Airbrushed

A friend of mine has told me more than once, over the years, about a deadly bombing he witnessed - and nearly walked into - in Dublin, back in the Seventies. He recalled it as taking place by the Gresham Hotel.

The Boston bombing yesterday brought that memory to his mind once more, and he tried to Google about it, using combinations like Gresham Hotel Bomb. It proved strangely hard to find, and he began to wonder if he had mis-remembered the precise location.

But by steadfastly Googling different combinations, I found a clear reference in an old Russell Kirk column, which ran in the Prescott Courier on June 20, 1974:

Atrocities, most of them attributed to the IRA, have commenced south of the border - the most recent big one being the death-dealing explosion before the Gresham Hotel, in Dublin.

So, why is this hard to find? I rather suspect that this represents Search Engine De-Optimization. In other words, I suspect the hotel operators have worked to remove online references to their hotel having been the location of such a disaster. The hotel remains in business.

Who wants to have a hotel
recalled as a site of hell?