[Calavera]

Let's drag this one out of the dust, shall we? I simply cannot fathom that this didn't get more discussion.

I'm seeing a lot of references to "It" in this thread, which is indeed what many coulrophobes site as a source of fear. Being a diehard King fan (when it came time for the celebratory vandalizing of the Senior year car, I was the one writing "Pennywise lives!" in red spray paint. Other King fans will get that,) that kills me.

Whenever "It" is brought up, I always have the same reaction; It is not a clown. It is anything It wants to be. At the end of the book, It is a giant spider. Now, I will bend and admit that It most often chooses the form of Pennywise.

Still, don't be hatin' on the King. If you actually read "It" you'd probably like it.

When it comes to Gacey, coulrophobes sort of have a case. It is frightening that a happy clown could be a malicious killer, but so could anybody. If you're going to be afraid of clowns for that reason, you might as well just go ahead and be afraid of everyone.

Let me speak for myself now. I have never been afraid of clowns, and I still am not. For me, the question that decides whether or not I'm afraid of you is "can I kill you if need be?"
For clowns, that's a yes, so there's no fear. However, before I came across this forum and got a better view of this community, I was wary of clowns. If one of them ever got near me or my brother, I would flash the pepper spray. Luckily, I've only had two clowns approach me in my life.

Let me clarify something that I know will come up. When I mentioned "or my brother" I know that the finger is going to be pointed at me for encouraging him to be afraid of clown. That's not the case, he has been afraid of clown since long before I used my pepper spray. The first time he encountered a clown was when his mother took him to some little kid's birthday party. For some reason or another, he came back afraid of them. He was 2.

When I was 16 (he was 8) my mother, her new boyfriend (now her husband), his kids, and myself and my brother went out to a spring festival. With my brother, I've always felt like he might as well have been my son. From a very early age, I acted as mommy and when I was 10, my parents made the decision to divorce. Mom didn't know how to handle it and turned to drugs and alcohol, so my kid brother was pretty much forced on me, but I don't mind. Don't worry, mom got over her problems and is a much better person now.

Given those facts, I naturally took him to go with me while the others went their way. He didn't mind, it's actually what he wanted. He did not like the new kids in the picture and was closer to me than he was to his mother.
I did the mommy thing, bought him some cotton candy, obsessed over whether he was really ready to go on a tilt-a-whirl, and all those other joys. Well, eventually, guess who comes walking up to us?

That's right, a clown. This clown proceeds to interact with my brother who is obviously afraid, hiding behind me with a death grip on my waist. I was very lenient with the clown near my brother at first, as long as I had one hand on my brother and one hand on the spray. Fully aware of my brother's fear, he kept on.
Now, when clownie decided to reach out and try to touch my brother, that's when I stopped being lenient. I brought out the spray and gave him the "get out of here before I put you in the ER" talk.

Since then, I found out that most clowns make it a rule not to get in the faces of frightened children. That guy just made a mistake and was probably a newbie. Looking back on it, I could have handled it better, but that was my kid brother he was scaring and I was certain that this clown (based on his behavior) was going to kidnap him.

My reasons for being wary are mostly tied to real-life monsters who happened to be clowns. For the most part, it was the case of Spanky, a clown for Ringling Brothers, in 2004 for child pornography charges. I'm pretty sure it stems from the fact that I love kids. If someone exploits or harms a child, I have no sympathy for them.
Really, it was a matter of trust. Mind you, that wasn't all that made me cautious. As I had mentioned before, when I saw a clown, I had to ask myself "Why? Why are you, a grown man/woman, putting on that ridiculous costume and slapping on makeup?"
Sometimes, it felt like something was being hidden from me. Sometimes, I was just creeped out by the fact that an adult was dressing and behaving in such a manner.

Well, now I know why, so I don't carry that bias that I used to.


Listen up, because I have questions for all of you.

What affect do pedophile clowns and murderer clown have on your personal life? Does it outrage you? Does it make you put your head in your hand and think "Aw, not this again..."?

If you could talk to a coulrophobe, and that person would listen, what would you say to them?



Man, this is an old introduction. Did the OP never come back?
Oh, well, I just came across this topic and I simply had to revive this thread, if only for a little while.

Now sit down and talk about it. I will break out the cattle prod if I have to.