# Clownophobia, and the Decline of American Culture **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017 "2001-05-10T20:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017/41 "2001-05-13T00:50:26Z")
Once, at a friend’s birthday party (I was about 7), there was a clown doing nothing except balloon animals, the entire time. He came up to me and said, “I know your father!” I went through a list of all of my dad’s friends, and none even closely resembled this clown. How the hell did this guy know my dad? I went home and asked my dad and he said none of his friends dressed up as clowns. I wonder what the hell that clown was thinking when he told me that. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017/42 "2001-05-13T01:25:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tsugumo \* > \*\*Oh, and Ronald McDonald never scared me, except for the relatively newer commercials (like last year), where they have some new guy playing Ronald. I swear, that guy is scary. His eyes are like, evil looking…I’ve heard other people have found this too, so I can’t just be crazy, heh. > \*\* Speaking of Ronald McDonald, I think there’s something unduly creepy about [this incarnation](http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/usa/whatsnew/ronaldvideo/color/img/color.gif) of him, too… ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017/43 "2001-05-13T02:59:07Z")
This [Ronald McDonald](http://www.peta-online.org/pdfs/STICsonofron.pdf) is the scariest. and [here](http://www.meatstinks.com/mcd/res.html) for those who can’t view pdfs. Scroll down about half way. ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017/44 "2001-05-14T03:53:30Z")
Well, I am terrified of clowns. I have been my whole life. I do not understand people who say they are not scared of clowns or at least a little disturbed. Was it Steven King who said something like, “Imagine opening your door at midnight and finding a clown standing there. That’s the scariest thing possible. Because, why would there be a clown on your doorstep at midnight? It’s just evil!” As a matter of fact, I even have an e-mail address: [evilbeth@ihateclowns.com](mailto:evilbeth@ihateclowns.com). ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017/45 "2001-05-14T05:05:17Z")
Nothing to add, except [this](http://www.chroniclebooks.com/Blythe/blythehome.html) link to another freaky doll. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2001, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017/46 "2001-05-18T11:14:12Z")
I am of the generation that has no soft spot for clowns, due to **Poltergeist** , **It** , and John Wayne Gacy. But my disillusionment goes further back than that. When I was attending nursery school, in 1974-75, we had two birthday parties a year: one for the people who had birthdays in the summer or the first semester, and one for the second semester. Well, we had a clown at the first one, and we thought he was fantastic. At the second one, he showed up again, but he was late. When we asked why, he didn’t make anything up, but instead made the mistake of telling us that he’d had a breakdown on the road. “You have a **car**?!” “The **highway patrol** stopped for you?!” we all asked, incredulous. Well, his story was probably good for most kids, because he explained that breakdowns are nothing to get upset about, and that cops are there to help you. But I had enough adults in my life who had shown that they weren’t what they pretended to be, so that was the last straw for me. I didn’t develop a fear of clowns, but I never again thought they were funny, or even entertaining. They were just pretenders, like all the other adults I knew. [hijack]Does anyone remember that episode during Bush Senior’s one and only term, when he visited a grade school, and a little boy said, “How do I know you’re really the President? Maybe you’re some joker guy!” Ol’ George took it in stride, and showed the kid his driver’s license, his library card, and so forth, until the boy was mollified. It didn’t win the next election for him, as I’d thought it would, but I thought that kid was terrific. He’d learned, at approximately the same age I had, that **you can’t trust anyone** , not just with your life, but not on any terms.[/hijack] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clownophobia-and-the-decline-of-american-culture/65017.md?page=2)