Ex-squaddie with PTSD gets over his nightmares after stuffing his home with 10,000 DOLPHIN-related objects
The dad-of-five has spent £90,000 turning his bungalow into a dolphin shrine
A FORMER soldier battling PTSD has found a porpoise in life - by turning his home into a shrine to DOLPHINS.
Michael Caine, 58, has his blow-whole house covered with more than 10,000 pieces of dolphin memorabilia - and has even tattooed the marine mammal on his face.
His £90,000 collection includes figurines, stuffed animals, posters, plates and mirrors.
Michael even has dolphin-themed light fittings, toilet seats, cookie jar, kettle, radio, ashtrays and board games.
The father-of-five spends his spare time listening to dolphin music and even watches them on film to relax.
And he still gets excited every time he spots some-fin new for his Plymouth home.
He said: "I have a total of 10,559 different dolphin items I have collected and they are all over my home. Everything here is dolphin related.
"I have dolphin wall units, kettle, cookie jar, wine glass, blankets on the sofa, tea towels. You name it - I have it.
"All the walls are covered with dolphin plates. It is a shrine.
"I don't want anything else other than dolphins. Every piece of wall, anywhere around my bungalow, I'll put something else there.
"I've still got 30 boxes up in the attic that have to come down, but I am squeezing them in slowly.
"All my friends know me as the dolphin man and when I have shown them my collection it gives them all a big smile."
related stories
Michael was with the Devon and Dorset regiment on tour in Northern Ireland in the 1970s when he was shot in the head by the IRA while manning a sangar.
He survived with just cuts after his helmet took the brunt of the ricocheted bullet - but in recent years he has suffered with mental trauma over the incident.
But he says his fin-credible collection offers the perfect antidote to the nightmares and flashbacks he suffers from his time in the military.
He said: "I got shot in Belfast by the IRA and I still get a lot of flashbacks and nightmares.
"I was in the Devon and Dorsets and was in a sangar when I got hit in the head. The bullet ricocheted off the wall when a gunman fired six rounds in through the viewing slot. One hit my helmet and I was knocked out.
"The first thing I knew was waking up in hospital the next day. They patched me up and four days later I was back on the streets but the trauma got to me.
"Dolphins do work as therapy for my PTSD and are the best thing for it. I have bad nightmares but to hear dolphins sing and talking within the song and look around at my collection is a huge relief."
Michael first fell in love with the creature following a chance encounter as a seven-year old.
Fifty years later, every room of his two-bed bungalow is now jam-packed with 10,559 dolphin related items and memorabilia.
He is now able to wash in a dolphin bathroom - complete with a dolphin toilet seat - eat a biscuit from a dolphin cookie jar, drink a cuppa made using his dolphin-shaped kettle that makes a dolphin 'whistle' when it boils, listen to a dolphin-shaped radio, relax on a dolphin-themed balcony, play dolphin-style games and stub his cigarette into a dolphin ash tray.
The dad said: "I believe they are healers. When I listen to my dolphin music or watch a dolphin DVD it definitely helps."
And Michael has insured his connection with the creatures won't end when he does - he has a dolphin urn ready to take his ashes after cremation.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368
