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Coulrophobia

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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]

Coulrophobia in reality

Coulrophobia in fiction

  • 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 Johnny Bravo, Johnny fears very little with the possible exception of clowns. In one episode, there was one on the wing of the plane in which he and his mother were flying, a reference to the Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. In another episode while waiting for his date he has a fight with two clowns after he tells them he hates clowns. However, there is also an episode where Johnny dresses himself up as "John John the Clown" (at the urging of his Mama) to visit his neighbor Susie in the hospital, where she has had her tonsils removed.
  • In the animated series Rugrats, Chuckie Finster is deathly afraid of clowns, as is Didi Pickles.
  • The animated series Animaniacs; in the episode "Clown and Out" it is revealed that the characters Wakko and Thaddeus Plotz have severe cases of "clownophobia."
  • 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 TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander Harris is revealed to have a childhood fear of clowns in the Season one episode, "Nightmares."
  • 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.
  • The Marvel Comics character Deadpool believes that clowns are the greatest threat to the human race other than the planet eating Galactus.
  • On an episode of Family Guy (Petergeist), Chris Griffin is cowering in his bed and says "I wish that scary clown at the end of my bed would go away!" The scene cuts to the end of his bed where Ronald McDonald is casually sitting in a chair and draws a pair of golden arches in mid-air. Chris screams.
  • In the TV series Monk, among the title character's many, many phobias and anxieties is a fear of clowns.
  • 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 the television show Supernatural, Sam Winchester has a fear of clowns.
  • Garfield the cat is repeatedly menaced by Binky the Clown in the animated TV series and comic strip. However, Binky is more annoying than evil, though he can climb through the TV screen.
  • In Life on Mars, Sam Tyler is haunted by the Test Pattern Girl and her clown.
  • In the PBS Kids Series Caillou, Caillou's sister, Rosie, is known to be afraid of clowns.
  • One of Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts states, "To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad."
  • In the sitcom Frasier, Frasier once gave therapy to a woman suffering from coulrophobia.
  • Pro Wrestler Matt Borne (among others) played a famous wrestling character named Doink the Clown. Originally Doink was a heel evil clown who would pull tricks on wrestlers and fans (including spraying wrestlers with a squirting flower, and popping little kids' balloons with a cigar), which was done to play off coulrophobic audience members.
  • On mathcore band Between the Buried and Me's The Silent Circus album, there is a song called, "Lost Perfection: a. Coulrophobia."
  • In the Xiaolin Showdown episode The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean, it is revealed that Jack Spicer is afraid of clowns.
  • In the animated series "Ben 10", in the episode "Last Laugh", it is discover that Ben is afraid of clowns, but at the end, he gets over it after defeating Zombozo, a evil clown.
  • In the "Boston Legal", Season 2 Episode 7, "Truly Madly Deeply", Alan Shore is revealed to suffer from a fear of clowns, describing them as 'evil' and having issues with how parents encourage children to simply 'trust them'.
  • In One Tree Hill TV Series, Haley, One of the lead characters has fear of clowns, as shown numerous times.
  • In A Dark Place by Steven Shiverdecker, a book published by Infinity Publishing, the story is about a grotesque, murderous clown.
  • Junie B. Jones has a small coulrophobia, saying she HATES clowns.
  • In the film Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Pee Wee has recurring hallucinations in which broken pieces of his bicycle are hoisted away by sinister paramedic clowns. In another scene, a surgeon appears to be repairing the bike, and then he removes his surgical mask, revealing a creepy clown smile painted on his face as he cackles madly.

See also

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.
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