Where is the Dorset Ooser? February 18, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
The Dorset Ooser is a simply terrifying horned head/mask that was once kept in the village of Melbury Osmond: it so shocked a man there in the mid nineteenth century that he jumped through a window and almost died from his wounds. As can be imagined there are some very colourful theories about its purpose and its origins: there is – say it quietly – an excellent Wikipedia page on the subject. Beach, instead, wants to turn to a question that has often been neglected: namely, what happened to the Ooser. The facts are these:
1) When it came to the attention of folklorists in 1891 it belonged to the Cave family of Holt Farm, Melbury Osmond.
2) The Ooser subsequently moved to Crewkerne in Somerset, 1891-1894 with one of the cave family, Dr Edward Cave.
3) In 1897 Edward moved to Bath (he was a doctor) and he left the Ooser with a man servant, Lawrence, in Crewkerne.
This is all uncontroversial. The problem is what happened next… There are three different claims
1) The mask was thrown out by Lawrence or possibly destroyed when the house it had been left in was knocked down. (Elizabeth Ramsden in inquiries direct to Lawrence in 1935)*
2) The mask was sold by Lawrence to someone in the United States (Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society in 1962, Dewar)
3) The mask was sold by Lawrence to someone in East Chinook (a nearby village). Hole, English Folklore (1940), 161: note that Christina Hole had Somerset contacts who may have supplied her with this information (vii).
A couple of other facts. First, it seems that Dr Edward Cave tried to retrieve the mask and was told by Lawrence that it had been sold. Second, Elizabeth Ramsden suggests that the mask was sadly reduced: already by 1900, it had lost its horns. The hope is that the Ooser was sold, but the suspicion is that this was Lawrence’s excuse to a horrified Edward Cave, who learnt that the family heirloom had disappeared. If Beach’s ‘man servant’ got rid of his great grandfather’s hip flask it would surely be nicer to hear that it was sold than that it was lining a bin somewhere. Fans of the Ooser might be pleased to learn that in a village festival c. 1900 Lawrence wore it and terrified the children. Good to know the Ooser had one last outing.
Can anyone else help with the fate of the Dorset Ooser: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
*’Some years ago when [The Caves] moved from Crewkerne it was left behind with other property and stored in a loft. Later it could not be found, and a groom admitted that a man from ‘up Chinnock way’ had asked to buy it, and he, thinking it rubbish, had let him have it. It was not known why the stranger bought it or what he intended to do with so peculiar an object, since, from the groom’s description, he did not appear to be a collector of curiosities. All inquiries at East Chinnock proved entirely fruitless; the Dorset Ooser has not been heard of since and is probably lost for ever. (English Folklore, 161)’ In the introduction to her work (vii) she thanks ‘Dr. and Miss Lowe, of Hinton St. George and Miss Sydenham of Brushford, to who I am indebtedfor many of the items of Somerset folklore mentioned in this book.’ Did they give CH the information?
