Coulrophobia- Fear of Clowns
Coulrophobia is actually a pretty common phobia, and even without an official diagnosis of a phobia, most people can attest to an inherent creepiness of clowns. Why is there so much fear toward a group of people that intend to make us laugh? Is this a product of pop culture, especially if anyone has ever read IT?! Apparently, there is so much more to the fear of clowns.
In a 2004 review article for Trinity University, Joseph Durwin postulates that there are two commonly accepted schools of thought. One is that the fear is based in a negative personal experience with a clown at a young age. The second theory is that mass media has created a hype surrounding evil clowns such that even children who are not personally exposed to clowns are trained to dislike or fear them. However, neither of these theories is entirely satisfactory.
Read a BBC article about the fear of clowns here.
British horror writer Ramsey Campbell says the recurring theme in popular culture of the scary clown goes back at least as far as silent move star Lon Chaney Sr, who identified the spooky potential when he reportedly said: “There is nothing laughable about a clown in the moonlight.”
There is even a website dedicated to why people hate clowns:
There are people in this world who dress up and act like clowns; I don’t like these people.
The original gif credit: growyourownhero.
