot pin-pointed by Mr Michael Shanahan, a diviner from Tarbert. Mr Shanahan had touched a picture of Robert Emment with his divining rod. A black coloured material was found and sent to Dublin for analysis. The results were negative and the whereabouts of the remains of Emmet are unknown.