Coulrophobia (Fear of clowns)

[inplainsight88]

For as long as I can remember I have always been terrified of clowns. Pictures of them, clowns on tv, anything to do with them.
I start to have a panic attack if i see one and recently i've been suffering with constant nightmares about them.
Does anyone else suffer from this?

[Mark13]

No, but I do find then vaguely disturbing, so I can empathise to a small degree.

On the plus side (and I mean this genuinely) clowns are nowhere near as popular an entertainment as they once were so you're less and less likely to even encounter such images.

[Rls1994]

Yes.

Ever since I saw that film called 'IT' (don't type it into Google images please!) when I was younger and used to get nightmares over it, I've hated clowns.

[inplainsight88]

Thank you for your replies.
Yes, they really are disturbing aren't they?
Even though they aren't on TV much anymore (so relieved about that), I find they pop into my head at random times and I start to worry I'll see them in places. Think this is probably some sort of weird self sabotage thing.

Ah yes, i've heard of IT but never watched it. So horrible.
I've never been able to find a way to get over this phobia. Really wish I could.

[AuntieMoosie]

Oh yes!! I absolutely cant stand clowns:lac: The have always frightened me. I remember as a child, we went to a circus which I really enjoyed that was until the clowns appeared, I then sobbed, wailed and cried so much that they had to take me out, I thought they were petrifying :ohmy:

Luckily I don't see many of them now, but I can clearly remember when my children were little and I took them to watch our Towns Carnival.....that there was a float fully loaded with clowns, both on the float and walking beside it :scared15: Now my children are not scared of clowns and I didn't want to frighten them, so I literally froze to the spot I was standing on, I felt like I was going to be sick with fear, but somehow, thankfully, my children didn't notice me, they were too busy enjoying themselves.

A friend of mine had two of those pierrot clown masks on her living room wall, and whenever I went to visit her, she would have to take them down cos they would freak me :ohmy:

So you're not alone hun, I just don't understand what's nice about them in any way, shape or form :lac:

Hope this helps you hun :) :hugs:

[Rls1994]

AuntieMoosie, I'm sorry to hear about that awful experience! I don't have this phobia of clowns I don't think but they do scare me quite a lot. The clown in McDonalds used to scare me to the point I wouldn't ever go into McDonalds because I know that clown would be somewhere in there on the boards and stuff.

[Arnie365]

I don't have this but my cousin does. As with most phobias it probably come from a traumatic experience in the past. I remember when my cousin was only about 2 we went to a circus in Blackpool and as we walked in a clown jumped out from behind a curtain. My cousin shot through the roof and wouldn't calm down. We had to leave the circus. We think this is where he developed the phobia as ever since he starts panicking if he sees a clown.

[gothic_rose]

My biggest fear is clowns. I have been afraid of them since I was a small child then I saw the horrible film someone mentioned above which turned my dislkie into a full blown phobia. I have had a panic attack when seeing one before but now although I feel very frightened, I try and deal with the fear and remind myself its only a person in make and I could kick their a** if I wanted to.

I aviod carnivals, fairgrounds, fetes, kids birthday parties and refuse to take my kids to the circus. Thankfully my kids have nt replicated my phobia, they know its just something mummy does nt like.

It does nt help that I adore horror films and it seems to be fashionable now to put scary clowns in horror movies as the bad guys. And I now cant join in with halloween since supermarkets decided evil clown costumes and masks were good money makers. >>shudder<<

[inplainsight88]

Thank you for all of your replies. It helps to know that I'm not the only one with this horrible fear.
Auntie Moosie, that must have been awful, what happened at the Carnival. Was so good of you though to not give into your fear in front of your children. Must have been horrible. I also don't see what is nice or fun about them in any way.
I was at Blackpool Pleasure Beach once with my friend and we went through the Passage del terror haunted walk thing and it didn't even come into my head that there might be a clown in there. People were saying about dracula and other stuff but hadn't mentioned the clown. So in I went and we bumped into the clown half way round and I was hysterically crying and I couldn't breathe. My friend hadn't realised how serious my phobia was and couldn't believe my reaction. It was a horrible experience.
Gothic Rose, I'm really glad that you don't suffer from panic attacks anymore because of them. It's a shame that the things we have to avoid because of them.