Michael Jackson, known as the King of Pop, is one of the most important artists in the history of music. He is also a character that causes terror. In fact, there are people who have a genuine phobia of Michael Jackson and cannot watch his videos or listen to his songs, not even by chance when “Smooth Criminal” comes on the radio or “Thriller” is played at Halloween parties.
Ruby Marriot is one of the people who are very, very afraid of Michael Jackson. She is an 18-year-old girl who appears in this viral TikTok:
@ellishatok Girl has #phobia of #michaeljackson #waitforit #fyp
In an interview with South West News Service, Ruby says that the images are from her most recent traumatic episode related to Michael Jackson. She was on vacation in Cyprus, celebrating her uncle’s wedding.
“It was my first night in Ayia Napa, and the funny thing is that the first bar we went to was very quiet and there weren’t many people,” she said. “We had no idea there would be tribute acts, so we went in and had a few drinks.”
Until then, everything was fine, everyone was dancing and laughing. However, it all changed when a Michael Jackson impersonator came on stage. “I turned around and saw a Michael Jackson impersonator dancing on the dance floor next to me.”
The video was recorded by Ruby’s sister and shows her crying while the person dressed as the King of Pop performs spins and other classic MJ moves. “I couldn’t even look at him,” she said. And although her family tried to console her, she couldn’t get the image of the terrifying Michael Jackson out of her head.
Judging by the thousands of comments on TikTok, Ruby is not the only one suffering from “Michaelphobia.” She says her fear started when she was around five years old and “Thriller” is the song that scares her the most. “Thriller is the song that scares me the most, mainly because I watched the video when I was younger and it’s one of his biggest hits, so it’s played a lot around me.”
“My sister and cousin would show me disturbing edited videos of him that people made, and conspiracy theories that he’s still alive, like photos where he appears in the background or in people’s windows. If someone in my family plays any of his songs, I have to go to another room.”