Killer Clowns!\u00a0 What evil lurks behind the mask and the florescent green hair?\u00a0 I saw one down the street and he had a big knife to hack teens into little bits that can be fed to the street dog and cats.\u00a0 Sound like a summer The clown comes from the Commedia dell\u2019arte<\/em> which derived it from a character called the \u201crustic fool\u201din Greek plays.\u00a0 In it\u2019s original derivations, the fool depicted a low socioeconomic class peasant who was\u00a0 stupid or a dolt in modern terms.\u00a0 From there, the Italians positioned him to be clumsy and more of a slapstick kind of figure.\u00a0 Somewhere around the 1600\u2019s the word \u201cclown\u201d was used and Shakespeare put the clown character in a couple of plays like Othello<\/span><\/em><\/strong> and The Winter\u2019s Tale<\/span><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 The clowns appearance that we are used to with the big red nose and the painted face developed in the early 1800.\u00a0 He was turned evil in late 1800\u2019s with the opera Pagliacci<\/span><\/em><\/strong> (\u201cClowns\u201d) where the main character was an angry, jealous clown, with a great tenor voice, who was looking to kill the person who cheated with his wife.\u00a0 Then you have Bozo\u2019s<\/strong> Big Top Circus<\/strong> and Ronald McDonald<\/strong> who associate clowns with children, and serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Batman\u2019s Joker, and Pennywise from Steven King\u2019s It<\/span><\/em><\/strong> who associated the clown with murder and torture.\u00a0 And you thought the clown originated in American politics!<\/span><\/p>\n Now let\u2019s talk the psychology of clowns.\u00a0 A fear of clowns is called \u201cCoulrophobia,\u201d that is at least the irrational fear of clowns. \u00a0 Why irrational do you say, because the clown face, green hair and all the stuff is naturally unsettling.\u00a0 Most kids are afraid of clowns when they first see them.\u00a0 It is the natural instinct.\u00a0 They are not afraid of most animals, but they are afraid of clowns.\u00a0 It is a human-like character that is very different \u2014\u00a0 the face is masked, the hair sticks out to the side, or they look like a hobo, and you can\u2019t tell their true intentions.\u00a0 This last piece is probably more the reason people fear clowns, their true intentions are hidden behind a mask of makeup or a physical mask.\u00a0 You can\u2019t read micro-cues in their face, you can\u2019t see subtlety in their expression.\u00a0 That\u2019s why clowns who work kid\u2019s parties immediately do a prat fall to bring some kind of humor forth which combats the fear. \u00a0 So clowns create a natural fear in people, but what is an irrational fear?\u00a0 When you get older, the initial fear abates and a person waits to see what the clown is offering, but if you suffer from coulrophobia you don\u2019t wait and see, you run.\u00a0 You get overly anxious and run.\u00a0 It\u2019s that simple.<\/span><\/p>\n So, am I saying that Mardi Gras and the Carnivale of Venice all put people on edge because of the masks?\u00a0 Then why do people flock to them?\u00a0 The answer is yes and they want the thrill.\u00a0 We watch scary movies for the thrill.\u00a0 And we ignite mass hysteria like all these clown sightings for the thrill.\u00a0 Drama makes the world go around, at least for many.\u00a0<\/span>Just ask a Kardashian how far drama can get you.\u00a0 <\/span> It is possible it started as a publicity stunt or one criminal act, but it is continued by the drama.\u00a0 We streaked in the 70\u2019s for the thrill.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of life, to many it is life.<\/span><\/p>\n And why is it continued by people?\u00a0 Why are people continuing to dress up like clowns knowing the risk?\u00a0 Why are they scaring children?\u00a0 Because of the thrill.\u00a0 The thrill to copycat something that is very \u201csexy\u201d by it\u2019s nature and continues the contagion, a psychological or sociological principle of something catching on.\u00a0 That is something that will be remembered all their life if they get away with it.\u00a0 How many things can you say that about in life?\u00a0 I have faint memories of my high school and even college graduation, and almost no memory of getting my doctorate degree awarded.\u00a0 I remember everything about the night we let a skunk in the high school cafeteria and rerouted traffic through the school parking lots all for a senior prank.\u00a0 Or climbing up a ten story building in a gorilla suit on a dare.\u00a0 Or\u2026.I better stop there.<\/span><\/p>\n So it\u2019s a contagion, like a viral video, with a big thrill factor for the actor and we keep it alive by our instinctual fear.\u00a0 Why are they clowns acting badly and carrying around large knives and guns and have evil painted faces?\u00a0 Do you think we would be afraid of clowns reading to children or ready to play ball?\u00a0 Nah.\u00a0 Take something associated with kids and turn it scary and every police department and school is on alert.\u00a0 We have had numerous pick-ups on Long Island, most are teenage boys and sometimes girls or early 20\u2019s \u201cteenagers\u201d just trying to scare people.\u00a0 Toy knives, some have real stuff but they are not trying to use them. \u00a0 Maybe some of the original clowns were really trying to harm a few individuals, but real criminals know to say away from the clown outfit now.\u00a0 Most criminals don\u2019t want to stand out and say come and get me.<\/span><\/p>\n Now how do you arrest them?\u00a0 Each state or country would have different rules for that.\u00a0 I know in New York Penal Code 240.35 there is law on the books about it being illegal to wear a mask. \u00a0 But judges have said hoods by the Klu Klux Klan could be worn, so that law would have problems being enforced.\u00a0 Other laws about Inciting a Riot, but that would be questionable because they would have to show they wanted to be beaten by ten or more people.\u00a0 Disorderly conduct is another possibility but it would have to reach that level.\u00a0 It tough and it would be a state decision to have some law on the books that could be used.<\/span><\/p>\n So the clown thing will be gone soon and maybe they can get back to circuses and the theater.\u00a0 It going to be awhile for the kid\u2019s parties to come back though.\u00a0 But maybe it will.<\/span><\/p>\n However, we have a bigger clown issue in America.\u00a0 After watching the presidential debates last night, I know where the scariest clowns are, and I am not going to be thrilled looking at any of them for four years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please share this article from down below.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Please join the email list on the top of the sidebar and you can get these sent to your email.\u00a0 Also follow me on Twitter for other articles and ideas, and YouTube. Feel free to donate if you like the site.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police Psychology | Killer Klowns!\u00a0 Who Are All These Bozos? by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP Killer Clowns!\u00a0 What evil lurks behind the mask and the florescent green hair?\u00a0 I saw one down the street and he had a big knife to hack teens into little bits that can be fed to the street dog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168888],"tags":[17168956,17168831,17168957],"class_list":["post-4463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information","tag-clowns","tag-police-stress","tag-psychology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":862,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=862","url_meta":{"origin":4463,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | Dreams: What Do They Mean?","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Dreams: What Do They Mean? In police psychology we often get asked the question, \u201cwhat does my dream mean?\u201d A dream is a wish your heart makes when you\u2019re fast asleep\u2026When Cinderella sang this song many years ago, she was just adding to an age-old psychological and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dream Door, police psychology","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Dream-Door-300x179.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5610,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=5610","url_meta":{"origin":4463,"position":1},"title":"Police Psychology: Wish List","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"March 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology:\u00a0 Wish List by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP When I finished my doctoral dissertation, I had mesmerized my committee with a great presentation and knew just about everything ever published on my topic: \u201ctraining parents to make kids behave.\u201d\u00a0 I literally knew more then anyone in the room\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168878"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Cop-with-family1-300x236.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5092,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=5092","url_meta":{"origin":4463,"position":2},"title":"Police Psychology | The Obsessed Mind-Body Connection","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | The Obsessed Mind-Body Connection by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Thoughts","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168878"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4552,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=4552","url_meta":{"origin":4463,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology | Emotional Pinball","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"October 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Emotional Pinball by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Emotions"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Emotions","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17165629"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5013,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=5013","url_meta":{"origin":4463,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology | A Real “Blue” Christmas","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"December 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | A Real \"Blue\" Christmas by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP","rel":"","context":"In "Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6005,"url":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=6005","url_meta":{"origin":4463,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology: Good Stress: Bad Stress","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"May 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology:\u00a0 Good Stress: Bad Stress by Gary S. Aumiller Ph.D., ABPP \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Resilience"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Resilience","link":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168882"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-19Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4533,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions\/4533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"clown\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/clown.jpg?resize=249%2C249\")
campfire story.\u00a0 An urban legend at it\u2019s best.\u00a0 Well they\u2019re here, in Long Island New York, in Fishers Indiana, in New Orleans Louisiana, Albuquerque New Mexico and even in Hollywood California where the theatric meets the macabre.\u00a0\u00a0 Why are they here?\u00a0 What do they want?\u00a0 Who are these BOZOS?<\/span><\/p>\nPsychology of Clowns<\/span><\/h2>\n
Why Scary Clowns<\/h2>\n
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n