Why are we so scared of clowns?

[Still Waters]

The more you stare at a clown's perpetually smiling face, the more it warps into something more sinister.

Clowns are supposedly figures of innocent fun - brightly coloured jesters to entertain our children and slip on banana skins in exaggerated displays of slapstick comedy.

But the manic joy, the mask of make up and the excessive familiarity are just a hair's breadth away from terror.

http://www.telegraph...-of-clowns.html

[Junior Chubb]

Maybe because laughter is often used as a mask to hide something.

Pain, fear, lies...

Edited October 29, 2014 by Junior Chubb

[keithisco]

Here is another Daily Telegraph article that shows how serious, vicious, crimes are being perpetrated by thugs dressed as Clowns... pretty horrific some of it:

A 14-year-old dressed as a clown was arrested on Monday near Paris for attempting to attack a woman, as a strange phenomenon of fake, evil clowns terrorising passers-by spreads in France.

Complaints have poured in recently over "armed clowns" wreaking havoc in various parts of the country, and police have detained several people dressed as the pranksters - some carrying pistols, knives and baseball bats

Source (Daily Telegraph): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11191626/Evil-clowns-stalk-France.html

[Jeremiah65]

I can think of three words that explain why many people don't like clowns...

"John Wane Gacy"

I never paid much attention to clowns...I didn't fear them, but I never cared for their "humor" myself...

[GrimmOne]

Here is another Daily Telegraph article that shows how serious, vicious, crimes are being perpetrated by thugs dressed as Clowns... pretty horrific some of it:

Source (Daily Telegraph): http://www.telegraph...alk-France.html

I love that article American Horror Story is making clowns scary say real clowns - Me I personally like clowns

[XenoFish]

I'm not afraid of clowns, but their 7 layers of creepy.

[Paranormalcy]

I know from my own experience and reactions and when I was a moderator at the I Hate Clowns forum, and seeing all the differing shades of issues people had with clowns, from some actually BEING clowns that didn't use whiteface (and were themselves ALSO scared of clowns) to people who actually would have panic attacks if they just LOOKED at an image on the internet of a FRIENDLY clown (let alone the evil looking ones), I think, and this was somewhat confirmed by a psychiatrist that was kind enough to return an email I sent, that the main issue with clowns is not just the exaggerated but entirely deceptive expression that makeup puts on someone.

As humans, and more specifically animals, it is in our genetic makeup that we rely, even today, on body language, expressions and "tells", to keep ourselves safe and in a position of adaptable defense and response, whether it be in an alley, a crowded place or even a business meeting. We NEED to "read" people, either through their voice or their face or their actions, and the less we have to work with (the less they give us, or the more is obscured from us), the less confident and certain we are in our ability to judge someone. Clown usually don't speak, or speak and use body language and makeup to such an exaggerated degree that is so far beyond the bounds of what even the best analyst is usually called on to "pierce" with their observational skills, that a clown is wearing an entire full-body "mask", as sure as they were dressed head to toe in all black.

To me, this very likely the analog to the Type I/II survival theory. A Type I (false positive) Error is believing a rustle in the grass is a tiger, and possibly fleeing needlessly (but still winding up safe), while a Type II (false negative) Error is believing the rustle is just the wind, when in fact it IS a tiger which eats you because you chose to ignore it. Because there is, in the instinctual life of an animal, including our own species evolution, often almost no time to investigate the validity of a threat, the most successful animals have a trait that treats all patterns as real. If it looks scary, run, even if it isn't. You can always go back and feel silly later, but you can't say "do over" when your face is being gnawed on.

Clowns, being essentially unreadable, even though in most cases, especially obvious public situations such as them being a hired performer, we KNOW it's just a person in makeup, but even then, most have an innate distrust because they are STILL being deceptive, even if passively, and we are still not fully able to be convinced they're not planning something or hiding weapons or considering stealing our kids, or whatever. I believe this is the case with costumes and mascots as well, but I think there is a certain "subtlety threshold" in our minds that says "A clown *could* stab someone and then duck behind a corner and take off his clown suit and be unrecognizable" or maybe they're just so accepted that while some people may see a clown that has committed a crime and think "Huh, don't see that everyday", they won't pay it THAT much attention, while it's pretty hard to imagine an evil Giant Fuzzy Green Football Mascot. Those aren't an everyday occurrence, and why I think some costumes or suits (the more concealing, the more worrisome) are in between, like Santa Clause.

I'm not "afraid" of clowns in the way I would run the other way, but I do avoid them and avoid eye contact and interaction whenever possible, but even though I'm by nature a non-violent person (I've never been in a fight), clowns are one of the few things that if got too far into my personal space and refused to back off, I would be very likely to respond with force.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Paranormalcy

[White Crane Feather]

I never thought they bothered me until I encountered the imagery in a deep lucid exsperience. I'm not sure if it was the masked archetype I was dealing with or if it was my exsperience with Stephan King books as a kid.

The imagry is more complicated than just a clown. The fool archetype goes very far back into history. Performers often occupied a class of people that were considered rouges and outcasts. People that did not want to fit in normally but were highly intelligent usually more so than the people they were performing for. Humer often occupies a dark part of our being. We laugh when somone gets hurt, in awkward situations, or seeing the irony of existance, death, uncertainty. Clowns must dive into this edgy part of life and think about it. In many ways they are obsorbed with it.

Rarely do you see "normal" person want to be a clown. There is always something off or edgy about them. Think of today's top comedians. Some of them are down right scary. Robin Williams was this way. He was funny but we all knew there was a terrible darkness there as well. His ability to embrace this is what made him good but it probably killed him in the end.

I think deep down, we know that people that where masks and act extreme for a living are walking close to the dark.

[quiXilver]

Clowning for me has nothing to do with makeup or the circuses. That's petty entertainment.

It is a very sacred mindset and a process that can be embodied by anyone, though I've known a couple genuine clowns who penetrated bull**** and spread joy. They managed this on a daily basis, in veritably all situations and were able to transmute bull****, fear, anger and discomfort into joy, laughter and comfortable contentment.

Sacred Clowns for the win.

[Beany]

Do you know why cannibals don't eat clowns? Because they taste funny. Bwahaha! I don't find clowns creepy at all. Any anyway, at least with clowns you can see them coming.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Beany

[White Crane Feather]

Do you know why cannibals don't eat clowns? Because they taste funny. Bwahaha! I don't find clowns creepy at all. Any anyway, at least with clowns you can see them coming.

Or hear them.

[Beany]

Or hear them.

Either their big floppy shoes or the horns they honk. There's a lot of people who enjoy clowns, and clowning around. I love when all the clowns pile out of that little tiny car. Don't people go to the circus any more? Clowns are funny and entertaining. Quit watching scary movies and go to the circus; it's way more fun.

[UFO_Monster]

Clowns have never scared me. Reality scares me more than any circus act.

[+Hammerclaw]

The more you stare at a clown's perpetually smiling face, the more it warps into something more sinister.

Clowns are supposedly figures of innocent fun - brightly coloured jesters to entertain our children and slip on banana skins in exaggerated displays of slapstick comedy.

But the manic joy, the mask of make up and the excessive familiarity are just a hair's breadth away from terror.

http://www.telegraph...-of-clowns.html

Politicians and televangelists have ruined clowns for me.

[Beany]

Politicians and televangelists have ruined clowns for me.

If only they'd paint their faces, then we'd know them for what they are immediately.

[Sundew]

Maybe it's the size 36 feet or the glowing bulbous "Hi! I'm a raging alcoholic!" nose. Or the fact that you can pack 50 of them into a Smart Car. Something is just not quite right about clowns.

I did love Red Skelton as a clown though.

[+Hammerclaw]

If only they'd paint their faces, then we'd know them for what they are immediately.

True clowns need no artifice.

[quiXilver]

If only they'd paint their faces, then we'd know them for what they are immediately.

I think they should have to wear the Corporate Logos on their suits, of the companies who own them like cattle...

[Kashora]

I have a friend who passes out at the sight of clowns. I asked her years ago why she was so afraid, and she said it was the makeup. She had no idea who or what was behind all the paint so she couldn't properly read them, or trust what they said.

[Beefers]

1 word: "It"

At least it seems like that book/movie added to their creepyness.

[quiXilver]

I have a friend who passes out at the sight of clowns. I asked her years ago why she was so afraid, and she said it was the makeup. She had no idea who or what was behind all the paint so she couldn't properly read them, or trust what they said.

I get the same experience, only with people's social face vs the mammal reality underlying it...

[Paranormalcy]

As I mentioned in a previous post, on an internet "I Hate Clowns" forum I modded, a couple of the members are actually legitimate clowns themselves, with websites and fees for parties and all that, that ALSO have coulrophobia (the term for "fear of clowns" but which actually means "fear of stilts", because that was what clowns were often associated with when the phobia was first recognized).

The particular clown from this forum I recall was just the kindest poster and would laugh along about various ways to "kill clowns" (some of the posters were a combination of therapeutically expressing and being a bit psychopathic), but she herself found her comfort zone, and was responded to best by kids especially, when she eliminated the whiteface pancake makeup base, opting for possibly lightly colorfully dusted but otherwise normal human skin tone and a red painted-on nose. She often dealt with not only kids but parents and adults that ALSO that she could either discern, or that outright told her (sometimes threatening her), that they had no affection for clowns. The various clowning "guiilds" or whatever you'd call them have special guidelines regarding this phobia and how to deal with it in kids and adults because it is so common - so common it falls in and out of being in the top 10 most searched terms in Yahoo.

I've seen reports over the years about various children's hospitals finding consistently that kids do NOT like clowns.

Here is a clown's site with a bit on "fear of clowns".

Other Links:

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Coulrophobia

http://www.nannyserv...ared-of-clowns/

http://www.nbcnews.c...s-issue-f725830

http://news.bbc.co.u...ine/7191721.stm

http://www.huffingto..._n_4826140.html

Edited November 3, 2014 by Paranormalcy

[IBelieveWhatIWant]

I know from my own experience and reactions and when I was a moderator at the I Hate Clowns forum, and seeing all the differing shades of issues people had with clowns, from some actually BEING clowns that didn't use whiteface (and were themselves ALSO scared of clowns) to people who actually would have panic attacks if they just LOOKED at an image on the internet of a FRIENDLY clown (let alone the evil looking ones), I think, and this was somewhat confirmed by a psychiatrist that was kind enough to return an email I sent, that the main issue with clowns is not just the exaggerated but entirely deceptive expression that makeup puts on someone.

I would wager a bet that they would be Burger King fans rather than McDonalds fans.

[Leonardo]

From very early records we can see clown or jesters being treated as 'divine fools', and granted virtual immunity from the consequences of their behaviour. There is also very old association of the state of being a 'divine fool' with 'divine madness', and this has perhaps led to an different association, perhaps subconscious, of clowns and jesters with insanity and mental health disorders.

So, the double-whammy of their 'outside-the-bounds' behaviour - with immunity from consequence - and an association with mental health disorders has probably set quite a negative image of clowns in the minds of many.

[Beany]

From very early records we can see clown or jesters being treated as 'divine fools', and granted virtual immunity from the consequences of their behaviour. There is also very old association of the state of being a 'divine fool' with 'divine madness', and this has perhaps led to an different association, perhaps subconscious, of clowns and jesters with insanity and mental health disorders.

So, the double-whammy of their 'outside-the-bounds' behaviour - with immunity from consequence - and an association with mental health disorders has probably set quite a negative image of clowns in the minds of many.

That's interesting about clowns being divine fools. I wonder if adult Halloween costumes are sort of a temporary clown thing, a chance to step outside our normal persona and into something else that gives us a vehicle for emotional/behavioral expression that we wouldn't otherwise indulge in.