No one is exactly sure why, but clowns are pretty creepy. Even if you don’t have Coulrophobia (the fear of clowns), you have to admit that any clown is inherently disturbing. Most people think it wasn’t that way in the past, but it’s becoming more obvious that clowns have always had a dark side. Nowadays, thanks to shared pictures on the Internet, we know that old-school clowns were even creepier than what we have to deal with today.
Bozo the Clown may have given you goosebumps, but these vintage clowns? They’ll give you nightmares.
1.) Creepy clowns eyes, ready to get you.
2.) I can’t imagine anything worse for a sick person than a visit by clowns. Santa is cool though.
3.) He looks friendly…maybe.
4.) They’re not plotting to kill you or anything.
5.) I’m impressed that no one in the diner is freaking out.
6.) What are they laughing at?
7.) Something is about to happen.
8.) Is that a mask or face paint?
9.) They don’t look very happy at all.
10.) Umm, what the what? This is really creepy.
11.) I bet the elephant is trying to save those girls.
12.) Is this a good clown, or is he just faking it?
13.) Nothing creepier.
14.) She has to turn around right now!
15.) Clown smoking on a rainy day.
16.) They might just haunt my dreams tonight.
17.) Completely expressionless.
18.) Straight from your nightmares.
19.) I wish I knew what the heck was going on here.
20.) That poor dog.
21.) A couple just clowning around.
22.) Clown zombie?
23.) Why would you invite such creepy clowns to your fancy party?
24.) Clowns on the New York City subway.
25.) Those eyes are staring into your soul.
In the past, a clown’s makeup had to be exaggerated so that people in the audience could see their expressions clearly. No matter the logical reason, though, the resulting visage was just…disturbing.
To make matters worse (and inspire more people to be terrified of clowns), the current entertainment industry has cashed in on the “creepy clown” character.
Society was introduced to the modern terrifying clown with Stephen King’s IT.
Thanks to Tim Curry’s brilliant performance, the nightmares of multiple generations were plagued by Pennywise the Clown.
Now, American Horror Story has perfected the murderous clown character with Twisty, the current season’s big bad.
When you think “terror,” you may think of these current clowns…but it all started with the awful vintage clowns of yesteryear. Good luck sleeping!
