A Healthy Dose of Coulrophobia

The movie adaptation of Stephen King’s It premieres this Friday. My son (aka my trusty horror-movie sidekick) and I have already secured our tickets. If the trailers are any indication, this movie looks to be true to the novel…and absolutely terrifying.

Stephen King is the master of taking benign, everyday things and making them into horror masterpieces – classic cars, cell phones, hotel rooms and even man’s best friend! It’s no wonder that in his hands our collective coulrophobia (our fear of clowns) is soaring to new heights. But I actually began my healthy fear of the make-upped monsters a few years earlier.  Remember that scene from the original Poltergeist? And thus I joined the unwilling ranks of the coulrophobes at an early age. But I am not alone. Studies suggest that at least 12% of the world’s adult population shares in some level of clown fear. And who could blame them? There are creepy clown stories all across the web.

Fear of clowns is nothing new and nothing unique. Anybody else out there afraid of clowns? If so, are you going to engage in some “exposure therapy” like me and go see It this weekend? Everybody is afraid of something right? What are YOU afraid of?

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