From Trouser Thieves, to blows of mud and more, Glastonbury has seen some of the weirdest things go down over the years at the Worthy Farm, here’s our pick of the weirdest moments and stories at Glastonbury till date!Β
Funny stories are only the best way to capture the essence of any kind of experience, and though these stories might spring from certain predicaments, there’s always a brighter side;
1. The Trouser Thieves of 1987
(Image Courtesy: Giphy)
At the Glastonbury Festival 1987, along with all the buzz and contention about licenses being given off to the festival, there were a bunch of people that decided to make the most of everyone’s pocketful of wealth; in the most literal sense. The Trouser Thieves struck the farm, in the gloomy hours of night, only to leave a large number of people roaming about sans trousers for the entire morning, while they did manage to leave a crowd of people pant-less, they also pick-pocketed and dumped all the trousers they stole into a muddy pit – them wicked thieves. Wonder what they had in mind when they did this!
2. The Streaker(s)
Streaking is an art, it is an act that requires some brave, and formidable personality traits, and Glastonbury has a lot of those. Over the years, the festival has seen so many streakers – getting jiggy with everyone around them, and sometimes even with those on-stage. One of the weirdest things to happen though, would be the streaker who, so nonchalantly took the stage while Elastica performed – surprisingly, this naked-bearded-stage-invader, turned out to be frontman Anthony Genn, of the rock duo – The Hours, go ahead and watch him pogo down here;
3. The 1978 Impromptu Festival
(Image Courtesy: BBC UK)
Glastonbury was never an annual festival, until 1981 – and before that, on a year when there were ‘rumours’ of the festival’s taking place doing the roundabouts with travellers, in 1978 – about 500 people flocked to the farm and attended one of the smallest Glastonbury Festivals ever, which was organised with no main headline acts, and powered by a generator holed up in a caravan. It was this year’s ‘impromptu’ festival, that led the organisers to disband the ‘free entry for travellers’ rule, mostly because well, he made a festival out of thin air, a generator, and a stage (which was technically being used as a cow-shed). Instead of headliners however, they did have clowns, very few facilities, and spacious grounds to put up their tents!
4. 1998’s Mud SurfingΒ
(Image Courtesy: GigWise)
Rain, sludge, and more have been some sort of constant at Glastonbury – and over the years, attendees realised that there’s no way to get around it, but being a part of it. So they began the infamous sport of ‘mud surfing’ at the 1998 Glastonbury Festival, while this did prove to be a great way to expend energy, and not feel so bad about all the muck – it did result in the development of a condition known as ‘trench foot’ among a lot of the attendees (essentially just a lot of wrinkles and water absorption and bloating – but we recommend a doctor’s advice all the same).
5. The 1985 ‘Blow’ Mayhem
(Image Courtesy: Giphy)
It’s not really what you’re thinking, but in 1985 – there was obviously, more sludge, and more muck, and more mud, and more ick; and when it got a little too hard to maintain and let the festivities continue unhindered, a tank was called in to take it all away and regain status quo – except – the tank, which was meant to ‘suck’ all the ‘wet-mud’ away, was accidentally set onto ‘blow’, and there ensued even more mess with mud flying everywhere, onto everyone, and everything – though, it did tickle some fancies, and incite some sort of revelry, it was quite the disastrous sight!
6. The Stoner SamaritansΒ
(Image Courtesy: Giphy)
You never know what you may find when you sift through forums, and via the festival forums on Glastonbury, we found a story that might just be the most contradictory, funny, and ironic story that Glastonbury could come through with.
Though the exact year is slightly off point, the tale is of two ‘samaritans’, in the ‘samaritan tent‘, of course, at Glastonbury arguing with each other because they’re too high to comprehend what the other is saying – when A says ‘you’re supposed to listen to me‘, B, replies with ‘but you’re supposed to listen to me‘ – what we assume is that neither understood what the other was saying, and just eventually figured they weren’t the good samaritans they thought they were (to each his own?)
(Story via “Weirdest Things You’ve Seen At Glastonbury Festival” – EFestivals)
Share your crazy, weird, and bizarre Glastonbury stories in the comments below!Β