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Fear of clowns?
Posted by ThriftShopRomantic • 5/13/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: clowns, coulrophobia, fear, humor, it, Nostalgia, poltergeist
So anyone else out there not care much for clowns? If so, was there anything in particular that triggered YOUR clown issues?
I can pinpoint when, specifically, in my childhood I decided clowns weren't my any favs of mine. In fact, I wrote a little humor post about it here:
cabbages-n-kings.blogspot.com/2008/05/barnum-and-baileys-toilet-of-clown.ht...
On the flip side, anyone crazy about clowns? Collect 'em? Went to clown school? 
User Comments
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I do not like clowns. The movie Poltergeist is what made them scary for me.-
My Son says the same thing! He use to have nightmares after watching that movie when he was just a young boy, because of the clown! Now he still doesn't like clowns. -
Yup. me too! Then I read "It" and it was really all over
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Geez, it's got to be bad if it's a problem affecting NINJAS, too.
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You know, I refused to hang so much of a toe over the edge of my bed when I was little because of that stupid movie. If I had to get up for any reason, I'd LEAP! off the bed and go running like mad. When I came back I'd do a leap back onto the bed that would make gold medalist gymnasts proud
Yeesh, ninjas are slick, but possessed clowns under your bed? Mush slicker! -
Heh, I recall doing the same sort of thing. I recall the overhead lightbulb burned out suddenly in my room once and I thought, "That's it, it's finally coming to get me."
Ah, childhood-- "the best years of our lives." -
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OMG me TOO. I hate clowns because of that movie. When I have to look for something under my bed a part of me trembles.
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The instant I saw that clown doll I knew it was evil!
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IT did it for me. plus the fact that there is something sinister about them anyway. I also have a fear of people dressed up in big custumes. Disney land scarred me bad-
IT got me too. After that book...clowns were skeery, It's still one of my favorite books though.
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Robert Bloch (author of Psycho) wrote a piece called, "The Clown at Midnight" in which he describes the essence of horror fiction. Although it's non-fiction, he still managed to make it pretty frightening. You would love it. -
I would love it in a "Wow, hey, Rooster, thanks for passing that book title along to me?"...
Or in a "Wow, Rooster, I haven't slept in the last three nights due to that stupid book you recommended, thanks a lot, buddy" ? -
It's actually an essay included in, Robert Bloch: Appreciations of the Master, edited by Richard Matheson and Ricia Mainhardt. It's out of print, but you can still obtain used copies. I HIGHLY recommend that book!
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I'll have to check it out. Actually, while I've read the original short story which "Rear Window" came from, I haven't read the original "Psycho" story. Probably should do that.
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@ Kelly, yep, so that makes two of us.
@Andy, I was a bit older when "It" came out, (and I'd read the book first) but it didn't do much to endear clowns to me.
PS, I'm sorry to hear about your Disneymascotaphobia. -
i was once stuck on a ferry with barney the dinsour and mister frosty the snowman. the guys i was with told them how i felt about them. that was not a fun trip. i was violated by barney.
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I'm sorry for your purple dinosaur pain, Andy. Perhaps our resident BC doctors here can recommend counselor who's good with post traumatic mascot syndrome.
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"The LAST thing you want to do is send your evil clown doll to the architectural element that had just sucked in the little blonde girl."
And it gets funnier.-
Thanks, Mark. I stand by that statement about the closet.
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I never liked clowns, but it wasn't any specific incident. I just remember watching them when I was little and thinking that the mask was a ugly ruse. I don't like paintings of them either, they are so flipping ugly.-
I think there's an American actress-- Dianne Cannon maybe-- who collects clown paintings and has made them popular again.
DEFINITELY not a collection I'd be wanting to surround myself with.
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The sad Emmit Kelly clowns are the creepiest. You can almost hear them saying, "Awww, I didn't get to kill and eat and kids today".
That's the reason they look so sad, I just know it.
Good story, TSR.-
Thanks, Ekim.
The hobo-clown thing never quite worked for me. There was just a bit too much of that, "this guy has been riding around in boxcars and if he didn't have a little bit of clown makeup on you wouldn't let your kids near him" thing for me to be entirely comfortable with it. -
Grown men concealing their identity to get close to kids. I can't believe you find that creepy.
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I'm funny that way.
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I think John Wayne Gacy is to blame for this now pervasive fear of clowns. The pictures of him in his Clown suit and make up are just terrifying.-
Yikes, Anin, I hadn't even thought of that one.
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Haven't you seen his paintings of clowns? They are even scarier!!
www.supernaught.com/crimefiles/gacy1.html -
G-ah....
Scrubbing mind now... going to happy place... -
Oh yeah, him too *shudder*
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I hate clowns, they just don't amuse me at all.
Who finds them funny?-
You know, my grandmother really liked them. She collected clown things. My grandmother was a really nice person, and a wonderful grandmother, but that collection was a nightmare.
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But even if your not frightened of them , they just seem so sad.
The collection would of had an 'accident' if it was my grandma -
There were a LOT of them, though. Figurines and stuffed things and a painting which hung in the spare room (shudder)...
I would have lost my status in the Grandchild Ranking if too many "accidents" happened. -
Also you are far too nice, suck up!
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It was competitive growing up.
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I have firmly remained the favourite because I make them laugh, even when I steal their pension money.
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Right after you take the lollypops from babies, eh?
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Its too easy
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@Claire
Not me. I'm with you and I didn't even see Poltergeist. I can steal cookies from kids without feeling any guilt at all.
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I'm the same as most...Poltergeist and It did me in. Sorry Bozo.-
Heh- guess you're right-- Poltergeist was seriously bad PR for Bozo.
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The clown reaching out from the drain, in the Stephen King movie freaked me out, but mostly, they do not frighten me.
The huge guy in Iron Man made me want to run away though! I've seen this movie twice now and I want to see it again. -
I am a mime and a clown. I even teach mime and a style of Italian renaissance masked clowning called commedia dell'arte.
These are just a sampling of blog entries with photographs of me in costume, make-up or mask:
ianthal.blogspot.com/2007/05/back-in-greasepaint-again.html
ianthal.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-sebastiani-in-washington-dc.html
ianthal.blogspot.com/2007/08/teaching-commedia-at-open-air-circus.html
ianthal.blogspot.com/2008/02/february-9th-evening-of-mime-poetry-and.html
ianthal.blogspot.com/2008/02/photos-from-february-9th-show.html
ianthal.blogspot.com/2008/04/formaggio-di-amore.html
Don't click if you are easily frightened! HA!-
Thanks, Ian, for weighing in here as a member of the online Clown Community. See, that's the beauty of BlogCatalog-- getting the pro-clown and con-clown perspectives.
What inspired you to get into clowning/miming? -
PS- just read your excellent, insightful comment. Thanks for being such a great sport about our clowning around about clowns!
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Mime is cool. Poltergeist style clowns are creepy and scary.
IanThal is my friend. He has a cool blog and he doesn't scare me. -
Oh, no problem, Jenn.
I was always a fan of classic film clowns like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and the Marx Brothers, but also a fan of theatrical clowns like Avner the Eccentric, Mump & Smoot, et cetera. Later on, once I got into performing as well, I fell in with a couple of mimes and decided that since I had the opportunity learn the art form, that I should learn.
I gave an interview a few years back where I touched on how I got into it in greater detail:
www.providencephoenix.com/theater/other_stories/documents/04092613.asp -
TT: No, Ian's pictures didn't scare me either. Apparently the clown problems of my youth are niche-oriented.
Ian: thanks for sharing the interview, and the artistic angle of it all!
I am now beginning to feel good professional clowns would have been equally afraid of my friend's red-lit circus themed bathroom... Hm. Wish I'd known this when I was 11. -
Some of your costumes kinda scare me - but not in the freaky over done clown way.
More in the psycho Kubrick A Clockwork Orange kinda way
Sorry
It i scool though, that you do so many live performances and what-not. -
"Some of your costumes kinda scare me - but not in the freaky over done clown way."
At the same time, sometimes I want to be scary-- a lot of the same skills that make one a good clown are also good for creating a good villainous performance. What makes a clown either scary or funny is the performance. -
Oh no doubt! Hence the Kubrick reference.
But the really over done clowns freak me out to no end. They make me think some boozed up child molester is all painted up to get at them there kids. *shudder*
Your costumes are artful. Scary, but at lest artful.
I don't think I could watch you live though. Maybe, if you gave me liquor and I got to know you better first. -
Well, Alex in A Clockwork Orange is wearing a Pulcinella mask during a certain pivotal scene. Pulcinella is chracter from the commedia dell'arte and is, at best, morally ambiguous, he is played as heroic, anti-heroic, or villainous, depending on the scenario-- he's the basis of Mister Punch of Punch and Judy fame. My personal theory is that the Batman's arch nemesis, The Joker is also a relative of Pulcinella. I am certain Kubrick picked that mask for a reason.
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Well dayum. I didn't know all that. I gotta hang out with you more often
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I've hated clowns for as long as I can remember. I don't know why. And hate is not the word for it, they scare the shit out of me.
There's a promenade that's nice to stroll through in my area, but when we get near the clowns performing for tips, my friends and family know to tell me not to look and pull me to the other side of the street.-
Bradley- DON'T look below. Whatever you do. Just read this, close your eyes, and RUN RUN
RUNNNNN!!!
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I used to be class clown does that help
IMAGE REMOVED DUE TO THE SCARY CLOWN-
G-ahh! Chris, and to think I used to like you.
"It" = bad.
Bad, bad, bad. -
I liked IT better book though, do you want me to remove the image or does anyone?
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Haaa ("image removed due to the scary clown")....
(must get air... too funny...)
PS- yes, I liked the book. The movie was okay-- was a little overly long, though, trying to fill time over two nights.
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I don't know...I gotta ask
my parents to show me one :-( -
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We had Bozo and Chucko the clown when growing up and we loved them. Although, Willard Scott as Ronald McDonald did give me heartburn. -
Ah, I will have to go look up Chucko-- I'm not familiar with, er, his work.
I forgot Willard Scott was an early Ronald McDonald. Good trivia.
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I pre-date "Poltergeist" by more than a few years, and I've never been more than a bit uneasy about clowns. Maybe there's a connection.
A few memorable horror flicks aside, I think that the highly stylized facial makeup may be a factor. For me, at least, looking back, I think I was uneasy about clowns (up close, at least) because they were so hard to read.
Not only are their facial expressions hard to interpret (apart from their act), but the makeup makes it difficult to distinguish them as human individuals.-
It's odd. The whole point of clown make-up is what makes them appealing to some and scary beyond all reason to others.
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clowns freak me out like nothing else. AH. they scare me.
and since this is in shameless promotion of blogs, here's my promotion :]
my blog's a very random based life account through the eyes of me. i'm a high schooler in a small town environment who just wants to get out and experience life. check it out if you're interested. it's a tad, er, raunchy? i'm not sure that's the right word though. oh and its also very gossipy thanks ever so much!
myteenagelifeinabucket.blogspot.com -
(Hope you don't mind - I'll be linking to this discussion from Apathetic Lemming, Sunday afternoon/evening.)
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Hey, no problem. It's an interesting discussion. I'm glad so many folks have chimed in from different perspectives.
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There's nothing to be afraid of, Clowns give you candy
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That would make me afraid of clowns!! -
That clown can KEEP his candy!
Yikes!
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deathly afraid. Ever since "It." I've tried to rationalize my fear and have only been able to find comfort in an old SNL "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy" verse:
"To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kinda scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad."-
I totally forgot about that one, that's hysterical.
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The clown doll in the movie Poltergeist did it for me. I hate them and are afraid of them (dolls), not real ones.
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I think the dolls are worse...
And possibly that clown Ekim pasted into this thread.
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Clowns are fun. There is the Joker. There is the movie Killer Clowns From Outer Space. Couldn't go a day without clowns.-
Killer Clowns is pretty funny, actually, in its b-movie horror way.
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I once knew someone who was TERRIFIED of clowns! I mean TERRIFIED. I never saw anything like it.
Plus, since Sex and the City is one of my favorite shows...I'm trying to remember which character feared clowns. Was it Miranda?? She didn't want a clown at Brady's birthday party. OK, I know I know, but I love that show!!!-
Heh, I can't help ya. If it's not in the commercials, I don't know what's in their plotline.
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Some more clowning with which to scare you:
ianthal.blogspot.com/2008/06/mime-at-somervaudeville.html -
the movie "IT" did it for me. Since that day that my beloved father brought that movie home (thanks dad) I can't stand the sight of a clown. If I see one I go the other way. Hate hate hate them. That was 15 or so years ago but that was enough for me. -
I find them a bit creepy...but I think that's mainly because nowadays you only really see clowns in horror films etc.
I had a boyfriend years ago who was really butch and manly and in the army and not scared of anything...then a clown came on TV and he flipped! It was hilarious! -
I have clown porn.
It's awesome.-
clown on clown? Or clown on normal? Or normal on clown? Or lots of clowns and one normal? -
Are you saying that anyone who shags a clown is normal?
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I would deem the shagger or shagee more normal than the watcher
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clown porn would be better if there was less honking
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YES they do look rather Evil sometimes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=83zUlOS9JJk -
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I'll always remember that clown from the Stephen King book "It" that came out of the sewer and killed people. That changed my thinking about clowns forever.-
You realize that there is a huge difference between a clown, and somebody who dresses up as a clown?
Suppose there was a serial killer who liked to dress up in ballet tights and shoes as part of his or her murder ritual-- even though he or she couldn't dance?
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Clowns just aren't right. People who dress as clowns aren't right in the head as far as I'm concerned. I don't fear them, I'm beyond that stage, I just don't like them period.-
Sounds more like you are the one with the issues.
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Stephen King, he's the bad guy not them clowns!
Nah! Just clowning around! Great book indeed, The IT by Stephen King!
Or is it The Information Technology by Stephen King mixed up by the publishers with clown story who wants to keep IT a top secret!
Laugh with me Phuleeease!
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