The Donnellys is Canada's most infamous true story.  A story that has grown in the telling with each generation since the events that shook the little village of Lucan in 1880 and caused a sensation around the world.   Why did the god-fearing residents of a small rural town rise up one night and slaughter an entire family as they lay sleeping?   Why did a veil of silence descend over the town, so that even though forty sets of footprints were found at the scene, nobody was ever convicted of the murders?  And why has the code of silence lasted to this day?


James and Johannah Donnelly with their young son, James Jr., migrated to Canada from Tipperary, Ireland in the early 1840s.The Donnellys were just an ordinary family like everyone else emigrating to the New World with dreams of a better life tucked away in their simple luggage. They had been born into poverty, had known famine, and yes, even murder, so life in the Canadas had to be an improvement on what they had left behind. Upon their arrival, James Sr., found work to feed his wife and child, and it was during their stay in the Forest City, (London), their second child, William, was born; a child with a deformed foot who would eventually be nicknamed, "Clubfoot Will". With his wife at his side, James set about the arduous task of clearing his land, and in the fall of that same year, the couple was blessed with another son whom they called John. Over the next few years, four more children, Patrick, Michael, Robert, and Thomas, were born. The family, now numbering nine in all, live quite contentedly in their little shack.

On February 4, 1880, in the township of Biddulph, Ontario, Canada, five lives were snuffed out in a heartbeat. James and Johannah, their sons, John and Tom, and a niece, Bridget, all met their deaths violently in what would come to be known as, "The Biddulph Horror". As they lay in the throes of dying, a little boy, huddled beneath a bed, watched in terror as the massacre took place. He survived to tell the tale of what happened that tragic, grisly night in Canadian history when death came knocking. On the eve of the massacre, Johnny O'Connor arrived at the Donnelly homestead. It was not unusual for him to come and stay with the family, as he often helped them with farm chores. The Donnellys were expected in Granton the next morning, February 4th, for an arson case that involved the torching of Grouchy Ryder's barn, and Johnny was needed to take care of the pigs while they were away. Being a small house, the family had to double up in their sleeping quarters. That night, Johnny shared a bed, located in the front bedroom of the house, with the senior member of the family, James Donnelly. Johannah Donnelly, his wife, took to her bed in the next room over, and was happy to share with her niece, Bridget, visiting from Ireland. Tom Donnelly, her youngest son aged 25, had a bed in a little room off the kitchen. Sometime between twelve midnight and two a.m., the boy was awakened by James Sr., as he scrambled out of bed. He immediately noticed James Carroll, the supposed leader of the Biddulph Peace Society, standing in the living room, and heard the old man ask him to hold the candle here while I dress". The little kitchen exploded into chaos, and death surrounded the Donnellys on every side. Carroll had let out some kind of signal, and the door burst open with a gang of men who entered with murder on their blood-thirsty minds. Armed with clubs, sticks, and other farm implements, they surrounded the startled family, and began beating them to death. They cared not for the sex or the age of their victims, but only that their name was 'DONNELLY', and on that night, February 4th, 1880, the Donnellys had to die. "I think there were about twenty of them (that) ran into the house," Johnny said during his testimony. "I don't know how many came in afterwards -- I was still lying in bed when they came in, and then I jumped out and crawled under the bed. Seeing no one in the front room other than Bridget fleeing for her life, Johnny ran after her and followed her up the steps to the next floor, but when they reached the top, she inadvertently slammed the door in his face. Afraid of being discovered by the assassins who were still in the kitchen finishing off James, Johannah and Tom, the lad raced back to the bedroom, and hid beneath the bed behind a clothes basket. "I could see Tom's feet at the door, and heard him groaning," the boy recalled. "I could hear something rattle when they threw him down; one fellow said, 'hit that fellow on the head and break his skull open'; then someone hit him three or four blows on the head with a spade." Johnny added that he saw the murder weapon as it was being carried past the door.