Ep. 44: Psi Friday with Mason: “The Fenians Are Coming"

This week, Mason explores the fascinating story of the Fenian Brotherhood, Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans who settled in places like Buffalo's Old First Ward and dreamed of freeing Ireland from British rule. Their bold plan involved crossing into Canada and threatening the strategically important Welland Canal—a vital link in British trade and transportation.

Were their plans realistic? What actually happened when they put their ideas into action? And why does the story of the Fenians still resonate more than 150 years later?

Mason will also discuss why he has such a deep respect for Celtic culture, Irish folklore, and the immigrant communities that helped shape Buffalo's history. From rebellion and resilience to ghost stories and local legends, the legacy of the Fenians continues to echo through the streets of the Old First Ward.

And if you'd like to experience that history firsthand, join Mason this weekend for the Haunted History Ghost Walk of the Old First Ward, where history, folklore, and the supernatural come together in one of Buffalo's most storied neighborhoods.

#PSIFriday #MasonWinfield #Fenians #OldFirstWard #BuffaloHistory #IrishHistory #CelticCulture #HauntedHistory #GhostWalk #WesternNewYork #Paranormalist ☘️👻🍀

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi everyone, this is Mason Winfield of Cy Friday with Mason. You know, I thought we were going to stay with the theme of Mexico and the paranormal zones and the disappearance of Ambrose Pierce because that was our last installment. I thought we were going to stay with that, but this weekend happens to be the very last weekend of May 2026. And this is the 160th anniversary of a crazy quixotic adventure that took place in Buffalo, New York, which is pretty much my hometown. And I'm starting up a walking tour in Buffalo's old first ward, the traditional Irish section. So I figure we'll take a little departure from the schedule and we'll talk about a tale I call The Fenians Are Coming. So you gotta go back to the Irish and the American Civil War. The Irish have always, well always is a long word, the Irish have long been oppressed by the British Empire. This is what happens when you live next door to a higher tech, more urbanized, more militarized society. They they follow you home from school, beat you up, and eat your lunch. It's been that way through history. The Aztec did it, everyone's done it. But that doesn't make it any better. The Irish have been screwed for a long time. There were two big waves of them coming to the United States. 1820s, they were just escaping poverty and frustration with the British Empire. In the 1840s and 50s, there was this terrible potato famine that got started. They call it the Irish Potato Blight or something like that. They call it a lot of things. Its uh worst year was 1847. There's actually a band of Celtic rappers called Black 47, and I've heard them a couple times, and they're fun. And they take their name from the worst year. But a bunch of the Irish who were moving to the United States touched down right into the American Civil War. And they got loaded from the docks, the battle ready among them got loaded from the docks right into the army. And there are Irish people fighting in the Civil War on both sides, risking their lives, taking injuries, taking wounds. It's just tragic. And um the irony is that their real enemy was the British Empire. So anyway, the Civil War is over, and you've got up to 150,000 native-born Irish young men whose allegiance is to Ireland and who hate Britain and they want to free Ireland. So, you know, don't forget the Civil War ended in 1865. This is months later, 1866. These guys have a plan. And the plan goes like this: hundreds of men are going to muster in Buffalo's old first ward. It's the Irish section. People there will zip the lip. Weapons, ammunition has already been delivered. They've got their uniforms from the Civil War. A lot of them are green uniforms because they were all Irish regiments. Felt very close to each other. Great unit cohesion. Buffalo's old first ward had an Irish regiment. I'm pretty sure it was the 155th Regiment, and they had green flags with a harp on them. But at any rate, these guys were planning to attack Upper Canada, which is basically, it's not upper on a map, but it's the high ground, you know, that drains into the ocean. That's Upper Canada. And what they're planning to do is choke off this relatively new canal that had been built, the Welland Canal in Canada that gets around Niagara Falls. Any historic move of anything in Western New York, at least until recent this century, 20th century, everything you plan to do in Western New York, whether it's military or trade or travel, those falls are involved. And the other factor is very often water, water travel in our region, until the highways and all that. So the plan is it's late May. These guys are going to camp out in Buffalo briefly. They're in people's homes. It was said that there was not one home in the old First War that didn't feed or shelter the boys, call them the boys. They loved them. And they're going to take barges and boats across the Niagara River, land at the ruins of Old Fort Erie, and choke off the Welland Canal. And if you can choke that canal off, the British can't get armies and supplies and then they'd hold on to that, and they would choke off the trade in lower upper Canada, and they would uh offer to give Britain Canada in exchange for the freedom of Ireland. The plan was not as cracked as it sounded. It really could have worked. But the trouble is nobody had cleared anything with Uncle Sam. And the American government was not eager to start another war. They had battle fatigue of their own, and a bunch of their new citizens starting a war with the British Empire was was not what the doctor ordered. So there was a warship in Buffalo. Um it was docked in Buffalo, and it would have easily been able to block these little boats crossing. It would have been like the Iranian, you know, little navy of Iran trying to attack a uh, you know, an American battleship. That's that's just the math doesn't work, you know. The altitude, nothing works. This ship could have blocked the whole expedition. But the pilot of the ship, you can't take a ship out without your pilot. It was a steam-driven battleship, it was big. This uh pilot was being kept occupied by an Irish American friend with booze in conversation, and then the surprise arrival of a certain lady friend. And of course, by the time the guy came to realize what's going on, gets the boat in the water. There's no resupply for the Fenians. And they're called the Fenians. I mean, there were like 500, 600 guys stranded in Canada. No, no new ammunition, no supplies, no food, nothing. They're stuck. And they fought pretty well in two engagements. But as soon as everybody realized the jig was up, everybody was fairly merciful. British Emperor said, Well, you guys had a little too much to drink, you know. And the old first ward had 119 pubs. It's not that big an area. There at one point there were 119 pubs there. And the U.S. government said, Look, if you guys will just chill a little bit, we'll just say never mind. So they brought them back and let them go. And and the the uh the reason they're called the Fenians, now the Irish independence movement had been around a long time. And um they uh in in the in the European continent they would call the the Irish Republican Brotherhood. But the ones in America they called the Fenians. They were named after the heroic Irish king, Finn McCool, who, if the real guy lived, it was probably around 200 BC. But there's a whole cycle of folklore and stories and legends about Finn McCool. And he had a band of knights around him. He was basically the Irish King Arthur. And there's loads of heroic stories about Finn and the Fianna. And in the United States, it's a hell of a lot easier to say Fenians. So that's what they called these guys. And their battle flag featured a green background and a gold harp with a buxom woman, young woman. The harp has an interesting figurehead, you know, much to my approval. So, other than ending this tale by saying the Celts have enormous national pride, genetic pride, spiritual pride, they and they deserve every bit of it. I I'm a deep fan of Celtic uh culture and spirituality, and um, it it gives me joy to be able to retell a tale like this of people putting it on the line. And the old first ward is really haunted, and you might want to join me there for a tour this season. Cy Friday with Mason now comes to an end. See you next week.