Atlantis Commune ( The Screamers ) - Co. Donegal 30/01/1981

[@LeeMcDaidDonegal]

Visit the Screamers Community in Burtonport, County Donegal and meets Atlantis founder Jenny James, her sister Snowy, daughter Becky and an Englishwoman Sally. The Atlantis commune members believe aggression is a healthy emotion. As they see it, society has put a premium on mediocrity and being sweet and polite. In Atlantis a balanced person is somebody that can show the whole gamut of emotions with a premium put on being argumentative and aggressive. Very extreme things get said indeed, that’s the point, that you get out every horrible thought you have about this person and then it’s up to the other person to feel what that does to them. This philosophy is demonstrated in a heated exchange between Becky and Sally where Sally releases all her negative feelings about Becky. Becky however, is unsure of how to deal with what Sally is saying. Nevertheless, Jenny is happy for Sally to work her grudges off her daughter because if this did not happen she believes She’ll feel it as a vibration, she’ll feel it as a tension, she’ll hate her she’ll want to cut off from her. We actually want people to express their aggression towards us because it’s then deal-able with, its see-able, touchable, feel-able and it’s not just a horrible feeling of something going on under the surface. After leaving Burtonport, the Atlantis Commune lived on the nearby island of Inishfree for several years before relocating to Colombia in South America.

[@joehiggs100]

BBC Radio 4 documentary was on today, 11am includes excerpts from this film. Thanks for posting.

[@forensics05]

Becky was sensitive and likeable. Her mother Jenny never saw the bigger picture where her daughter was concerned and continually propelled her into conflict. Sadly after moving to Columbia to set up a commune there Becky’s own son Tristan was murdered by FARC on the pretence of being a spy he was beheaded. In an excellent 27 minute documentary on here you can judge for yourself the effect that had on her. As an adult it seems she’s still very personable but still looking for the love and affection that her mother viewed as hindrance. Atlantis is? Atlantis was.

[@klassickasey]

You can tell Sally is performing for the camera and improvising. She's struggling to even come up with sentences. It's still horrible for Becky to be verbally abused, especially at the encouragement of her own mother. Such a toxic cult mentality.

[@jenjen23ful]

Does anybody know if there are still people from the Atlantis community living in Columbia? There is a website but it has been updated since around 2000. It describes the tragic murders of young community members but says that people still chose to stay and live on the land. If anybody knows of any contacts it would be appreciated. I'm trying to contact somebody who moved there in the 90's.

[@ilusagraun]

Singer Katie James, daughter of the community, lives in Colombia - you can find her easily on facebook.

[@ilusagraun]

Also - this article is from 2007 www.grupotortuga.com/Impactante-historia-real-de-crimen - at the end in english

[@jenjen23ful]

@@ilusagraun Thanks you for response. I spoke with Jenny James by email and she still lives in the countryside there. There's a great Dutch documentary featuring her and one of her daughters visiting the community.

[@brendancorrigan]

@@ilusagraun www.spreaker.com/user/revistasemana/e33-po-dcast-the-colombia-cast I'm also currently renting a room from another daughter, Louise! She was also on the podcast ... www.spreaker.com/user/revistasemana/e21-po-dcast-the-colombia-cast

[@conorfitzmaurice8959]

There is a girl on ticktoc,discussing the donegal screamers, look her up if you can

[@Peter-k2j]

anyone know if the full doc is up somewhere ?

[@michaeldoogan2873]

It seems to have suited the women more than the guys. At the end of the day it seemed to be a very destructive sociallogical experiment for the poor people involved and even harder on the local people who had this madness thrust on them.

[@johnbalance3989]

Becky was very cute.

[@paintingtosser3814]

Becky is a man in a woman's body.

[@anngulliver5964]

These people are what they say on Big Brother nowadays. 😂 "This housemate sits on the fence and that housemate is too nice" 😂. Very interesting that when Atlantis moved out another eccentric group of people moved in called the Silver Sisterhood into the same house

[@johnross7344]

Keep thinking Boris Johnstone is going to show.

[@paintingtosser3814]

Boris was in Atlantis for two days in the seventies. He came, he saw, and he scarpered, like a chicken in the middle of the night, when everyone was sleeping. Becky gave him a lash of her tongue and he fell into a deep pit. It was all too much for him.

[@paintingtosser3814]

Becky 5, Sally 0. Becky demolished Sally. A great all -round performance from Becky. And isn't Becky very cute?

[@tomryan4501]

Spacers.

[@jayaychare7318]

Sounds healthy 😂.