Morris dancer phobia

[Disa13]

This is honestly not a joke. I was talking to my friend earlier and she reminded me about her phobia of Morris dancers. It might sound ridiculous but she finds them very creepy. I'd forgotten, but she was telling me about a time she was in a pub and some came in, so she ran downstairs to hide from them, but one came jingling down the stairs to the loo. She described it as "like the scene in Jurassic park." We had a bit of a joke about it and I kept saying "jingle jingle jingle" and she found it very funny.

I ended up reading about them on Wikipedia, I hadn't known much about the tradition or that different types of Morris dancing are from different parts of the country.

I wanted to ask aibu (is my friend being unreasonable) to be freaked out by Morris dancers? Or is it quite reasonable in that it could be likened to clown phobias, which aren't that uncommon. Personally, I can't stand Ronald McDonald, I find him a bit sinister. Now I'm in a silly mood, I wanted to ask if anyone else has a phobia of slightly irrational or silly things.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions to help her overcome her fear of Morris dancers, they would be much appreciated.

Your friend is dead right, it's the mildness of it that is sinister. And the facial hair. Similar to clowns in that it feels there's a lot going on behind the surface that you can't perceive. I could go on.

I have a weird thing, not sure phobia is the right word. There's a musical instrument I sometimes hear, not often and it's mostly on Radio 3, that makes me sick to my stomach. I feel panic and curse Henry VIII. I have no clue what that is all about but it's every time I hear it I have the same instant reaction and slam the radio off!

there is more than a whiff of wicker man about some of them
I’m currently watching The Third Day. Keep expecting a sinister Morris troop to turn up any minute

Your friend is being entirely reasonable. They give me the creeps. It isn't just the makeup/masks that's sometimes worn, it's also the movements. Admittedly The Wicker Man didn't help.

I have quite a few strange phobias but Songs of Praise is amongst them. When they show the service and they're all singing along enthusiastically with that slightly deranged evangelical fervour on their faces it gives me the shudders. I think it's the idea of all that for what as far as I'm concerned, is a non existent being.

Definitely has a sinister edge. When I was 15 I worked in a shop on a main road with a large pub further down in a prominent position...one summer day the traffic was closed off and a massive gang of Morris men marched down the road banging a drum, and accompanied by all of the other folk instruments and bells.

Something in it hit a visceral fear in my stomach and I had palpitations and flutters. I was very scared by the spectacle. It made me wonder if I had had an experience in a previous life, and I wasn't generally woo back then. Or now.

Is there a famous novel, maybe TV adaptation, where the baddie was a Morris man?

@VeganVeal

I find Morris Dancing erotic. I've tried to persuade my husband to take it up, with no success.

Ugh! Weird, creepy and ridiculous. But I'm not English so I just don't get the attraction.

Erotic?! Just goes to show it certainly does take all sorts weirdo

@0blio

Ugh! Weird, creepy and ridiculous. But I'm not English so I just don't get the attraction.

Erotic?! Just goes to show it certainly does take all sorts weirdo

Agreed!

Tell her to move to Ireland we don't have them here. We have straw boys instead. Not scary at all...

I also confess to having been a Morris dancer - I've always loved it. Don't be deceived by the plump old guys - it's hard work and you need to be very fit!

I always think it's a bit underwhelming. Theres something missing from Morris dancing but not sure what. Needs more drama

@GoldfishParade

I always think it's a bit underwhelming. Theres something missing from Morris dancing but not sure what. Needs more drama

The sticks need to be on fire!

@Alloftheboys
😂

I'd like less prancing and more stamping

I'd prefer a bunch of gents with bells on their trousers than these boyos from Armagh.

[quote GoldfishParade]@Alloftheboys
😂

I'd like less prancing and more stamping[/quote]
These folk then: all wearing docs and knocking chunks out of the road with their stamping! They get up the join the ceilidh and we all pray they stick to their own sets so the rest of us don't get trampled on ( to be fair that's true of most Morris types at a velodrome; far too enthusiastic! 😀 Gog Magog. Love them!

@Parkandride

I enjoy a quote I read once, "try everything once except incest and Morris dancing." Which is a wise motto for life.

I grew up in an area with a lots of Morris men, nice people and they enjoyed a party

Alan Titchmarsh said a similar thing, "There are two things I won't try: morris dancing and buggery." Not sure if he was the originator of the phrase or was quoting it himself.

I think it would be very fitting if I hired a Morris dancing quartet for my friend's wedding. What does everyone think?

@WeAreFromThePlanetDuplo

I'd prefer a bunch of gents with bells on their trousers than these boyos from Armagh.

But the bull is wearing socks and sandals 🤣 That does somewhat diminish the scariness!

@Parkandride - I was going to post that same quote!

Google says it was the conductor Thomas Beecham who said it first:

www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,468909,00.html

DP is a morris dancer. Some of these comments have me HOWLING.

@GoldfishParade

I went to a beer festival when I was little with my parents. It was indoor in a hall with an old wooden floor. The first act was a Morris troupe. Nice old men with bushy white beards, skipping, waving hankies and jingly bells. Very pleasant.

Second act was a blackface Morris troupe with sticks. They were yelping and whooping and were utterly terrifying.

It was like watching a concert of Cliff Richard followed by Slipknot 😂

I'm not a fan of Morris dancing, but I do seem to have an ability to turn up places where they will be. Winchester cathedral (struggled to explain to German boyfriend what it was all about, but just said it was one of those inexplicable traditional things like his Schützenfest,) Oxford - twice, and Malaga (verdiales, which appears to be men dancing with flowers and ribbons and stuff.) I think quite a lot of it is only Victorian tradition.

@MrsPotatoHeadsSheeWee

Definitely has a sinister edge. When I was 15 I worked in a shop on a main road with a large pub further down in a prominent position...one summer day the traffic was closed off and a massive gang of Morris men marched down the road banging a drum, and accompanied by all of the other folk instruments and bells.

Something in it hit a visceral fear in my stomach and I had palpitations and flutters. I was very scared by the spectacle. It made me wonder if I had had an experience in a previous life, and I wasn't generally woo back then. Or now.

Is there a famous novel, maybe TV adaptation, where the baddie was a Morris man?

No idea about novels where the villain is a Morris man, but there are quite a few children's novels where some kind of folk dance or ritual is associated with the awakening of primeval forces -- I'm thinking of things like Susan Coolidge's The Dark is Rising books, which feature the Furry Dance and the Mari Llyd, and Penelope Lively's The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy.

I definitely understand the sinister vibe. My first encounter with Morris was on my first May Morning in Oxford, when I was in that liminal space between still drunk and violently hungover, and in a trashed ballgown and bare feet stumbled up against a bunch of them all dancing around someone dressed up as a tree, which I found very disturbing. The tree person more than the dancers.

It was like watching a concert of Cliff Richard followed by Slipknot 😂