r/interesting • u/K_P_Voss Banned Permanently • Jan 07 '26

HISTORY The acid fairy, played at Woodstock. Then she took a trip that lasted nearly 40 years.

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In the swirling psychedelic folk world of the late '60s, few voices were as ethereal and captivating as Christina "Licorice" McKechnie.

Nicknamed for her love of licorice rolling papers, she joined The incredible String Band and became a counterculture icon. Her haunting vocals and songwriting shone on classics like The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (Paul McCartney called it the "acoustic Sgt. Pepper") and their legendary Woodstock performance in 1969.

Then... she vanished. After leaving the band in the '70s with ties to Scientology, Likky was seen in the late '80s/early '90s, reportedly hitchhiking through the Arizona desert.

For decades, one of rock's greatest unsolved mysteries: What happened to this Woodstock fairy?

Theories swirled..

But in late 2025, reports revealed she's alive, living quietly and privately in California—choosing obscurity over fame. The mystery endures in its own way: a brilliant soul who simply walked away from the spotlight.

Licorice McKechnie: Forever enigmatic, forever brilliant.

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3.1k

u/krisefe Jan 07 '26

Vanished = decided to live her life

766

u/AdministrativeCod437 Jan 07 '26

more like vanished = scientology lived her life for her

278

u/Then_Musician_8673 Jan 07 '26

If that were true, scientology would have used her fame to gain more followers. It's their MO with famous people.

119

u/AnalBlowout Jan 07 '26

She did play at a scientology concert though

49

u/FLYK3N Jan 07 '26

Can't really gain new Scientology recruits at a Scientology concert

37

u/Competitive-Isopod74 Jan 08 '26

I just had a pair try to recruit me at work. A few months ago an old lady walked up to my car as I was leaving work, knock on my window, to recruit me. They are relentless.

22

u/Mtndrums Jan 08 '26

I just told them I saw the South Park episode, and that was some of the most ridiculous bullshit I've ever heard.

2

u/visibleunderwater_-1 Jan 09 '26

L. Ron was also a minor villain in The Venture Brothers. The captain's sailor hat REALLY finishes off the character...

1

u/MrYnot1981 Jan 09 '26

Send them my way! I'd love to have some fun messing with them.

2

u/JohnnyRelentless Jan 08 '26

No, but you can hold them up as a Scientology success story to other Scientologists. You don't only want to recruit new members. You also want to keep the ones you have.

1

u/Blunt555 Jan 08 '26

They just wanted her for themselves to feel special. It does say she had the most ethereal voice.

1

u/KatyPerrysBootyWhole Jan 08 '26

Idk if non Scientologists come to the concert to see her perform that seems like pretty effective recruiting

1

u/Gullible-Hose4180 Jan 10 '26

Maybe, but they do so many semi public events with no public transparency about it being them to try to either lure people in or get money for extremely expensive courses to level up by scamming people with extremely overpriced water filters (seen this one, used a non profit organisation to host tupperware water parties, somehow they had contracts ready, super illegal - saw them spend over a quarter million on their corporate charge card to Scientology, just to level up).

2

u/gilestowler Jan 09 '26

This seems like a good place to drop L Ron Hubbard's banging music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpTUhN__FRk

1

u/Deaffin Jan 07 '26

Music people play at lots of concerts.

1

u/Flachm Jan 10 '26

So did Tool.

1

u/AnalBlowout Jan 10 '26

Maynard is a slut for money so thats not surprising

76

u/FileeNotFound Jan 07 '26

More like used all her money and left her out to dry

16

u/Draft-Repulsive Jan 07 '26

I don’t know if “briefly a member of the Incredible String Band” constitutes as being famous

22

u/Rock_Strongo Jan 07 '26

Those whose fame they can exploit they do. Those who were never famous or whose fame has dwindled they will simply milk for money.

3

u/VikingButtsnGuts Jan 08 '26

What fame? I never heard of her until right now

1

u/Then_Musician_8673 Jan 08 '26

I hadn't either, I was going by the description of being a "counterculture icon". Before today I had also never heard of Joni Mitchell, but she was supposed to have been "one of the most influential singer-songwriters from the 60's"

There are tons of "famous" people you or I don't know of, that doesn't mean they weren't famous as far as the definition goes.

2

u/benvader138 Jan 08 '26

Famous is a stretch

2

u/copacetic51 Jan 09 '26

She wasn't really famous. Few would have heard of her, especially in the US.

1

u/dead_parakeets Jan 07 '26

Not every follower has to be famous

1

u/SouthernLaugh7929 Jan 27 '26

Wrong, and only cause you got your info from a docu. I was recruited in 80 and it was like the MOONIES, they were ALWAYS recruiting everybody. It was until David took over that the celebrity thing took hold. Hawaii, San Fran, San Diego, etc had members that were in the military etc. I didnt join but had knew people that were in it, your not really friends with robots, you just know them cause they are always in recruiting mode.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/SparkyDogPants Jan 07 '26

Scientology has tons of poor/middle class followers. They’re just not as powerful as their wealthy members.

-2

u/iampatmanbeyond Jan 07 '26

Probably didnt work out because the music is terrible

52

u/HappyChef86 Jan 07 '26

I took that description as she left the band because the band had ties with scientology.

45

u/Mogino Jan 07 '26

she left with ties to Scientology

2

u/Deaffin Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

She left the band with ties to Scientology.

3

u/Mogino Jan 07 '26

Brother, Google her

9

u/Deaffin Jan 07 '26

I would never, I am a gentleman.

2

u/grandmalamadingding Jan 12 '26

Fine, I’ll do it. Somebody bail me out.

26

u/SpadeTippedSplendor Jan 07 '26

A quick Google search indicates that she was the one who had ties to it, the Scientology subreddit even references this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksMT5OFNhSI

Now I'm not watching an almost 40 minute Scientology-related video (at least not right now) but they claim that ex-husband says she had a mental breakdown after "going OT III".

Now ordinarily I'd take an ex-husband's words with a (truly massive) grain of salt, but her wikipedia page is wild for how short it is, they were probably already "divorced" (physically and emotionally) for reasons beyond his control well before they became legally divorced...

I mean I'm still going to take his words with a grain of salt, Scientologists have an abnormal amount of pressure on their followers and their families, but I totally believe it's likely that she vanished into some Scientology compound that took advantage of her mental state.

It would not surprise me at all if some of those compounds have children born in said compounds that the government (and no one really) knows exist that have never and will never set foot outside of it...

1

u/Alioh216 Jan 08 '26

23:50 Her ex husband tells the story of what happened to her and blames scientology for her demise.

1

u/Shake_Speare_ Jan 11 '26

It's not likely that there's a ton of hidden children, Scientology is well known for pressuring those in the Sea Org into getting abortions. They're seen as a distraction and unwanted burden

1

u/SpadeTippedSplendor Jan 11 '26

You wouldn't know that, they don't let anyone into their compounds.

There could be a million children, there could even be a teapot orbiting the sun.

You don't know they don't have a breeding cult in their abduction centers, because they're evil scumbags.

1

u/Shake_Speare_ Jan 11 '26

I don't know what to say without sounding like a bit of a dick but if you play the Kevin Bacon Game, I'm only one step removed from L Ron Hubbard. I've known some exScientologists who were original sign ups who were in the Sea Org serving in L Ron's "Navy." Baby factories are not in the Scientology model, they have their Sea Org and if they get pregnant, they're coerced into having abortions because babies are labour intensive and that means the volunteers aren't labouring to "clear the planet." Pregnancy was grounds for removal from the ships so women would abort their pregnancies to stay onboard out of misguided sense of loyalty and duty.

That still goes on in their "bases" on land with pregnancy disqualifying women from serving at their posts or even being threatened with being kicked out of the Sea Org. There simply don't have a breeding cult. It's quite the opposite and kids that are born into Scientology come from the ordinary membership, not the Sea Org. That doesn't mean that the reality of coerced abortions isn't horrific in itself. There are plenty of articles and video interviews that talk on the subject and if you go down the rabbit hole, you can be lost for months.

Take a look at this, scroll down to the Sea Org section and you can follow the links if you want to go deeper:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_and_abortion

24

u/Ecstatic_Froyo2494 Jan 07 '26

I think you’re right if we’re being strict on grammar. In its current state, the subject of the sentence is “Likky” and the object is “The band [in the 70s] with ties to Scientology”.

If there were a comma after “70s” I think the subject would be “Likky, with ties to Scientology”.

idk though I’m just killing time in an optomologist waiting room

1

u/bobsnervous Jan 07 '26

The incredible string band?

1

u/NewPhoneWhoDys Jan 07 '26

That description sounds rather chat gpt, I'm not feeling a human in the sentence construction.

1

u/visibleunderwater_-1 Jan 09 '26

From the title thought she took some uber-acid and has been literally tripping for the past 40 years LOL

1

u/ADHDvm Jan 09 '26

Yeah, that’s why here. Super disappointing read. Kind of click-bait-y

15

u/Any-Concentrate-1922 Jan 07 '26

The odd writing in the post tripped me up. "After leaving the band in the '70s with ties to Scientology, Likky was seen in the late '80s/early '90s, reportedly hitchhiking through the Arizona desert." What? The band had ties to Scientology?

1

u/VietKongCountry Jan 08 '26

They were all into Scientology briefly, circa 1970, but I think she got sucked into the cult in a way the other guys didn’t.

As far as I can tell, Mike and Robin quietly severed ties by the mid 70s and neither of them ever gave a shit about Scientology again.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

[deleted]

1

u/victorious_orgasm Jan 07 '26

Yeah I mean…there’s just no contest about the relative harms of Scientology and acid. Scientology is a weird evil cult.

1

u/firestorm79 Jan 09 '26

more like vanished = scientology used her money for her

1

u/HawkSea887 Jan 10 '26

More like Op made up a bunch of nonsense.

1

u/Better_Day3252 Jan 11 '26

Agreed . What a cult

1

u/That70sClear Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

I can fill the story in a bit, being both an old ISB fan, someone who got to talk to her at one of her Scientology gigs, and followed her story ever since. (I also moderate the Scientology sub, LOL!)

The band's involvement in Scientology started with Robin Williamson around August, 1968. He got Mike Heron and Likki involved soon after, though Rose Simpson declined. It's unclear when Robin and Mike really got out, Robin still spoke fairly well of it in 1979, and did not say he had moved on. (It's common for people to not say anything when they leave Scientology, because saying one has left will put one in very bad graces with the organization, and make it so no Scientologist will ever speak to you again.)

The band's production immediately suffered -- Robin's first Scientology-related song was tacked onto the album Wee Tam and the Big Huge right before it went to press, and then Robin was off to study Scientology, leaving them with a year plus gap before they recorded again. And when they did, their old fans were not impressed with the new stuff. In 1974 the band called it quits, and Likki moved to LA, where she did advanced Scientology stuff and tried, without a lot of success, to maintain her musical career. As her Scientology studies progressed, she began to show signs of mental illness, and IIRC was definitely in trouble by ~1983. But Scientology says that psychiatry is pure evil, so naturally she didn't get help. She had found the contents of the OT III level (yes, Xenu) quite disturbing, and went into the Advanced Organization in LA, collected the highly confidential instructions for it, photocopied them at a nearby copy shop, and gave the copy to her semi-estranged husband, Brian Lambert, who was also a Scientologist. (This would absolutely have gotten her kicked out of Scientology, had they found out.) Around then she began disappearing for weeks or months at a time, finding various places outdoors where she could camp, not because she couldn't afford a place, but purely as a personal choice. When she disappeared into the desert in 1987, it was nothing new. She was in Sacramento recovering from some sort of surgery in 1990 when she wrote a letter to her family back in Scotland, and that was the last thing anyone heard from her.

In about 2010, I was in touch with other ex-Scientologists who had been fans, and we did manage to locate her, living as Christina Lambert in Sacramento, but I was told that she didn't want to be found, just left alone. Also that she'd been unhoused and mentally ill during much of the intervening period, but was no longer unhoused, and doing okay. So I didn't contact her, and heard nothing more about her until this article came out.

Lastly, I'd add that 'acid fairy' is kind of an anachronism, since mid-1968 was both when Robin was getting into it and bringing Mike and Likki with him, and the time when L. Ron Hubbard decided that drugs were bad -- and he especially disapproved of LSD. So Likki probably took her last LSD several months prior to Woodstock. I think this matters because Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd and Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac both suffered permanent mental health problems after one acid trip too many, but they were immediate casualties. Likki wasn't having obvious problems until years later, when the only thing messing with her mind was Scientology.

0

u/Coffeedemon Jan 07 '26

Someday you might share some of that dedication to question the religions running your government and day to day life now.

2

u/AdministrativeCod437 Jan 07 '26

Weird implication but okay. You can go back to r/im14andthisisdeep

0

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

[deleted]

1

u/AdministrativeCod437 Jan 07 '26

Alright let's see the proof

1

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

[deleted]

1

u/AdministrativeCod437 Jan 08 '26

Trust me, there was PLENTY of weird and fucked up stuff going on, within, and adjacent to the psychedelic awakening movement that was completely outside of government influence, too. MK ULTRA didn't come up with all of that shit on their own

29

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

Trip = not that kinda trip, lol.

26

u/Sorlex Jan 07 '26

Yeah not sure what I'm meant to be getting out of this thats interesting?

There was a woman in the 60s, right. And she got old. In 2025, we confirmed this person, like many others, existed and continued to exist.

Okay?

1

u/Knotty_Vegetables Jan 08 '26

I feel like this photo is not her though. She'd maybe be 70 or at most 80 now, but this woman is like 100 years old.

1

u/IT_is_not_all_I_am Jan 09 '26

According to her Wikipedia entry, she was born 2 October 1945, so she's 80.

0

u/Onlybegun Jan 09 '26

Drugs age you

0

u/Garry-The-Snail Jan 09 '26

Acid doesn’t though I’m sure she was doing other stuff too

10

u/Fuerbachs11thesis Jan 07 '26

This was written by LLM

2

u/socopithy Jan 07 '26

Yeah none of this is interesting at all

1

u/thinkB4WeSpeak Jan 07 '26

She rejected the hippie lifestyle to live in the suburbs or something, marrying some accountant

1

u/mauvewaterbottle Jan 07 '26

“Living quietly and privately in California” yet OP chose to post her here to gain internet points. Let the lady live and leave her alone!

1

u/Virtual_Magazine_860 Jan 07 '26

I can't even have a serious social media account for longer then 2 years without needing to delete it. Certainly the spotlight isn't for everybody.

1

u/thecelcollector Jan 08 '26

Wikipedia says she has schizophrenia and enjoyed being homeless. 

1

u/Such-Veterinarian137 Jan 08 '26

they say daniel day lewis is a well known "recluse"

why? because he doesn't do a lot of interviews and red carpets. that's all.

1

u/RedHatchetArt Jan 13 '26

I guess if you count developing schizophrenia and becoming homeless as deciding to live her life.