“The Dungarvon Whooper (II)”

Description

The night a group of fishermen "reached Dungarvon ... the Dungarvon Whooper was the terror of the night." All the beasts fled and the fishermen "felt very sure We could beat any Whooper ... And when he saw that he was beat He was forced to run away"

Supplemental text

Dungarvon Whooper (II), The
  Partial text(s)

          *** A ***

From Louise Manny and James Reginald Wilson, Songs of Miramichi,
#14, pp. 82-84. From the singing of Billy Price of Priceville, in
1960.


Oh, the fishermen are comin'
  To Charles Green's and so it's said,
They are goin' to Dungarvon
  (You must go one day ahead);
And Bruce will go along with you
  With his wagon and his team
For to haul the boat and luggage
  Through to the Dungarvon stream.

(10 additional stanzas)

Notes

Manny/Wilson: "Rev Edward Murdoch, the Roman Catholic parish priest at Renous, felt seriously enough about the matter to come up to Dungarvon and read the church service of exorcism. It is said that after this the evil spirit which was responsible for the horrible sounds was heard no more. But people still say they sometimes hear the Whooper, and they fear to visit the grave by the Whooper Spring. The Dungarvon River is a branch of the Main Renous River, which it joins above Quarryville....

"The train on the Canada Eastern Railway, between Fredericton and Newcastle, named for the Whooper, made its last run in 1936."

Manny/Wilson note on authorship: Someone "says this satiric song was made up by Everett Price, Billy's brother, but Billy [the singer] himself says it was written by his grandfather, Abraham Munn." - BS

Manny and Wilson offer two explanations for the origin of the name "Whooper." One, found in their notes to "The Dungarvon Whooper (I)," link it to a mysterious death and later exorcism in the area, described above and in the notes to the other "Whooper" song.

In their notes on this version, they mention the name being associated with the train on the occasion of a run with a lot of rowdy woodsmen aboard. - RBW

References

1. Manny/Wilson 14, "The Dungarvon Whooper (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. ST MaWi014 (Partial)
3. Roud #9199
4. BI, MaWi014