Coulrophobia: Why clowns are so scary?

Have you ever skipped a fair because you know you will be facing a clown at any corner? Become anxious in a kid birthday because a clown is coming? Not been able to watch a movie about clowns at all? If your answer was yes to any of this questions you probably have an irrational fear to clowns or coulrophobia.

People with coulrophobia may experience nausea, sweating and difficulty breathing when they see a clown. They may go to huge lengths to avoid being anywhere near a clown. The term appeared in 1980 but is not a recognized phobia by the World Health Organization.

The actual reason why people are so scare of clowns has it roots in how they’re portrayed in films, specially in horror movies.

Over the years many horror films about killer clowns has been made and because of this the concept of evil clown was created. A character that pushed the concept even further is Pennywise from Stephen King’s novel IT. In 1990 the first adaptation of the novel was made into a tv mini series of two episodes, Pennywise was portrayed by Tim Curry. His performance, makeup and costume was so good that the generation that saw it as kids is still traumatize.

Horror movies with evil clowns

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Poltergeist (1982)

IT (1990)

Amusement (2008)

Stitches (2012)

All Hallows’ Eve (2013)

Clown (2014)

Terrifier (2016)

IT: Chapter 1 (2017) & Chapter 2 (2019)