Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, affects approximately 1 in 10 adults in the US. I don’t suffer from this phobia, but I do find them unsettling and creepy. I did grow up in the post-John Wayne Gacy era, so between his clowning and Stephen King publishing It, the 80s was a bad decade for clowns. They went from a drunken “adult-themed” circus act in the 19th century to beloved midcentury children’s entertainment to pure evil. Looking at these vintage portraits of clowns, it’s easy to see why they’re perceived as so sinister. Maybe I just can’t separate the makeup from the monster, but they all look like they’re prepared to strangle me and bury me under the floorboards.
