Clowns of Doom - Page 2© Sarah Davis
Page 2
Feb 10, 2000
I think that the biggest fear-inducing feature of clowns is that heavy makeup, which can be strange to the point of inhumanity. It is commonly maintained that the heavily stylized clown costume is a vestige of the devil as represented in morality plays and mummers' farces, in both of which the Ol' Scratch often appears as a ridiculous figure. One look at a full-dress clown will confirm the resemblance ( particularly if he is given to the pointy, red wig and receding hairline of "Bozo" tradition).
At least as traumatizing as the demonic hair is that bulbous nose extension, whose sole purpose, other than scaring the willies out of innocent kids, seems to be to facilitate unsettling "trained seal"- type balancing acts. (When I was a child, our local clown troop wore SILVER squeaky noses with a trippy MIRRORBALL effect! Kids, can we say..AAARGH!)
Perhaps the scariest thing about the makeup, other than its appearance itself, is the fact that it completely conceals the wearer's identity. There can be know doubt that true coulrophobes fear the concept of clowns themselves, not the people they might conceal. Nonetheless, cases of criminals dressing as clowns, or the often equally trauma-inducing costumed animal characters, in order to get close to children have done little to appease the secondary fear that the buffoon might hide a boogeyman within.
In the clown biz, the very heavily made-up clown character type to which I have been most frequently referring is termed the "Auguste" type. Since the decline of Bozo and his ilk, this style has fallen out of favor, with softer, more human-like "character clowns" taking his place on many children's entertainment programs. ("The Big Comfy Couch" 's 'Loonette' and 'Major Bedhead' and "Storytime" 's 'Book Girl' are examples of these less frightening clowns.)
Fortunately for clown-fearing adults, I have been happy to discover that residual adult coulrophobia is common enough to be celebrated (insomuch as one can "celebrate" a phobia) on a number of stylish websites.
ihateclowns.com features message boards dedicated to traumatic clown stories, the scary clown picture of the day, clown-related software, and even a gift shop featuring clown-fearing mousepads, t-shirts and mugs. This site is maintained by Rodney Blackwell, a soul so incensed by anything clown-related that, if offered three wishes, he declares that he would forsake his plans for world peace for three good opportunities to humiliate Bozos.
At CreepyClown.com , you can find numerous images featuring artist Don Tatro's aptly- named "Creepy the Clown" character. Perhaps you shouldn't go here if you're VERY coulrophobic.
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