In September 2023, residents of Omagh, in Co Tyrone, noticed a mysterious humming noise – a low-frequency drone that interrupted sleep and drove some locals to distraction. What was the hum? Was it real or a collective delusion? If it was genuine, what were the origins?
These questions are considered in True North: The Omagh Hum (BBC One, Monday), a charming documentary by Alex Fegan, whose previous films include The Irish Wedding and The Confessors, the latter about the experiences of priests in modern Ireland. Fegan favours a sort of low-key quirkiness – think Jim Jarmusch if handed the keys to Nationwide – which could be a bit twee but which here works perfectly.
The townsfolk are more puzzled than annoyed by the phenomenon. “There’s a lot of talk about UFOs. I don’t know what would draw them to Omagh,” one man says. “Someone is doing it intentionally – to draw people in,” a woman from the local tourist office adds. “People are coming to try and listen to it and find it. They end up here [in the tourist office], which is all good because it keeps me in a job.”
The Omagh Hum’s wry, playful tone is briefly set aside for an acknowledgment of the impact on the town of the 1998 bombing by the Real IRA, a Provisional IRA splinter group, in which 29 people died.
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Fegan joins Emmet McElhatton of the Ulster Herald, who is looking into the hum. “A lot of people are complaining they can’t sleep at night,” he says. We also meet Jamie Ryan, a repairman, who hopes technology will help trace the source of the baroque buzzing.
“We are infamous on the map for what happened here 26 years ago,” one woman says. “We’re not going to hide that part of our past. We were put on the map as it became the largest atrocity of what was known as the Troubles. We are a very united town and very multicultural.”
egan joins Emmet McElhatton of the Ulster Herald, who is looking into the hum. “A lot of people are complaining they can’t sleep at night,” he says. We also meet Jamie Ryan, a repairman, who hopes technology will help trace the source of the baroque buzzing.
Ryan soon believes that he has cracked the case. There is a twist, though. Although the hum seems to emanate from a factory, legal issues prevent the business’s name from being revealed – even by the local council. A few weeks later, without fanfare, the hum vanishes. The mystery is never solved – but at least people can once again look forward to a solid night’s sleep.
The Omagh Hum puts an idiosyncratic spin on the story and portrays Omagh as a quaint town full of charming locals. Sometimes that depiction verges on saccharine and condescending; if the programme were longer, this approach might become insufferable.
But, clocking in at less than half an hour, the film makes for short, good-natured viewing – even if the absence of answers about the origins of the hum dooms it to conclude on a note of uncertainty.
