Coulrophobia

There are many different types and severities of fears people may or may not have. Some may be afraid of swimming underwater, the dark, even loud noises. A common fear that has resurfaced and become more prominent is coulrophobia, most commonly known as the extreme fear of clowns. Many people expect that young children will love the circus, especially with all the comedy the clowns are supposed to bestow on the audience. However, that is not always the case. There are many children that hate the circus, they are petrified of the clowns. They don’t like how close and in their face the clowns get. The recent events around Halloween, of clowns terrorizing people, have caused an increase in the number of people with coulrophobia.

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They aren’t all impostors, that are out to terrify and intimidate the public. Most clowns are working to either entertain in the circus, or entertain for private events. However, there have been some people, dressed as clowns going around trying to put people in fear for their life. A Umass Sophomore, Audrey Gladu, who lives in the Southwest dorms of the college expressed that she is terrified of clowns. When a clown was reported on campus, near her dorm she stated she was “pretty scared, but it made me feel better, that all of Umass would protect me, People were also kind of hyping it up just to freak people out. Like I was walking through campus, with a few friends and guys were yelling out their windows that there were clowns. It’s crazy how one tweet can make an entire population panic,”(Audrey

A Umass Amherst senior, Brianna Gladu claims, she heard about the clown on campus through social media. She stated, “No one knew if it was real or not. Everyone was feeding off everyone else’s fear,”(Brianna Gladu). When she heard about the supposed clown on campus, she wanted to know if it was real or not. Her thoughts turned into “A fear of the unknown.” She claims, “I didn’t know if the reports were real. I didn’t know if it was someone on campus, or a stranger, and I didn’t know if they had any intention of hurting anyone,”(Brianna Gladu). Brianna was a fan of clowns at a young age when she would see them in parades, but when social media developed twisted versions of clowns, she began to see them as creepy and dreadful