More people contact me about Coulrophobia than any other topic related to clowning.
A month ago I was contacted by a medical student in Pakistan who requested my assistance in designing an experiment on Coulrophobia treatments. He wanted to begin by using abstract designs based on clown make up. I made suggestions on the types of photos he could use in the next step of helping somebody get used to the appearance of clowns. I also suggested some things to consider in selecting videos to show patients. For example, I recommended that slap stick style routines would not be the most effective in somebody overcoming their fear of clowns. I also suggested using a video of somebody applying their clown make up.
During the past month I have heard from two high school students writing papers on Coulrophobia.
A man contacted me today with severe Coulrophobia whose daughter insisted on having a clown perform at her birthday party. He wanted to be there during the party. He asked for my advice on how to cope with his fears. The party is six days from now.
I recently learned that a psychology school considers me to be an expert on Coulrophobia and refers their students to an article on the topic posted on my web site.
When I first started clowning in 1974 I didn't hear anybody discuss a fear of clowns. I don't think the term Coulrophobia existed then. However, while developing my audience interaction style and observing audience members I became aware of people who seemed to be wary of clowns. I discovered that children between the age of two and four tend to be afraid of any living fantasy character including Santa Claus at a mall, Mickey Mouse at Disneyland, and clowns. Through experimentation I discovered some techniques that seemed to reassure them.
When people find out I am a professional clown they often ask questions to satisfy their curiosity about our art. Sometimes people would tell me they were afraid of clowns, and often they explained why. That helped increase my understanding of this condition.
Why has Coulrophobia become such a hot topic? First, portraying clowns as monsters became popular because of the irony of a character causing pain or distress when they are supposed to generate happiness and joy. An example of this is Steven King's "It" where a shape shifting monster sometimes appeared as a clown. Another example is the levitating clown doll in the original "Poltergeist" film. Some of these media portrayals caused people to fear clowns.
Then news reports about Coulrophobia began to appear. It was considered news worthy because it seemed to be a surprising new condition. Other fears, for example, being afraid of heights, were considered common so they weren't news worthy. The news reports caused people to consider clowns as potentially scary characters.
That led to more portrayals of clowns as monsters, and it has become a fad. The original "Poltergeist" film doll was a normal looking clown. The clown did not appear in the film advertising. Posters for this summer's "Poltergeist" remake featured a clown character definitely designed to be frightening. A local department store sold Halloween costumes depicting scary clowns. This past week a Seattle theater company had a scary clown themed haunted house.
How should we respond? First, it does not do any good to protest these portrayals. It will not eliminate them. All it does is draw more attention to them. Also, it makes clowns as a group look bad. Eventually this fad will fade away as others have in the past.
Second, changing appearance does not make clowns less scary. Some people advocate wearing less make up to appear more friendly. However, any difference in appearance can trigger this fear. I have seen performers without any make up except a red nose scare audience members. I have seen audience members who were initially frightened of all clowns warm up to somebody in complete facial make up and be comfortable with them close up.
The most important response is to be aware that there may be people who are frightened of clowns. Scan your audience for them and do not invade their personal space. Allow them to set the limits of their own zone of safety.
Be an advocate for the art of clowning. Take advantage of every opportunity to educate people about the contributions of clowns to society. Be sure that you are consistently a positive example of our art.
To read my article on Coulrophobia go to
For information on working with young children and others who may be uncertain around clowns go to
