Bob Dylan is an extremely influential and successful musician whose mere presence has terrified the people around him. Surprisingly, though, this has nothing to do with his fame or influence. While fans are starstruck when they meet him, Dylan has also surprised people by showing up in unexpected places. Before realizing who he was, they found his presence frightening.
People began hearing that Bob Dylan was singing ‘scary’ songs to students
Dylan has six children and a number of grandchildren. In 2007, he decided to pass on his musical knowledge to his grandson’s kindergarten class. Unfortunately, the class wasn’t exactly aware of his legacy as an artist.
Per Page Six, students began telling their families about a “weird man” who kept coming to their class to sing “scary” songs. Hopefully, his grandson had a little more appreciation for his classroom performances.
People called the police on Bob Dylan for looking suspicious
During a 2009 tour in New Jersey, Dylan decided to take a walk. It was pouring rain, and Dylan wore a raincoat with the hood up. When he stopped in the yard of a home with a “For Sale” sign in the front yard, the homeowners didn’t recognize him as a musician. Instead, they thought he was an “eccentric-looking old man,” as they told the police (via ABC News). One of the people in the house went so far as to follow Dylan up the street as he walked away.
Ultimately, police picked up the “Like a Rolling Stone” singer and didn’t believe him when he told them who he was. Luckily, he was able to prove that he really was Bob Dylan, and he didn’t face any legal repercussions. Still, the responding officer said that Dylan looked highly suspicious in his rain boots and two raincoats with the hoods up.
Bob Dylan shocked a driver when he woke up in the back of a hearse
One of Dylan’s most frightening moments occurred when he decided to take a nap in the back of Neil Young’s vehicle. At the time, the “Heart of Gold” singer drove around a hearse that he called Mortimer Hearseburg.
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Unaware that Dylan was sleeping in the backseat, the artist Sandy Mazzeo began driving. Soon, he began hearing banging noises from the back and, naturally, assumed a ghost was haunting the hearse.
“I hear bam! bam! bam! on the divider and I’m thinkin’, ‘Oh my God, it’s a ghost,’” Mazzeo said, per the book Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough.
When he looked in the rearview mirror, Mazzeo realized it was Dylan, not a vengeful spirit. Still, his appearance wasn’t any less alarming.
“Dylan was in his turban stage, and he’d slept in his turban and it had come all undone,” Mazzeo explained. “He looked like the mummy.”
Perhaps Dylan should have realized that banging on the divider from the back of a hearse would be horrifying. Given his track record of frightening people, though, he might have known and gotten a kick out of it.
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