David Blaine-esque stunt in Swatragh over 50 years ago

In September 2003, American illusionist David Blaine spent 44 days in a glass box suspended 30 feet in the air over the bank of the River Thames.

The stunt made national headlines, but in a rural corner of County Derry, they had seen it all before.

Well, kind of.

Back in June 1969, organisers of a community festival in Swatragh were preparing a similar stunt of their own.

Volunteers were sought to be suspended in what a Belfast Telegraph report dated June 23 1969 described as a 'dome-shaped wooden and metal capsule'.

The festival can even boast that they went higher than Blaine's 2003 episode, with their box hoisted 40 feet into the south Derry air.

Thankfully however, the stunt would not rumble on for over a month, and would not result in any starvation. The organisers even offered a reward for staying the course.

Step forward Francis Graffin, a then-22-year-old from the County Antrim village of Ahoghill.

“Francis will be an 'astronaut' for the week – at the top of a pole in Swatragh, a stunt organised as part of the town's community week,” read the report.

“His home for the next six days is a dome-shaped wood and metal 'capsule' measuring six feet by three and ten feet high.”

The original article from the Belfast Telegraph in 1969.

An employee of the Antrim Rural Council, the bold volunteer told the Belfast Telegraph he felt 'lucky' to be involved in the stunt.

“I heard that volunteers were wanted for this, so I decided to have a go, and was lucky enough to be chosen,” he said.

“I took a week of my holidays to do this, and I think I should be able to stay up until the weekend.”

Mr John Mulholland, then chairman of the Northern Counties Development Association, who organised the event, assuaged any concerns about sustenance.

“There is a ladder up to the capsule and we shall be bringing Francis regular meals and the occasional steak, and members of the association will be on duty day and night,” he said.

Mr Graffin had also been provided with a telephone link to the ground, with the report ending by declaring the Antrim man was 'quite happy' after his first night in the capsule.

Local historian Frank McKendry said the event was probably organised as part of fundraising efforts that took place in the late 1960s - before the violence of the 1970s erupted.

“They ran those things, had a big marquee and dances and all that kind of thing,” he said.

“At one stage they roasted a bullock. They got a man and his son over from England who specialised in doing this.

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Two died and over 30 were injured in the 1968 tragedy.

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“It was a headline thing at a time too. The bullock had been roasting all day and had to be turned on a spit or it wouldn't turn.

“It was a crowd-puller too for a few nights and people would have come from miles around. They ran it for a few years up where the co-op mart is now.

“There were huge crowds came to it, but it was just before the Troubles started and then it was never run again after that.”