Had
to relate one bad experience with clowns in two words:
New Orleans.
By day, you have mimes aplenty in the park, motionless,
waiting for tourists to approach before springing to life.
Mimes are bad, too -- they're like another species of
clown evil, but more nuisance than outright menace, although
I certainly wouldn't want to be caught alone in a dark
alley with a mime!
The whole Mardi Gras scene is an absolute nightmare, clownwise.
There are those harlequin-style clowns and masks all over
the place -- you know, those dead ceramic masks? Those
are absolutely *everywhere* -- you can't escape them.
And worse, if you're tanked, which is the usual state
of mind of someone in New Orleans at night, then you're
twice as vulnerable to the machinations of the clowns!
One place had shelf after shelf of harlequin dolls --
dolls are bad enough; *clown* dolls are even worse! And
worse than that are wind-up clown dolls that go through
their routine, their little eyes watching you.
And that doesn't even count the parades, where those damn
masks are all over the place. If any city were to be the
capital of the Clowniverse, I'd nominate New Orleans.
-David
...danger
is often associated with bright colors - eg. the poisonous
tree frogs in South America radiate with the colors of
a clown... (Editors Note: Very true!! You will find that
in the natural world, the majority of things with bright
colors are those which are poisonous.. plants, snakes,
frogs and even butterflies)
-anonymous
I've
hated clowns ever since I saw Poltergeist when I was little.
Then, my grandma thought it would be "cute" to get me
the clown doll from the movie. It even laughed like the
clown in the movie, and everything set it off. Like, it
would be sitting on the floor, and the cat would walk
by it and it would start laughing all sinisterly, and
I would freak out. One day I had enough and buried it
in the back yard. I know it sounds psycho, but I was 7.
but that's why I've always been scared of them. I can't
even go to the circus anymore, because the last time I
went, my friends made a clown come talk to me, and I freaked
out. I never knew this many other people hated clowns.
its good to know.
-Dayna
Day
It
is not easy to like clowns when John Gacy lived so close.
Here is a true tale:
I
was walking down Canal St. in New Orleans. It was about
10:00 in the evening. The street was full of families
and others. I found myself walking behind a wirey young
man who had long dirty hair and a gate to his step that
suggested he was a punk, looking for trouble. I kept my
eye on him. About a half a block ahead of us a clown came
around the corner. About 5'10", Blue clown outfit with
polka-dots, of course. He was minding his own business.
Not really "clowning" for anyone on the street. The Ner-do-well
and the clown got closer to one another on the street.
At the last possible moment before they would have passed,
the ner-do-well hopped to his left and sucker punched
the clown right in the face. The clown fell, the punk
ran. Once on the ground the clown bellowed "What the Fuck!!!".
Completely ignoring the families and children around.
The punk got away. The clown got a bloody nose. (Ed. Note:
GET A PUNCHING BAG!! 'Dislike/Fear' and 'Violence Towards'
are two completely different things.)
-Roger
Johnson -Midwestern Clown Loather
My
aversion for clowns began in childhood with commercials
for McDonald's shown between cartoons on Saturday morning.
Ronald and all his pals seemed unnatural and tacky. In
fact the ads were such a turn-off that I have always stayed
away from McDonald's. Other people can't believe I don't
eat at McDonald's but the Ronald image is so perverted
I loose my appetite. Seeing clowns at parades and fairs
freaked me out and I would want to leave right away. And
clowns continued to freak me out into adulthood. One day
as I was driving from one end of town to the other, I
was followed by a clown in his car. Every time I looked
in the rear view mirror, the bastard would wave in this
slow, weird way and grin. I almost had a heart attack.
Then one time I had the great misfortune to shop at a
Wal-Mart for office supplies during a grand re-opening
(it had just turned into a supercenter). As I was wandering
around, looking for fax paper, I heard a nasal voice in
my ear: "Are you lost, honey?" I turned around and there
was a big CLOWN standing right next to me, red fright
wig, oversized bow tie, evil leer and all. Needless to
say I got the hell out of there! And recently a friend
told me that her flunking a test was due to the fact that
she saw a clown walking along the highway on her way to
school. That would be a disturbing sight.
-anonymous
I
have to agree that clowns are but sick, twisted caricatures
put on earth to fundamentally disturb the impressionable.
I have always been disgusted by clowns, so you can imagine
how upset I was when, at age 16, my mom volunteered me
to be the clown at our local fair. The clown position
was a sort of rotating position done by different people
in two hour shifts. I did everything I could to worm out
of it, but under penalty of severe grounding I relented.
It was humiliating. I had to sit in this oven of a room
for an hour while slabs of slimy grease were smeared onto
my face. Once it was complete though, I began to sense
the appeal to professional clowners... I emerged onto
the fairground and immediately freaked out this kid standing
by the door. This went on for the full two hours. I would
walk up to a kid and let loose a forced, twisted laugh,
leaning down at a menacing angle, and all the kids would
get this furrowed brow. Their pupils would dilate, and
they would form a scream deep in their lungs. I had free
reign to terrorize a few acres of kids, and their parents
sat impotently by, due to some unwritten assumption that
clowns are good and shouldn't be opposed. The power was
seductive, and I was at the age that I knew and despised
many of the brats. Needless to say, I was never again
asked to play the part of the clown.
-Eddie
Clowns
suck. When I was about 10 years old I joined a fife and
drum band that marched in parades every weekend. Before
I even learned to play the fife, the group made me be
in the parade so it would look like they had more people.
So I was just supposed to walk in the middle of the group
and fake it. Well, everything was going fine until some
stupid clown came right into the middle of our group and
put his big ugly ear up to my fife. When he discovered
I was not really playing, he laughed a sinister laugh
and proceeded to skip around our group for the remainder
of the parade informing every spectator along the way
that I was faking. Needless to say I was mortified. From
that day on I have hated and feared all clowns and clown-type
things.
-Anonymous
What
I freak I have been. For years I have been labeled abnormal
due to my fear of clowns and circuses in general. Somehow
seeing animals treated that way never seemed very funny
or entertaining, I think it is sad. Especially because
before the show the clowns would come out and mess with
the children in the audience. This should be illegal.
I would cry if they even came near our seats, needless
to say my parents stopped taking me. I remember first
recognizing being terrified of clowns when I was around
6 or so. I was staying up late to watch Fantasy Island,
it came on after Love Boat. Anyway, if you remember the
show had different stories that you followed. Well one
was about this woman who had to stay in this haunted house
and as you guessed it, one of the hauntings was by a clown.
It scared the hell out of me, as if Fantasy Island wasn't
scary enough. The local mall has a clown located on the
first floor at the end of the escalators who does balloon
animals. If he is working I will walk to the other end
of the mall so I don't have to descend the escalator and
end up right in front of him. Even now that I am 25 years
old when I find myself in the company of a clown at a
fair or something I have to leave, I can't even look at
them. I know that behind the freak face is a guy who wouldn't
think twice about wrapping his gloved hands around my
throat while slitting me from end to end only to leave
me gurgling for breath.
-Kristi
Frisch
Ever
since i can remember I have hated clowns. I don't know
why, but I thing the intense aversion can most likely
be attributed to some childhood trauma involving clowns
that i have subsequently repressed. Either way, they scare
me. My band is playing at a Halloween Show on halloween,
and everyone is required to wear a costume to get in.
However, because I refused to play if there was even ONE
clown in the room, there is a strict ban on people in
clown costumes at the show. I feel like i have done my
part as a good citizen of the world to protect not only
myself, but many of my peers, from having Halloween ruined
by some freaky looking dork in big polka dotted pants,
a ronald McDonald 'fro, and make up which is eclipsed
in horridness possibly only by michael jackson's. I shall
continue to do anything and everything in my power to
work against clowns and anything related to them.
-Abby
I
was just watching an old "Blossom" episode with my 7-yr
old, who had no previous fear of clowns, and here is the
script as follows:
...a very obviously drunken clown named Frosty shows up
at the Russo house looking for Blueberry Lane....
Frosty: "So, are you going to help me find Blueberry Lane
or not? There's a bunch of little kids there with frowns
on their faces. And if clowns hate one thing.... it's
little kids!"
My son was appalled!! He kept asking me if clowns really
hate little kids! Oh, and one more note to add....
In the Disney Sing-A-Long Songs tape (video)"Let's Go
To The Circus", it begins with a bunch of unchaperoned
kids outside the circus. A CLOWN approaches and says,
"Hey kids, wanna come backstage with me?" I find this
utterly repulsive. It makes my skin crawl every time I
see it. (oh, and of course, the kids just follow the EVIL
CLOWN backstage... ugh!!!!)
-Stacia
