Woman opens up about her crippling fear of Michael Jackson

A woman has opened up about her fear of Michael Jackson after a video of her panicking in the presence of an impersonator went viral.

Ruby Marriott, 18, said that her phobia of the late singer is so bad that she gets the 'chills' just from hearing his iconic song 'Thriller'.

It was therefore a nightmare situation for the teen when they accidentally attended a Michael Jackson impersonator performance in Ayia Napa.

Recounting the incident that led to her viral TikTok, she said: "It was my first night in Ayia Napa and funnily enough, the first bar we went to was really quiet so not many people there.

"We had no idea about any tribute acts so we went in and had a few rounds of drinks.

"I was enjoying it a lot, we were all dancing, taking photos and having a laugh.

"It wasn't until half an hour in that I heard the start of Thriller playing and I instantly started panicking."

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Ruby continued: "I turned around and saw a Michael Jackson impersonator dancing around on the dance floor next to me.

"I ran over to where my family were sitting and instantly started crying and panicking even more. I couldn't even look at him!

"I thought my fear was bad enough until I saw someone who looked exactly like him - it just got worse!"

The 18-year-old went on to leave the bar, but she said that the incident ruined her night.

Ruby, who is a student from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said that her fear of the singer began when she was around five years old.

She said: "My sister and my cousin used to show me creepy edited videos of him that people made and conspiracy theories that he's alive, like photos of him in the background of photos and in people's windows."

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She explained that her fear worsened on a family holiday to LA when her family stayed in a rented home for three weeks.

"There was a door with about eight padlocks on it and one of my family members jokingly said ‘what if Michael Jackson is hiding in there?’, knowing my phobia of him," she said.

"Every night for three weeks, I had the same nightmare of him creeping out of the wardrobe and coming for me while I was asleep. It was awful!

"The photoshopped photos of him have made my phobia worse, people just send them to me or show me and it takes me back to him crawling out of my wardrobe.

"I'm now 18 and the phobia hasn't gotten any better!"

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However, it turns out that Ruby's phobia of Michael Jackson isn't entirely unique, and after her video went viral, others shared that they were also terrified of him.

"I actually low key have this fear too," wrote one TikTok user.

"I have the same thing, I can't sleep, he gives me nightmares," added a second.