# Birthday party. Clown. Sheer terror. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198 "2007-09-06T02:40:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/41 "2007-09-06T22:34:18Z")
I have always wanted to decorate my small bathroom with those Scary Clown paintings that are, by law, required to be sold at every garage sale in the US. I bet I could get a new painting of Pure Evil every week for a buck or less. Completely framed. Clown Art oxymoron! I grew up with and does not phase me one bit. My husband, the Prime Minister of the Anti-Fun Brigade, has pooh-poohed this decorating idea. So, I’ve been struck with the brilliance just now of finding the most hideously freaky clown art and attach it to the 100+ year old oak tree that is in the front of our house on the easement, facing the road. I have no idea why I actually want to do this, but it makes me giggle at the thought of the " WTF is a clown portrait doing on that oak tree?" as people zoom down our country lane. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/42 "2007-09-06T23:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=Pazu] Especially creepy, because you _know_ that there’s actually like 37 of them in that car. [/QUOTE] Good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/43 "2007-09-06T23:27:13Z")
The new game show **The Power of 10** provides fascinating sociological insights into America’s psyche…(really)…and asked “what percentage of America is afraid of clowns?” 60, 70%, right? Nope. 10% ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/44 "2007-09-07T13:35:48Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] IMO, the only good clown is Krusty. [/QUOTE] This is only true because Loonette is a bad clown. A very bad clown who must be spanked. Oh yes! ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/45 "2007-09-07T13:44:03Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] It could also have been **[Clownhouse](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0094886/)**. [/QUOTE] Nah, looks like Pennywise to me ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/46 "2007-09-07T17:14:14Z")
I met an artist several years ago, at the Palette & Chisel in Chicago, whose specialty was painting clowns. I cannot for the life of me find him online, maybe he moved on to something else. But he was selling his work in New York and showed me some – they were mean, mean clowns running around with billy clubs, committing acts of violence. Evil little faces (but very well done). I remember thinking that my clown-phobic friends’ fear was perhaps quite justified. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/47 "2007-09-07T17:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] This is only true because Loonette is a bad clown. A very bad clown who must be spanked. Oh yes! [/QUOTE] …I’ll be in my sister’s video collection. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/48 "2007-09-07T18:28:03Z")
[QUOTE=gwendee] Save yourself! I don’t have any problem with clowns, but the one linked in the OP will haunt me for a while. Ay yi yi! [/QUOTE] Nah, it’s not half as scary as the Burger King. ---
**Author:** ![toadbriar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@toadbriar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadbriar)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/49 "2007-09-07T19:30:55Z")
How cool! I collect scary vintage [toys](http://flickr.com/photos/kimhotep/172833612/in/set-399663/) and [clowns](http://flickr.com/photos/kimhotep/13732392/in/set-399663/). I’m a bit picky; deliberately scary clowns, like with pointy teeth, don’t do anything for me. But a poorly-designed clown doll from the 30s whose face is [peeling and flaking off](http://flickr.com/photos/kimhotep/16726656/in/set-399663/)? _Perfect_. I’m saving them for the guest bedroom when we move to a larger house. That way, people won’t stay for tediously over-long visits. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/50 "2007-09-07T20:10:28Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] This is only true because Loonette is a bad clown. A very bad clown who must be spanked. Oh yes! [/QUOTE] Slight hijack, there’s an [weird peice of vandalism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonette) on the Big Comfy Couch’s Wiki Article ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/51 "2007-09-07T21:01:44Z")
The only [clown](http://www.jppatches.com/) that never scared me. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198/52 "2007-09-07T21:54:59Z")
The very last time I ever walked in the door at a strip-club (to price renting the hall for my brother’s batchelor party), there was a clown in full makeup drinking heavily, performing magic tricks for the girls dancing on stage, and stuffing singles down their G-strings with clown-gloved hands. I have never been back to a strip-club since (nor have I felt comfortable around a clown since). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birthday-party-clown-sheer-terror/418198.md?page=2)