Jason Voorhees dances all over YouTube.

It’s Friday the 13th. Please clap.

To celebrate Jason’s big day, I’d like to introduce you to a… strange phenomenon. Some of you may have already noticed this, but most surely haven’t.

I’ll cut to the chase:

There are tons of YouTube videos starring people in Jason Voorhees costumes, DANCING.

The easy explanation is that there is no explanation, but there kinda is.

There’s a certain feeling of loony freedom that comes with wearing those masks. Your immediate impulse isn’t to act like Jason, exactly, but rather some mutant hybrid of a clown, a horse and a pop star’s backup dancer. The switch is immediate, and though not everyone succumbs to the urge, everybody wants to.

So, here are ten times when people dressed like Jason Voorhees danced on YouTube. May they make your Friday the 13th a little bit brighter:

“Jason Voorhees Dancing the Night Away”

You’ll feel pretty uncomfortable throughout this video’s 127 second duration, but you won’t be able to look away, either. Here, someone mixes a Jason mask with some kind of Abobo bodysuit, and provides what’s gotta be the first-ever male striptease set to an Alice Cooper song.

This is a Jason who’s unafraid to smack his own ass. I’m not sure if that qualifies as a warning or a promo.

“DANCING JASON VOORHEES FUNNY SCARY Friday the 13th”

Set to what’s either stock club music or the theme to Alex Kidd in Miracle World, this is one Jason who enjoys broadening his horizons. Aside from the scattered bouts of erratic dancing, Jason also makes use of several unlikely props, including nunchucks and a guitar.

Some judges may deduct points since Jason is in no way dancing to the beat of the music, but for me, that adds a few.

“Dubstep dance jason voorhees bassnectar song”

Of the ten videos featured here, this is easily the most elegant. This well-costumed Jason really knows his moves, and the whole thing looks so oddly natural that you’ll almost forget that the guy dancing once killed a woman by shooting a harpoon through her eye socket.

Still, the video maintains what’s practically a necessity for every “Dancing Jason” video — the walk of shame to go stop the camera after the song finishes. I love that.

“Jason Voorhees Dances to ‘Man Behind the Mask’ Fright Night Fridays with Evil”

Ha! This one is a treasure. Set to a weirdly slowed-down version of Alice Cooper’s He’s Back, this Jason stands out with a blood-soaked head and a reliance on entry-level green screen effects.

But man, he nails it where it counts: It’s a full-on interpretive dance, with Jason bringing Alice’s lyrics to life with all sorts of head shakes, shoulder shimmies and finger wags. He even uses an axe handle as a microphone! The only way this video could be better is if it was twice as long.

“Jason Voorhees Dancing!!!”

This one is short and simple, but since it shows Jason Voorhees dancing to Raffi’s Bananaphone, you’ll forgive those flaws.

Two things stand out to me. Besides Raffi, I mean.

First, is it just me, or did this guy actually draw the “Jason marks” on an otherwise plain hockey mask? If so, bonus points for effort!

Second, what’s with that axe? It looks like metal flesh. Every time I watch this, I want him to stop dancing and just hold that axe up to the camera. He never does. I’ve tried this 50 times.

“Jason Voorhees Dancing to the Friday the 13th Part 3 theme”

This may turn out to be the fan favorite. I’m surprised that so few of the “Dancing Jason” videos make use of the most obvious song choice: The disco theme from Friday the 13th Part III!

This Jason has the moves. ALL the moves. There are even hints of that insipid chicken dance that was all the rage at ‘80s weddings. The video just gets better and better as it rolls along, with Jason finally adopting a goddamned feather duster as a stage prop.

Putting it over the top, Jason performs in what appears to be a cross between a kid’s bedroom and a modest church. God, this video is great.

“Michael myers & Jason Voorhees dance video”

Did I say that the last video might be the fan favorite? Well, get a load of this one. Jason joins Michael Myers for a rhythmic outdoor adventure, set to A-ha’s Take On Me.

Granted, it’s more Michael’s video than Jason’s, with our hockey-masked hero wandering into frame with zero fanfare after about a minute in. The best part comes at the very end, when Jason and Michael shake hands over a job well done.

Very few of the videos listed here have many views, but the fact that this one is still shy of 1500 is just plain criminal.

“Jason Dancing (X-E Contest)”

This time it’s a Jason Voorhees doll doing the dancing. It’s also an interesting contrast from the previous video, because now it’s Michael Myers who randomly joins the fray midway through. (Also in doll form, of course.)

Oh hey, notice the title? Yeah, this video was a submission for a “Dancing Jason” art contest I ran on back on X-E. The fact that I’ve been producing web content about Jason Voorhees dancing for literally eight years is…. pretty sobering.

“Jason Voorhees cant dance”

The title is a lie. Every second of this video suggests that Jason Voorhees can most definitely dance.

Watch close and you’ll notice some not-so-subtle hints that it’s actually Freddy Krueger operating the camera.

What strikes me about this one is that it’s exactly the sort of video I would’ve made as a fourteen-year-old with an empty afternoon and too much technology.

“Harlem Shake – Jason Voorhees Style”

Some YouTubers use misleading thumbnails to generate more views, so don’t let Lingerie Girl fool you. She’s not in the video.

I’m not sure why they bothered with the thumbnail gag. This one would’ve sold itself just fine. Here, Jason Voorhees enters a kid’s bedroom and threatens murder, but is distracted by a sudden broadcast of Baauer’s Harlem Shake. Unable to resist the song’s infectious beat, he forgets all about killing and leads a four person dance party. It’s exactly as awesome as it sounds.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone!