Column: Legends, Lore, Superstitions, and More
Creepy clowns, they scared the world in 2016 and once again in 2017 when the movie It came out.
Clowns can trace their origins back to ancient Egypt as Pygmy clowns, in ancient imperial China as the YuSze, in ancient Rome as the stupidus, and in medieval Europe as jesters. Modern clowns can trace their origins to Joseph Grimaldi, a British actor.
Clowns have been around for a while but when did they get creepy? La femme de Tabarin by Catulle Mendès was a book that featured a killer clown that was released in 1895. Another person that could have contributed to the creepiness of clowns was John Wayne Gacy. Gacy was an American serial killer and rapist who is responsible for the assault and murder of about thirty-three men and boys in the 1970s. Gacy had worked at childrens’ parties and charity events as a clown named Pogo or Patches.
Creepy clowns became even more feared after Stephen King’s book, It, was released in 1986. The release of this book led to an increase in coulrophobia, the excessive fear of clowns. Even in more modern shows like American Horror Story: Freakshow clowns are being portrayed as homicidal and creepy.
Creepy clowns are not something new, but represent a fear that has been around for thousands of years.
I always though clown were funny and make a kid laugh I mean isn't what a clown should do. But as of now since Universal Studios, Epic Pictures Group, etc. now they make them to scare you to death which that leads to have a phobia of clowns and that also can lead to trauma to kids. Mental people act clowns and kill people because they believe that they are special in their own little game.
I never thought clowns were creepy as a kid I really never minded them but then I started noticing them in horror movies and then that's how I started to see clowns more differently and creepy.
In my opinion, I have always thought clowns were creepy. I went to a party when I was seven or eight, and when I arrived there was this horrific looking and furious clown working. I was so terrified, I honestly couldn't move. It freak me out so much in ways I can't explain. Every little kid mostly experiment the fear of clowns I know I did. There are two type of different horrifying clowns, one of them is from being a kid and the clowns tried to traumatized you as a joke. The other one is people dressing up as clowns and killing people this causes people having fear of clowns.
As a kid I didn't really think of clowns being scary or creepy but as movies and horror attractions started to include clowns, that's when I started to see clowns as creepy. But I know that clowns were never meant to be creepy, clowns have been around for a long time and have been there for birthday parties and circuses to entertain families but mostly children. Since people have decided to use clown costumes and design them to be creepy and use them to scare people, many people don't like clowns because of it. Some people even developed a phobia that's called Coulrophobia which a fear of clowns.
As a fan of horror movies and anything relatively creepy I never found clowns creepy and still don't till this day. Though when they were becoming popular in 2017 that's what actually worried me. It was so bad I remember that people from my elementary would tell me "Don't drive past the railroad tracks, there are clowns that would randomly pop up and scare you". Not only that but upcoming YouTube content creators would post clown pranks, it was a cash grab to gain clout or fame from the public exposure it was getting. It got more serious when police would actually arrest some alleged pranksters who didn't get the memo of clown pranks being taken serious. To be honest,…