Nah, clowns aren’t too scary. Neither are mall Santas. But, as a child, I knew who the real enemy was: The Shriners!
For some reason, I was terrified of the Shriners as a child. Who knew what dark rituals went on inside their “Shrine Temples”? What did that creepy scimitar emblem mean? Why did they wear those hats? Even their cars were wrong. I mean, just look at them ! Clowns I could mostly deal with. But Shriner Clowns!? Good Christ!
(For the record: as an adult, I have nothing but admiration for the Shriners. They do good work with kids, I’ve never heard anything bad about them, and the Shriners Hospital cafeteria across the street from my office makes a good grilled cheese. If there are any Shriner Dopers out there, kudos to you guys. But you freaked out a very nervous 10-year-old)
A few months ago, I was at a busy gas station sitting at a pump, and a clown was in another car, just circling, circling, because there wasn’t a free pump.
Man, I was getting freaked out everytime he went around. I felt like he was up to something, so I get a bit of the clown uneasiness.
IMO, the only good clown is Krusty. I think my slight fear of clowns comes from when I was little, when I watched a lot of TV. (And I’m an honors student, take that, leading scientists!) Well, I remember there was an animated version of Beetlejuice that came on every day at noon. There was some opening sequence where he was riding in a train, I think, screaming like a madman. That scared the crap out of me. It’s still kind of with me.
My thoughts exactly. It brought up memories of accidentally discovering I’d entered the “Insane Clowns Mental Institution from Outer Space” haunted house last year at Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens. :eek: :eek: :eek:
I was oblivious of clowns when I was a kid, except when I thought they were lame. Looking for that link, I thought that Bimbo the Clown was on Channel 7 from Buffalo. But then, to my embarassment and shame, I discovered that he was on The Uncle Bobby Show, produced right here on Channel 9 in Toronto. I can still remember the stunning banality of Bimbo’s theme shong.
But then The Joker as depicted in the dark Batman revival comic of the late eighties started to change my mind. It was then that I realised how much twisted wrongness could be slightly hidden behind makeup.
And Ronald McDonald, well, he obviously sold his soul to the corporation, so there went my perception of the goodness of clownly motives.
So now, I’m …uneasy around clowns.
And I haven’t seen any evil clown movies. You think I’m crazy?
