TV station's embarrassing mistake after 'mysterious crater' appears on beach
One local 'astronomy enthusiast' said he was certain the hole had been caused by a 'cosmic event'.
An Irish television station has been left red-faced after running a news segment on what was thought to be a large seaside "crater” that mysteriously appeared on a Dublin beach earlier this week.
Virgin Media News reported the “crater” — that first appeared at Portmarnock Beach in the country’s northeast on Wednesday — had been caused by a meteorite, baffling many over its origins.
One local "astronomy enthusiast”, David Kennedy, said he was "certain" the hole had been caused by a "cosmic event”, claiming that he was convinced a rock found inside the hole had fallen from space.
"As you can tell... there's a scorch mark on this side here, so that would have been at the angle it came down at," Mr Kennedy told Virgin Media News earlier in the week. "It is weighty. I'm not sure of its composition, but we're definitely going to have find out."
Not a crater, just a hole dug with a plastic shovel
Though, his enthusiasm was short-lived after the hole’s true origins emerged on social media. As it turns out, the suspected crater was in fact just a hand-made hole, dug by two Irish lads — Charlie Wallace and Peter McEvoy — over the weekend, with a plastic shovel no less.
According to the Irish Examiner, Mr Kennedy spent some time trying to determine how the hole came about, contacting a number of astronomy experts to see if they could help in solving the “mystery”.
Before the truth came to light, other Dublin locals had flocked to the beach, taking photos beside the hole, which was branded "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
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Upon the disheartening realisation, Mr Kennedy reportedly said he was “disappointed that it was not a meteor impact site”, but vowed to have the rock analysed "in the hope that it was not a completely fruitless discovery".
Several experts have since spoken on the issue, citing that if the hole had actually been created by a “cosmic event” it’s very unlikely it would have gone unnoticed, with meteor instances heavily covered by global media.
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