Sumera: Irish word for abyss or bottomless pit. In the early19th century locals discovered a black hole in the earth way up in the rolling hills of Boho, county Fermanagh that they referred to as the first sumera and treated as a supernatural place out of suspicion and fear. Perfectly level with the ground that surrounds it, this 30 foot wide pothole is a straight drop of 88 meters (289 feet) and is almost invisible while walking on level ground. In 1826 there was a man named Dominick Noones that was a member of an illegal reform group known as The Ribbonmen. He was marked as an informant and lured to a wedding party in the hills of Boho where he was captured, had his tongue cut out and thrown down the hole plunging to his death. Legend says his murderers were able to here his scream until it slowly faded away believing he would fall forever. Ever since that day the sumera has been more popularly know as Noones hole. It was heavily explored in the late 1900's and became a very popular site among tourists and locals as it is the deepest pothole in the entire country. Sometime around 1988 the government planted trees and thick briar all around the hole and fenced it off with barbed wire due to multiple accidents of people slipping and falling to their death, but off course this didn't stop me. Yesterday afternoon i was led up the windy back roads into the hills where the black hole lies hidden and overgrown. From the road, the fenced off section of overgrown brush stands out in an open field like sore thumb. We pull off the side of the gravel road onto a cow pasture through a break in the stone wall. As we get out of the car my mischievous tour guides Mark and Lee begin to scour over the stone wall in search of the perfect rock. We make our way down a hill avoiding massive moon pies overgrown with magic mushrooms, carrying a good size boulder and a flashlight. As we approach the wire i can feel the boys getting nervous as they had obviously both been here before and know the severity of the danger. Now, as most of you know i am the king of stupid and crazy shit, but when the reality of how stupid something actually is gets a hold of you before you pull the trigger it instills a bit of fear and fear is the devil. One slip on the forever damp Irish bog, one loose rock, one animal that darts out of the only cover for miles and startles you the wrong way and poof your gone. Lee carefully gets a grip on 2 barbed wire strands pushing the rest of the fence down with his boot as Mark and i shimmy our way through the razor. Once the 3 of us and the rock are inside the fence inching our way to the edge Mark turned to me and uttered the first sincere sentence i have heard out of his mouth in the 4 years I've known him. "Please please be careful kid, this is not a fucking joke and i swear to god i would rather jump in after you than have to call your mother!" Mark had one hand gripping the back of my belt and one hand holding the camera and Lee had one hand holding on to Marks belt and the other wrapped around a tree. Anyways it was a crazy experience to hear that rock banging off the walls and not hit the bottom, the video says it all. I'm glad i lived to tell about it and i have a feeling its a site most of you will never see given its remote location so i hope you enjoy...
As always, a special thanks to Lee Harron for taking me on their adventure and off course to Mark Drumm for endangering my life with his bright ideas!
Fear is the devil...>
Im not here for a long time... Im here for a good time!
“Live every act fully, as if it were your last…” –Buddha. My name is Paul Longo; this blog is to share my personal experiences, hobbies, travels, and encounters of my life with the world and those of you that are interested. Life is too short, it’s a saying we hear on a daily basis and the reality of the matter is it's true! It is so easy to get caught up in a daily struggle to create the “perfect” life that sometimes the best parts of it all are passing us by on the quest to the top of a peak less mountain. How do we measure success? How does one define a fulfilled life? I have no idea and I am not going to pretend that I have those answers because I don’t, but I do have an opinion! Grow up, go to college, get a job, get a wife, have kids, travel within your means, get old, die, and repeat… not so much. We are only here once, we only get one chance to experience the everyday beauty that life has to offer and it is our job to enjoy every minute of that! Every second we waste not living life to our maximum potential is not only unfair to the people that put us here, but wasted time we can NEVER get back! Chase a dream, follow your heart instead of your head once in a while, be spontaneous, take chances, and create ways to make responsibility a fun priority as opposed to forced misery. I’m no preacher; I’m just a kid that enjoys everything no matter how simple it may be and constantly strives to make the best of any situation. I make a continuous effort everyday to keep a positive attitude and not let the insignificant things drag me down to a miserable reality. Work hard, play hard, but most importantly have fun, help people along the way, appreciate all that you have and never give up on the things that you want in your life. ENJOY!
I want to thank my family and friends that have made it possible for me experience all that I have over the last 25 years… I dedicate this site to my parents Paul and Renee Longo for sacrificing SO much for their children and teaching me to always appreciate the little things in life. I love you both and thanks for having me!
Make the world turn,
-Paul Longo
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