Many people have tried to find out and many people have failed, myself included. I have somewhere in the house a pamphlet on this very subject which is of the opinion that it was destroyed sometime in the 1920s or 1930s (I can't remember), by accident, because it wasn't known what it was.

Personally, I think it was destroyed because it WAS known what it was!

Some think that every Dorset village had an Ooser, and some have linked the Ooser with the Christmas Bull - a person dressed as a horned creature who would visit at Christmas/New Year demanding food and drink from all it met (much like mummers used to, but without the moralist play); some think he was the effigy of a pagan priest officiating at fertility rituals. Its most common 'use' was that of frightening children and taunting unfaithful spouses and in skimmity ridding.

There was one at Melbury Osmond, but that was reputed to be the last and that is the one that I'm sure was destroyed in the early part of the 20th Century.

I'll have a hunt round for the pamphlet and get back to you.

LTS