In an attempt to overcome a deep-seated and long-held fear, area woman Molly Casey (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) has announced that she has a debilitating phobia of deer and all things deer-related. Molly made her announcement during a large family gathering last weekend in Lakeland, Minn.
"I know several of you are aware of this, but my therapist thinks it would be a good idea if I said it out loud to everybody," a nervous and tearful Molly said. "Ok, here goes...I'm deathly afraid of deer. Yes, deer. I know you say they're one of nature's cutest animals and they're harmless herbivores, but those things scare the **** out of me. I would appreciate your support in helping me overcome my phobia. Please stop laughing."
According to phobialist.com, the medical term for fear of deer is Adnuolisphobia. Adnuolis is the scientfic name for white tailed deer. Adnuolisphobia is considered extremely rare.
Molly's announcement came as no surprise to her immediate family in attendance. According to a journal kept by Molly's mother, Mary Miller (Lakeland, Minn.), it appears Molly's fear of deer began after a 1986 viewing of the Disney classic "Bambi."
Miller wrote, "I think Molly's naiveté and gullibility got the best of her again today. We just got finished watching Bambi. Apparently, Molly (6) thought it was a documentary. She somehow got it into her head that Bambi and the other deer were the 'bad guys' in the movie. Most kids love Bambi. Not Molly.
She cheered when Bambi's mother got shot by the hunters. For the rest of the movie, she was cheering for the hunters to get Bambi, Faline and the Great Prince. When the movie ended and all the deer were still alive, Molly shut all the curtains and started crying, saying 'The deer are still out there, Mommy.' Uh oh, it looks like I'm going to have to talk down Molly from another one of her fears. I just hope it doesn't take as long as calming her fear of poisoned apples (a la Snow White)."Unable to overcome her fear, Molly has lived to this day with an intense phobia of deer and their relatives. Oldest sister Maggie Miller (St. Paul, Minn.) was quick to relay one of her favorite Molly/deer phobia stories.
"As the great big sister that I am, I always try to support my little sisters at their sporting events, dance recitals and such. I was a freshman at St. Ben's and I heard that Molly and her Stillwater track team had a meet in Elk River. Again, being
the nice sister that I am, I hopped in my car and made the trek to the high school. Well, the Stillwater team bus shows up, but not with Molly. I called home and asked my Dad why Molly wasn't in Elk River. He told me that Molly tweaked an ankle while hurdling the day before. I got the feeling that Dad was hiding something from me, so I called my youngest sister (Jesse Brine). She told me that Molly faked her injury just so she didn't have to go to Elk River. Apparently, Molly's fear of deer also extends to elk. I guess she thought the town was swarming with the deer relatives. Makes my fear of Republicans look downright normal, doesn't it?"Molly's phobia dogged the standout track athlete well after the meets
in Elk River. In fact, Molly's deer-fear apparently cost her an athletic scholarship. According to documents obtained from current Stillwater Area girls' track & field coach Dawn Podolske, Molly turned down a sizable scholarship to NCAA Division II institution Nebraska-Kearney, apparently because of the school's Antelope mascot (photo of mascot Louie the Loper at right)."We tried to get Molly to consider the scholarship offer to Kearney, but she was adamant," Casey's father, Mike Miller (Lakeland, Minn.), said. "She was not going to go to a school with a deer-like mascot. She had also elminated Maine-Augusta (Moose) from consideration. She was on the fence about schools with a ram as a mascot. I had no idea how deep her fear of deer ran until then."
Molly decided to attend the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., and became a member of the Blazer track & field team. But Molly's deer phobia would strike again during her college career, this time by the hooves of a seemingly suicidal white tailed deer.
According to an accident report filed with police, Molly was traveling along Collegeville Road on her way to visit her then-boyfriend, now-husband Kyle Casey (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. Approximately one mile from the entrance to campus, a juvenile white tailed deer jumped out of the neighboring woods and slammed into the side of Molly's car, denting the driver's side door panels and cracking a window.
"When Molly got to my dorm room, she was an absolute wreck," Casey said. "Tears streaming down her face, shaking like a leaf, something had put the fear of God into her. I thought for sure she was mugged by a renegade St. Thomas student or something, but no, it was a deer. A ****ing deer. My girlfriend's irrational fear of deer had reared its ugly head yet again. Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince her that the deer aren't out to get her? I'll tell you this much, our relationship was nearly ruined...over a deer. A ****ing deer."
Unfortunately, that wasn't the last time that Molly's dear phobia impacted her husband. Married in November of 2006, Molly and Kyle moved into a new house in a new Brooklyn Park development in 2007. The backyard of the Casey house borders a small forest and open field, prime areas for encounters with various animals, including deer. Nearly every day since moving in, deer have wandered through their backyard, resulting in Molly burying herself under blankets in the basement.
"It's getting out of hand, really," Kyle said. "She sees a deer outside and immediately the crying, screaming and running to the basement begins. It's almost routine now. Our 16-month-old son (Carter) thinks it's normal to see mommy freak out the second a deer shows up outside our house. She better get over this fear, because much to her dismay, I'm not frosting over the windows and we're not moving."
Molly is reportedly contemplating agressive phobia therapy in an effort to overcome her fear of deer. The therapy includes visits to petting zoos, wearing vintage Minnesota Moose hockey jerseys, watching Discovery Channel nature shows and Versus hunting programs, hanging a set of deer antlers in the house, repeated singing of Do-Re-Mi, and ultimately, a nature hike/bowhunting trip to come face-to-face with a wild deer.
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