The Circus is in Town…Bring on the Clowns!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011


Coulrophobia. The fear of clowns. It’s something I’ve been harbouring with me for nearly twenty years. I have evidence in form of a photo. Taken at my third birthday party. My parents hired a clown and I cried every time the clown came near me. See, I was scared of clowns long before I even met Pennywise the Clown, better known as It.

And yesterday night, at the circus, they surrounded me. Just to give you an idea of how scared I am of clowns; I was directing my friend to the marquee on the phone and a clown materialized next to me. I froze. I couldn’t speak.

Yes, I know. Why did I go to the circus if I have such an irrational fear of clowns? For one, Flip warned me that there would be clowns and I thought I could handle it and two, I don’t recall to have ever been to a circus, so we decided to go.

What fun it was! Children packed the front rows and screamed from laughter at the antics of the clowns. My friend and I joined in.

I found that clowns aren’t that scary, as long as there is a whole ten meters between us. And I sort of feel sorry for them. According to Wikipedia, the irrational fear of clowns is escalating, which means that clowns are becoming a rare species.

One clown doesn’t make a circus, and so we saw an array of astounding acts (how’s that for assonance?), ranging from animals, including elephants, tiger, poodles and ponies to acrobats and magicians.

I love that it was clean and innocent, engaging fun! Am I cured of my coulrophobia? No. I just read up on the clown doll urban legend again.
PS: we were not allowed to take photos, but I managed to slip a few in, thus the bad quality.







2 comments:

Jenna said...

My mom's also scared of clowns lol.

I've never been to the circus, but it looks like fun! I always just worry whether they're treating the animals ok - like those poor tigers :( What did it seem like to you?

xoxo
Jenna

ChinkyGirLMeL said...

I've been to a circus when I was younger and I really really ran away from clowns, I hated them and I still hate them. There is just something creepy about their big smiles.

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