Nowadays, stories about men, women and children being kept prisoner in strange circumstances--sometimes for years or decades--are so common that I'm certain Chuck will soon declare them "no longer weird."
But fifty years ago, such stories seemed more rare. One such inspired the classic novel by John Fowles, The Collector, which appeared in 1963.
The trailer of the film version can be seen above.
Fowles was inspired in part by a true story. I believe I've found that account, as seen below.
Enjoy the debut of what was to become a whole category of weird news.
Dickie Rock (born 1936) was an Irish singer whose career peaked in 1966 when he sang for Ireland in the Eurovision song contest. Wikipedia only has a brief article about him. However, the article includes this intriguing nugget of weirdness:
In 1966, he sang for Ireland in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest with the song, "Come Back to Stay". He entered as a solo artist and finished fourth in the Contest. This song also became a number one hit in Ireland. Rock was the subject of a well-known Irish catchphrase—"spit on me Dickie", the origin of this being that rebellious young women in the 1960s wanted to be covered in his saliva in a manner similar to American women idolising the hips of Elvis. The phrase took off in Belfast in the 1960s and spread all over Ireland.
This raises the issue of spit fetishes. Dr. Mark Griffiths offers these observations about spit fetishes on his blog:
The online Urantia Book claims that (historically) saliva was a potent fetish. Apparently, "devils could be driven out by spitting on a person" and "for an elder or superior to spit on one was the highest compliment"...
much of the online literature on spitting fetishes (as opposed to saliva fetishes) appears to be rooted in BDSM and is usually referred to as 'spitting domination'. The dominant partner may spit into their submissive partner's face and/or mouth. The submissive partner may also be forced to swallow the liquid spit if their mouth is spat into. Many of the online articles about spitting fetishes see parallels between the act of spitting and the act of ejaculation – particularly in relation to 'facials' (i.e., the act of men ejaculating onto someone's face) and the practice of bukkake (i.e., the act of many men simultaneously ejaculating onto someone's face and/or body)...
Compared to all other paraphilic and fetishistic behaviours concerning sexual arousal to human bodily fluids, there is significantly less written about saliva and spitting fetishes. Whether academic and/or clinical research is needed is – at present – debatable.
So based on what Dr. Griffiths says, perhaps the desire of young women for Dickie to spit on them was related to their desire for him to ejaculate on them. It would make sense. Especially with a name like Dickie!
Here's Dickie singing "Come Back To Stay": Update: The original video I posted got pulled from youtube, so here's another one -- a documentary about Dickie Rock:
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.