As we head into the sugary-sweet carnival season, we know that carnivals can be one of the best places on earth. There are scary rides, delicious and fried food and fun games.
But for some of us, carnivals are also a breeding ground for terror. This terror comes because of one of those carnivals’ most famous features: clowns. While others delight in the greasepaint and baggy pants, some of us quake. We don’t want to hug clowns. We want to run from them.
The fear of clowns, also known as coulrophobia, is more common than you may think. The appearance of a clown alone is enough to make my skin crawl.
How can something that seems so innocent be so scary?
The American Psychiatric Association recognizes three types of phobia: specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia. Coulrophobia would be considered a complex phobia. The National Library of Medicine researched the phobia and said, “Our findings suggest that uncertainty of harmful intent, media influences and unpredictability of behaviour play an important role in the origins of coulrophobia.”
For their study, the library surveyed 528 people. Their findings reflect the impact of the fear of the unknown. People like to have a sense of those around them and a sense of their intentions. The uncertainty that surrounds the emotions and intention of clowns, for them, can be anxiety-inducing. For me, clowns leave too much to the imagination. Their expressions are usually extremely happy or extremely sad. While happiness is a pleasant emotion, there can’t possibly be any reason to be that happy.
The media has not helped. At last count, there have been some 69 horror movies that included clowns as an evil protagonist. Take, for example, the IT movie series. IT follows a group of five children who are tormented by a clown named Pennywise. Pennywise uses the fears the children already have, along with their innate curiosity to lure them to him so he can eat them. I avoid those movies like the plague, but according to Variety, IT earned $123 million in its opening weekend in 2017. (What is wrong with people? That’s probably another article.)
With the media portraying clowns as devious child-munchers, shouldn’t all of us be afraid of clowns? Maybe not. The common argument against acknowledging the fear of clowns is that a clown is actually a person in costume.
But that fact does nothing but amplify the ambiguity. If a person is covered in makeup and a costume, how can you gauge anything about them?
In the end, everyone is afraid of something and many people find solace in finding people who share phobias. Whether it be a fear of clowns, birds, spiders or snakes, those fears are valid. So unite, my fellow coulrophobiacs (which is probably not a word but should be). Clowns are definitely creepy and fortunately, they are avoidable. Join me and steer clear of children’s parties or carnivals where lurk those jovial faces that give you the shivers.