Coulrophobia

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Are you afraid of clowns? If so, then you have Coulrophobia.

So, this is the season when we discuss the scary things that make our skin crawl, and I've had a few conversations recently with people, young and older, on the topic of what terrifies them and I was shocked to learn that about 80% of the people I talked with said that they fear creepy clowns more than any other type of monster or creature associated with the holiday. Most of the people I talked with were my young employees, and I think their fear comes from modern horror movies.

I personally found this both amusing and ridiculous, I have always looked at clowns as a rather pathetic and crappy character for a modern horror movie killer. I find the movies that use clowns in that role to be boring and uncreative, and they usually just copy what every other creepy clown movie did before it.

I've seen creepy clown costumes more and more in recent years at haunts, znd they seem to be very popular with the guests, and I know that my kids don't like clowns for that same reason, and I watch other people scream and run away from them, but I just stand there and laugh in their faces while they repeatedly try to scare me.

To be honest, I do understand why some people fear them, but it's just people acting and having fun at haunts, so they shouldn't be afraid of them. Besides, if one of them got too close, or actually touched us, I would just punch them in face.

So, how about you guys? Do you fear creepy clowns?

[Murfreesboro]

Not me, but I do think that fear predates the modern horror movies. I was watching the original Poltergeist a few weeks ago and was reminded that the little boy is scared of the clown doll in his bedroom.

Actually, I do or can find dolls creepy. As an only child, I had lots of toys, and I vividly recall one Saturday when I ringed my 12 or 14 baby dolls all around me, and suddenly I found them terrifying. I felt as if they were staring back at me. I ran shrieking to my mother, who harrumphed and declared that she'd never heard such a foolish thing before in her life, a little girl afraid of her dolls.

An elderly neighbor of ours had raised a family of girls around my age, and I guess one of them must have had a child-size walking doll that was popular in the late 50s/early 60s. I never had one, but they were expensive. Anyway, she'd saved it and used to place it inside her glass front door at Halloween. That thing was so eerie!

[Andybev01]

Do voodoo dolls count?

[Murfreesboro]

I've never seen any outside a movie. Personally, I think the more realistic they are, the creepier they are.