Coulrophobia

Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns.It is not uncommon among children, but is also sometimes found in teenagers and adults as well. Sufferers sometimes acquire a fear of clowns after having a bad experience with one personally, or seeing a sinister portrayal of one in the media.

Not all sufferers of the phobia experience the same degree of fear.^[1]

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Coulrophobia in reality

• Bubbles the Clown from the BBC's Test Card F has been found to be an object of fear for some. [1]

• Pennywise the clown, from Stephen King's horror novel It, has also been cited a cause for Coulrophobia.

Coulrophobia in fiction

• In the cartoon show Animaniacs both Wakko Warner and Thaddeus Plotz have severe anxiety around clowns (with Plotz's fear of clowns being a lot worse). No one is certain whether or not they still have a fear of clowns.
• In the anime Mobile Fighter G Gundam Chibodee Crocket is seen paralyzed with fear at the sight of jester Gundam and its clown-like pilot because when he was a child criminals dressed as clowns raided a circus. Chibodee was held hostage, and his mother disappeared during the attack and is presumed dead.
• The animated series The Simpsons; see "Can't sleep, clown will eat me." (Later used as the basis for an Alice Cooper song.)
• In the animated series Rugrats, Chuckie Finster is deathly afraid of clowns, as is Didi Pickles.
• In the sitcom Seinfeld, Cosmo Kramer had a recurring fear of clowns which was most prominent when the psychotic "Crazy" Joe Davola, who was after him, was wearing a clown suit as a disguise.
• In the animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Billy had a fear of clowns (which results in him continually screaming that they're going to "DESTROY US ALL!!") and believes that "clowns hate tangelos", but later grew to just hate them or not even mind them at all.
• The Marvel Comics character Deadpool believes that clowns are the greatest threat to the human race other than the planet eating Galactus.
• In the TV series Living Single, John Henton's character, Overton, displays a distinct fear of clowns.
• In Doctor Who, the Doctor's companion Ace is established as having a fear of clowns, even before the events of The Greatest Show In The Galaxy.
• In Life on Mars, Sam Tyler is haunted by the Test Pattern Girl and her clown.
• In the sitcom Frasier, Frasier once gave therapy to a woman suffering from coulrophobia.
• In the animated series Ben 10, in the episode "Last Laugh", it is revealed that Ben is afraid of clowns, but at the end, he gets over it after defeating Zombozo, an evil clown.
• In One Tree Hill TV Series, Haley, one of the lead characters has fear of clowns, as shown numerous times.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander Harris is afraid of clowns, as revealed by the episode "Nightmares" in Season One.
• Agent Seeley Booth from the TV show Bones displays a mild fear of clowns.
• Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard from the TV show Stargate Atlantis hates clowns as emphasised in the episode "Doppelganger"

See also

• The Joker
• "Can't sleep, clown will eat me," a well-known phrase from the Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word."
• Evil clown
• It
• John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer known as the "Killer Clown"
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space
• Supernatural Season 2 Episode 2 Everybody Loves A Clown

References

1. ^ Kloer, Phil (2007-02-15). Fears of a clown: The circuses are in town, but not all is fun and laughter. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.