--- title: "Irish TV Crew Films Segment on “Mysterious Crater” That Turns Out to Be Hole Dug by Local “Lads”" description: "Irish TV station Virgin Media News broadcasted a breaking news segment about a \"mysterious crater. Turns out it was a hole dug by locals." date: "2023-09-17" modified: "2023-09-17" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tv-mysterious-crater-dug-local-lads" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "craters" - "ireland" - "meteorites" - "the digest" --- # Irish TV Crew Films Segment on “Mysterious Crater” That Turns Out to Be Hole Dug by Local “Lads” ![Irish TV station Virgin Media News broadcasted a breaking news segment about a "mysterious crater. Turns out it was a hole dug by locals.]() *\Image: Virgin Media News\* ## Hole Story Irish TV station *Virgin Media News* [broadcasted a news segment]() on Wednesday about a "mysterious crater" at a local beach north of Dublin, which it said could be evidence of a meteorite violently impacting with the sand in a "once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event." The smoking gun: a mysteriously charred rock in the middle of the almost perfectly circular hole. The station even got "local astrophysics buff" Dave Kennedy to comment on the matter. "Only about a month ago I was watching a documentary from NASA on exactly what you’re looking at behind you, and so when I looked at it and saw how uniform it is," he told the station. "I knew immediately what I was looking at was an impact site." But as it turns out, the almost perfectly round hole was dug out by some enterprising locals, who even documented their digging escapade on social media — a great reminder that sometimes it's best to take local TV reporting with a hefty grain of salt, or perhaps sand in this case. https://twitter.com/VirginMediaNews/status/1702300246397911105 ## Dig Dug Locals, naturally, guffawed at the outlandish theory. "Lads I’m in bits," one local [tweeted](). "*Virgin Media* news is after reporting on a hole on Portmarnock beach that 'could be the aftermath of a cosmic event.'" "Some fellas literally dug it the day before with a kid’s shovel," they added. "The way your man was talking about the rock being an asteroid had me in tears." Dublin locals Charlie Wallace and his mate Peter McEvoy were likely responsible for the hole. Footage shared on Instagram shows the lads digging away with some plastic shovels. "Will the Irish suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs?" reads the caption of Irish comedian Garron Noone's [ TikTok]() on the matter. "I think it's fair to say we're not exactly at the cutting edge of astrophysics in Ireland." In their defense, *Virgin Media News* later shared footage of Wallace and McEvoy digging. "Meteorite mystery solved!" the outlet [tweeted](). Meanwhile, Kennedy, while "disappointed," hasn't given up hope and is still trying to "get the rock analyzed," per the outlet. **More on meteorites:** *[Woman Reportedly Struck by Meteorite While Drinking Coffee]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()