Mystery
The Dorset Ooser
Its jaw clacks open, and nobody knows who carved it.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Thatched village of honey-stone cottages
- Legend from
- 19th-c. record
- Tone
- Eerie
A horned mask with a moving jaw, vanished in 1897.
The Dorset Ooser was a carved wooden head with bull's horns, a beard and a hinged jaw, kept by the Cave family at Holt Farm in Melbury Osmond. It was first described in 1891 and went missing around 1897 after Edward Cave moved away. Wessex Museums say Thomas Cave used it to scare children who trespassed on the farm, and it was probably worn in 'skimmity' shaming rides against wrongdoers. Its origins are argued over. A replica carved by John Byfleet in 1975 is still worn by the Wessex Morris Men.