Lived Once Buried Twice: The Legend of Margorie McCall (2025)
Written and directed by Olivia Rose Beatty, this short film brings to life a spooky old folk tale from my hometown, Lurgan, County Armagh*. According to local legend, poor Margorie McCall died after a brief fever. At her wake there was much commotion concerning her wedding ring. Many of the mourners tried in vain to prise it from her finger, perhaps anticipating that grave robbers might attempt to steal it. Margorie was buried in Shankill Graveyard, and sure enough that very same night, her body was exhumed by robbers after her precious ring. Also unable to remove the ring, the ghouls tried to cut off Margorie’s finger, and as soon as they began cutting and the blood began to flow, Margorie awoke with an unearthly scream… Her headstone still stands in Shankill Graveyard to this day, and it bears the eerie inscription, 'Margorie McCall: Lived Once, Buried Twice.'
This old tale has always been ripe for a filmic adaptation, and Beatty, in her directorial debut, has created a striking looking short. Shot in black and white, it harks back to the early, moody horrors of Universal and RKO, and is rich with period detail and a creepy, Gothic atmosphere. Beatty’s screenplay boasts a darkly impish humour, as she leans into the morbid absurdity of the story and peoples it with fully realised small-town characters. From the gossipy mourners (played with relish by Siomha McStay, Clare McAuley, Ellen Mockford and Bláthnaid McCahilly) clutching their rosaries and wringing their hands, to the dastardly scoundrels (Maitiú McGibbon and Marcellus Kearney) who connive to desecrate Margorie’s grave, Beatty imbues proceedings with rustic, folksy wit. Filmed on location at the Ulster Folk Museum, and in Lurgan’s Cellar Bar and Shankill Graveyard, there's a strong sense of period atmosphere, enhanced by Thomas O’Loan’s moody photography.
The centrepiece of the film, and indeed of the tale itself, is the exhumation of Margorie’s body and the shocking revelation the poor woman was buried alive. Beatty executes this macabre moment with the full force of Gothic horror cinema: flickering gas lanterns, deep, dark shadows and a perfectly timed shock of lightning to illuminate the ghastly sight of Margorie (Lára McIvor) bolting upright up in her grave and terrifying her ghoulish intruders. Beatty also demonstrates a knack for shifting from horror to gallows humour with a deft touch, particularly in the outcome of the climactic reunion of Margorie and her hapless husband John (Thomas Galashan). Indeed, the characters of the mourners at the wake speak to the Northern Irish ability to take the morbid and the extraordinary in stride, while of course providing mordant commentary along the way. Lived Once Buried Twice: The Legend of Margorie McCall was made with the support of NI Screen and the BFI Network, and has been garnering acclaim on the festival circuit. You can watch it online here.
*I have a personal connection to the story of Margorie McCall as my mum lived in the house in Shankill Graveyard when she was a girl. My grandfather was the caretaker of the graveyard (and the grave digger), and one of my aunts was even born in the house. Any time I visit home, I make a wee pilgrimage to the graveyard and visit Margorie’s grave. The bar which served as one of the film’s locations is my parents’ local. Most people in the town will be familiar with the tale of Margorie, and to see it brought so vividly to life in this short film is a real dark delight.
