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In the late sixties and early seventies Hammer horror
movies were at the height of their success with titles like "The
Vampire Lovers" and "Carmilla". These movies all had a similarity
that generally saw some very attractive, scantily clad ladies
indulging themselves on the blood of unsuspecting victims whom they
had seduced with their charms.
Now at that time The Teenbeats were a bunch of
maniacs (absolute nutters, some would say) who were always willing
to try anything at least once……. and usually did. Several of the
band members were huge fans of those Hammer films and knew the
various legends of the vampires quite well. There was a few young
ladies in the coastal resort of Skerries, County Dublin who had also
aquainted themselves with these legends but perhaps delved a little
more deeply than most.
One fine summer night fate saw three of these young
ladies attending a dance in the Pavilion Ballroom on the seafront in
Skerries at which none other than The Teenbeats was the featured
band. At this time 9-2 meant that there was music from 9.00 p.m.
until 2.00 a.m. so a relief band played from 9 o'clock until about
11.30 during which time three of the band members made the
acquaintance of the three young lady horror fans.
This particular night was also memorable in the
annals of the band as the night we got barred from future gigs in
The Pavillion for appearing in various states of undress (all in the
best possible taste, of course and purely for fun) whilst singing
"Leap Up And Down (Wave Your Knickers In The Air)". This was
something we had done all over the country and had never had any
adverse reaction. In fact on the night in question the punter
response had been hugely enthusiastic but that's probably another
story.
At the end of the night, as the band packed up, the
same three young ladies made it very clear that they would like to
further pursue the newly formed friendship with the same three band
members (who shall remain otherwise nameless) and would be very
grateful for a lift home. As the gig was so close to Dublin several
of the band had travelled in their own cars rather than the
bandwagon and sure enough the three involved in this adventure had
travelled together in one car. The sight of these three leaving with
the girls in tow was also cited as a reason for the barring of the
band. The guy running The Pavilion at that time must have been a bit
strange to say the least. As it turned out he wasn't the only
strange thing in Skerries that night.
Situated in the lands between Skerries and Balbriggan
there is now a wonderful public amenity known as Ardgillan Castle
but way back then it was a much different place .... especially at
night. On leaving the ballroom the sextet had quite quickly become
three couples. The girls were very naturally attractive and
describing all three as vivacious would be an understatement. Being
close to 3.00 a.m. by this time, there wasn't even a take away open
in Skerries and everyone agreed that something to eat would be nice.
The girls suggested that they knew a great place for a feed and said
they would show the way.
The directions given guided the driver of the car out
of Skerries and onto the road that leads from there to Balbriggan
and after a couple of miles onto a back road that seemed to twist
and turn every which way and ultimately onto an even narrower road
that had no houses whatsoever on it. A little way down that road the
driver was told to stop at the entrance to a field. There was, of
course, no street lighting in this relatively remote location but
there was a full moon so visibility for such a rural location was
not bad at all.
On being asked where they thought we might get a feed
out there at this time of night the girls pointed across the field
to where a building, that looked like an old castle, stood. (This
was later identified as Ardgillan Castle as mentioned above). They
said "come on over and we'll show you". This was where the mad
streak in all members of The Teenbeats of that time took over and
brains and common sense vanished. Two of the lads readily agreed to
the invitation and headed across the field with their recently
acquired partners.
The remaining band member had sensed an opportunity
to remain in the car and get to know his new friend better and she
seemed anxious to stay behind and take care of him too. So, reduced
to a foursome, the party approached a gate that led into the
environs of the castle. At this point one of the girls suggested
that one couple should wait while she and her partner went in to
check the place out. Having played along so far the first two went
on through the gate while the others waited nearby and became a
little more intimate with each other.
The romantic conversation soon turned to the subject
of vampire movies and whether or not the legend was in any way
believable. The gentle kissing around the musician's neck gradually
turned to gentle little bites and eventually to more severe biting
bordering on the painful. Suddenly there was an almighty roar from
inside the wall that surrounded the castle and the first guy, who
had gone inside with his girl to check it out, came scrambling
across the gate not stopping to open it. As he ran back across the
field he was shouting "get the $%&* out of here, head" at the top of
his voice.
Now more conscious of the pain being inflicted on his
neck the second member pushed his girl aside and took off across the
field after his colleague. As they climbed frantically over the
field gate the blood starting to stain the collar of the first guy's
shirt was clearly visible in the moonlight. The two girl's could be
heard shouting from over by the castle "come back, come back, don't
be afraid it's only a bit of fun".
On reaching the car the two musicians jumped in quite
suddenly and startled the couple that had remained in it. In the
brief confusion that was caused by their sudden return the remaining
girl banged her nose on her partner's head and it started to bleed
quite badly.
Refusing flatly to wait for the two girls still in
the field, the driver reluctantly agreed to bring the third girl
back to Skerries, because of her severe nosebleed, but there wasn't
much conversation during the three or four mile drive. Back in the
town she asked to be dropped at the entrance to a very respectable
looking housing estate and the driving musician gladly complied. The
stain on the collar of his friend's shirt was even worse by now.
When the car stopped the "cute whore" in the back who hadn't gone
into the field was curious to know what had happened and pushed for
an explanation before his girl could get out of the car. The driver,
who hadn't gone through the gate into the castle grounds, was also a
bit curious as he wasn't fully clear about what had happened.
All the wounded Teenbeat would say, over and over,
was "she bit my neck, she bit my neck". As the car was of the two
door variety he had to get out to let the girl out of the back seat
which he eventually did as he composed himself a bit. As the girl
got out she could be seen holding her hands carefully in front of
her.
The shocked musician was still repeating "she bit my
neck, she bit my neck" as he sat back into the front passenger seat
. The girl was, by now, standing on the footpath and "the cute
whore" was attempting to apologise for what had happened from the
safety of the back seat of the car.
As the car door closed behind her she turned and
looked longingly at the front seat passenger, who was still clearly
bleeding under the collar of his open-neck shirt. "Of course she
did, what did you expect?" , she asked through the open front
window. She then proceeded to drink the blood she had carefully
collected from her bleeding nose in her cupped hands.
The car sped off.
© Cass O'Neill 2004
©
Irish Showbands Archive 2004 |
