As a child, Amanda Stuk didn't like to be separated from her parents. So when a clown pulled her out of the crowd at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus in Cincinnati when she was 7, she was terrified.
I was screaming. I started bawling and was really upset
said Stuk, a junior studying psychology. The clown was yelling at me 'Shut up kid!'
Ever since then, Stuk has been afraid of clowns.
It's an irrational fear. It doesn't make any sense but whenever I see clowns
I freak out
she said. I just close my eyes and act like it's not there.
Stuk is just one of many people in the United States who suffer from coulrophobia, the official name for fear of clowns.
Although there are no official statistics, some experts believe that as many as one in seven people have some level of coulrophobia.
Coulrophobia is known as a specific phobia, a class of anxiety disorders that focuses on fear or anxiety of a certain situation, said Justin Weeks, an associate professor of psychology who specializes in phobias.
One explanation for coulrophobia is that people might have had traumatizing experiences with clowns during their childhood and began to associate clowns with fear, Weeks said.
Timothy Skettle, a junior studying retail merchandising, blames his fear of clowns on the movie Stephen King's It, which he saw when he was 12. The movie is about a clown who kills children.
Another possible reason for coulrophobia could be that clowns have a strange appearance, with exaggerated features that could be unsettling.
They just look so abnormal with white face makeup
Skettle said. They don't look like people are supposed to look.
Alisa Bishop, a freshman studying chemical engineering, plans to avoid clowns with heavy face paint and also people with masks this Halloween on Court Street. She dislikes these types of costumes because she can't identify the person.
Clowns with too much makeup can be especially frightening for a child, said Charles McKenzie, a professional clown in Columbus who goes by the stage name of Chuckles.
When he first started working as a clown in the late '70s, McKenzie used to scare children with his overdone makeup, but after he toned it down, he got a much better response.
But adults who are afraid of clowns are difficult to win over, he said.
I've done birthday parties and grand opening
and I've had adults who are extremely scared
he said. I was doing a 4-year-old girl's birthday party and two adults had to officially leave the house.
McKenzie said sometimes when he stops at gas stations or McDonald's restaurants in his clown attire ' a yellow and orange tuxedo with black spots and blue hair ' the attendants will hide from him in fear.
It bugs me that (people) freak out
he said. It should be a happy experience.
Although some phobias like fear of crowds, can be detrimental to people's lives, it is usually easy to avoid clowns, Weeks said. The only negative repercussion might be ridicule from friends.
If people do want to get rid of their fear of clowns, the best cure is to face their fear.
If a person is anxious in a certain situation
if they stay in that situation
their anxiety will eventually go down
