Creeping irony · 2:07am Oct 11th, 2016
Over the past week, creepy clown sightings have been reported all across the continental United States and in Britain and Australia. Most are unsubstantiated, but arrests have been made of both menacing clowns and clown-sighting hoaxers.
(You can skim these. Or just skip forward to "A lot of people are talking about".)
The Dearborn Patch, Oct. 5:
The creepy clown craze is spreading with lightning speed across the country and earning a place in urban legend.
Experts have weighed in with some possible explanations. David G. Myers, a professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, told The New York Times the reports, which he called “mass hysteria,” play to people’s fears.
Jason D. Seacat, an associate professor of psychology at Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts, said people who perpetuate the hoax with reports may just want to be part of a national news event.
“Since the event appears to be difficult to verify, the claim that one has had such an encounter is easier to make and relatively free from the risk of being called out as a fraud,” he said in an email to The Times. “So, low risk of being called out for lying and the benefit of positive attention for reporting such a claim may motivate some people to lie.”
After similar phenomena occurred in the 1980s in Boston, Loren Coleman, a cryptozoologist who studies the folklore behind mythical beasts such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, developed “The Phantom Clown Theory,” which chalked it up to mass hysteria, usually as a result of children’s reports, CNN reported.
Children aren’t that fond of clowns to begin with, according to a 2008 study in England that concluded decorating children’s wards in hospitals with clown images may give already ill children the heebie-jeebies.
“As adults we make assumptions about what works for children,” Dr. Penny Curtis, a researcher with the University of Sheffield, told BBC at the time. “We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable.”
Following up with the "clownsteria" Rapides Parish school lockdown, I was asked by my supervisor to call the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office about “possible clown activity.”
At the time, it felt like the equivalent of calling and asking the department’s spokesman if “his refrigerator was running.” That’s an old prank call joke from back in the day of landlines, kids.
“Lt. Babin, I’m sorry to ask this, but has the sheriff’s office received any calls about clown sightings?” I asked, stifling a Muttley-like laugh.
The department had not.
The scientific term for the fear of clowns is called coulrophobia. The reason behind coulrophobia is you watch too many scary movies.
It's OK. You aren't alone.
In 2008, the University of Sheffield released a study that focused on children's fear of clowns. Research included more than 250 children between ages 4 to 16 who were shown images of clowns.
"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable," researcher Dr. Penny Curtis told the BBC.
Amid all the hysteria, however, there has been not a single substantiated report of a genuine kidnapper clown, while any confirmed clown sightings appear to have been harmless pranksters. “We don’t see any real threat here,” New York Police Deputy Commissioner John Miller told reporters this week. “Don’t believe the hype and don’t be afraid of the clowns.”
That may be easier said than done, given the widespread acceptance that clowns are scary. But when exactly did Ronald McDonald become the Joker? In 2008, a University of Sheffield study asked more than 250 children aged four to 16 whether clown images would make a hospital more cheerful. All 250 said no.
By REBECCA TAYLOR FOR MAILONLINE
... Some professional clowns say they are in fear for their lives, let alone their livelihoods. One has even started a Clown Lives Matter movement on Facebook to draw attention to their plight. More than 100 clowns are expected to take part in the first protest march in Tucson, Arizona, this week.
Fear of clowns is so pervasive and instinctive it has its own name — coulrophobia. According to Dr Steven Schlozman, a child psychiatrist and academic at Harvard, humans are built to recognise patterns from an early age.
A clown’s exaggerated features ‘set off a primal warning bell’ from within our brain that something is not right, he says.
He has a point. A 2008 Sheffield University study on the effect of clown images in cheering up a hospital ward found all 250 children questioned said they disliked clowns. ‘The fascination with clowns is really the fact that they’re not real,’ says criminologist Scott Bonn. ‘We don’t know what’s beneath the make-up. It could be anyone or anything. They’re actually very frightening.’
by Angle News
... Some professional clowns say they are in fear for their lives, let alone their livelihoods. One has even started a Clown Lives Matter movement on Facebook to draw attention to their plight. More than 100 clowns are expected to take part in the first protest march in Tucson, Arizona, this week.
Fear of clowns is so pervasive and instinctive it has its own name — coulrophobia. According to Dr Steven Schlozman, a child psychiatrist and academic at Harvard, humans are built to recognise patterns from an early age.
A clown’s exaggerated features ‘set off a primal warning bell’ from within our brain that something is not right, he says.
He has a point. A 2008 Sheffield University study on the effect of clown images in cheering up a hospital ward found all 250 children questioned said they disliked clowns. ‘The fascination with clowns is really the fact that they’re not real,’ says criminologist Scott Bonn. ‘We don’t know what’s beneath the make-up. It could be anyone or anything. They’re actually very frightening.’
Huh. That sounds familiar.
A lot of people are talking about this 2008 clown study. That's intriguing, that 250 out of 250 children disliked clowns. I'll look into that.
Hospital clown images 'too scary'
Some children think that clowns are "frightening and unknowable"Decorating children's wards with paintings of clowns to create a nurturing atmosphere could backfire, research suggests. A University of Sheffield study of more than 250 children, aged four to 16, found the images were widely disliked.
Even some of the oldest children found the images scary.
The researchers said the findings, reported in Nursing Standard magazine, highlighted the importance of consulting children in hospital design.
Researcher Dr Penny Curtis said: "As adults we make assumptions about what works for children.
"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."
Reuters news wire, Jan 16 2008:
Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them.
The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.
The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.
"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.
"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
Neither of these last 2 news sources--and these are real news sources, with armies of reporters--cite any sources other than Nursing Standard (and neither gave an article citation). Yet both used the same quote.
That's a big deal, if one of the primary news sources which all news in the West derives from is just copying from somebody else without crediting them. Who's plagiarizing whom? And where's the article?
The original research article published in Nursing Standard magazine:
Your search did not match any articles.
Hmm. That's odd. There doesn't seem to be any such article.
Dr. Penny Curtis, private email to me, Oct. 10 2016:
I am not aware of anything appearing in the Nursing Standard and if your information is correct, their coverage was completely inaccurate. Our research was not about clowns and we have no authoritative comment to make on them. We had undertaken an academic piece of research examining aspects of children's hospital design. In our final report we noted that the decorative features - well intended by adults - did not always meet the needs of children and we gave the example of a painted picture of clowns. This was one single mention in research reporting the views of 255 children. It was picked up and erroneously reported in the press and we have been haunted by it ever since!
with best wishes
Penny
So, our news is made by copy-pasting unverified claims from people who copy them from other people who copy them from the few news agencies everybody trusts--who make stuff up and rip each other off. And that's when there isn't politics involved.
And the news agencies criticizing people for foolishly perpetuating the creepy clown hoax... are themselves perpetuating a creepy clown hoax.
Nice. 
P.S.--Actually I just read one news article and immediately looked up the BBC article, then tried to find the Nursing Standard Article. I didn't check to see how far the bogus news had spread until I got the email back from Dr. Curtis.
...for that matter, does the actual hysteria itself even exist?
snopes.com/photos/odd/graphics/ronald1.jpg
4250696
Oddly, yes; I've got a fair number of friends who are sharing 'creepy clown' posts on Facebook.
I find it interesting that someone named PENNY was the one to comment on clowns.
Also creepy clowning is a good way to get shot. Scaring someone to the point where they might get violent against a perceived threat isn't intelligent in today's society where we're encouraged to arm ourselves.
4250696
Can confirm; hysteria real. I'm an undergrad at Penn State, and we had clown "riots." Basically, a bunch of students were out walking around hunting for clowns after some reported sightings in one of the dorm quads.
Why you would possibly do this I do not know, but one of the many things I've learned in my first month and a half here at PSU is that college students have about as much a sense of self preservation as does a toddler.
TBH I have yet to meet a kid that likes clowns. It seems more like an acquired taste with little to no content (like soy meat) and since they aren't as popular as they were in the past (the past has much to answer for!) kids are a lot less exposed to them in general and have no incentive to learn to like them.
The real hysteria is the hysteria over the hysteria about clowns! :V
(Also how cool is it you got an official response from a serious-pants research scientist just so you could write a blog on a pony fanfic website. :D I feel like you should be crowned a master troll.)
4250737
I actually begged my parents to have a clown visit for my birthday when I was... I don't know. Around six? I don't remember much except that he made a bunch of balloon animals, played some funny jokes/pranks on me, I had a ton of fun, and I gave him a huge hug afterward.
Now I find clowns kind of creepy. But at the time I thought that they were great.
4250746
Well, it was a serious question about a serious issue. I don't think the fact that Bad Horse posted his findings here automatically renders his research "trolling."
More like the "professional" media are the ones trolling us.
I thought everyone knew who was causing the rise in clown sightings: https://twitter.com/onlxn/status/774463936452136960
Clowns: Bitter mimes who finally made it out of the invisible box...
I enjoyed your research. It's also very cool that Penny (Dr. Curtis) actually responded to you about this.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Reminded me of this:
My former roommate's husband actually went out in his clown get-up and tried to clean up the image of clowns in Austin, TX.
The kids in the video seem pretty okay with him, but they are getting balloon animals. I feel like my tolerance for clowns would be directly related to whether I was getting a balloon animal out of the deal.
4250946
For me, Clowns will always be ruined due to Steven King. Balloon animals or no, all I hear is 'We all float down here!'
4250746
How sad is it that more real journalism about the issue happens on a pony fanfic blog than in professional news rooms?
Is it possible that there's some kind of paranoid coulrophobic media conspiracy? Were the heads of Reuters and BBC News frightened by clowns when they were young and now determined to stamp them out? Hanlon's razor may apply, but I can't help but think that there's a strong anti-clown agenda here.
Indonesia: 'HAH, WE DON'T HAVE CLOWNS HERE!'
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/citogenesis.png
Anyone who's even tangentially related to a subculture or community which has been covered by the news in the last several decades (D&D, gamers, gun owners, furries, bronies, you name it) or even has bothered to check primary sources when the latest round of tabloid bullshit that's passing as US Election coverage drops knows that modern news coverage is absolute shit. (Western science reporting and published research isn't much better. Expand that to a global scale, and China just admitted that 80% of its recent results have been fabricated.)
It doesn't get reported unless a) it's click-baity enough to generate a profit before anyone can debunk it, b) it supports someone's pre-determined narrative, or c) it's paid advertising/propaganda passing as news. Don't trust, just verify.
4251034
4250768 is right, it's the media who's actually trolling us. D:
When I was a kid, I had nightmares about Ronald McDonald.
He lived in a creepy castle. I remember running away from his minions, and I'd always get to the drawbridge, and look down at the moat all full of garbage, and when I looked back, Grimace and Hamburglar and the rest were just standing there, unwilling to step foot on the drawbridge, but I had no choice but to continue on into the castle.
Clowns are the real reason I got my CCW license.
4250726 I thought it was a nice display of citizen solidarity when the people at my undergrad got together and patrolled for a while after a creepy-clown sighting was reported.
A part of me now wants to cultivate an appreciation of clowns as the ultimate hipster move.
It'd make a great T-shirt, too: "I'm such a hipster, I like clowns unironically."
Expert citecraft[1] as usual, BH.
[1] Scholar-fu? Scholarbattlecruiser?[2]
[2] Like scholarship, but more awesome.
4251142
Gods yes. In my experience it's most easily seen when American news sources report on my home country of Redactedstan[3]: it's all so hideously comically wrong that you are forced to go back a few times just to check that you are reading about the right country. From getting the whole point wrong, to getting dozens of tiny details wrong. I've even seen those scene-setting B-roll pictures/videos used to accompany a newscast be from entirely wrong countries or hilariously unrepresentative.
As far as I can make out the media is stuffed silly with dilettantes and incompetents and none of it is even slightly reliable. Dr. Spinning Top would not approve. Or would approve very much. Depends on what the Service needs at any given time, really.
[3] Borders Freedonia to the north, Poldavia to the east, and Ruritania to the west, and on the south lies on the broad, warm Nonesuch Ocean.
You know, the tip of the Space Shuttle's external tank used to ice up before launch because cold oxygen gas being vented there, caused water vapor in the air to condense and freeze.
I'll never forget how a local paper described the process as cold hydrogen vapor combining with oxygen in the air to form ice.
Of course every journalist knows of that tragic day when the dirigible Hindenburg exploded and froze over Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Oh, the humanity.
4251242 image.toutlecine.com/photos/f/i/a/fiancee-de-frankenstein-22-g.jpg
SOLIDARITY!
4251294 To be fair, Ghost, no foreigner has ever come back alive from your country. Probably. Anyway, why take the chance?
4251335
Stabbing with the traditional Strantsokoly knife is how we say Welcome! in Redactedstan, I'll have you know. It's very traditional. But these foreigner types, well, they've such flimsy chests. Blade goes right through. Very depressing. Must drown out sorrow in traditional Redactedstaneese turpentine-and-methanol drink.
(Actually, like all good Slavs, we say 'Welcome' with bread and salt. And since I've had skittish foreign friends before, I've sat down with the numbers and it turns out you are less likely to die an untimely death here than in the 'States by a considerable margin. Well. Aside from two cases: traffic deaths (traffic laws are generally treated as optional extras) and The Goddamn Germans which is, as you know, a recognized CoD in most Slavic countries[1])
[1] Sorry, Antsan.
4251321
I keep a cheery hydrogen flame (well it isn't cheery so much as it is invisible but that's nothing some calcium or strontium salts won't fix) burning all summer long to keep my apartment cool, you know.
Professor Charles Xavihonk says we shouldn't be scared of the clowns. It's just rumors and ignorance driving us into a stampede.
I think he might be one of the creepy clowns. let's get him!
4250726
"I GOT ONE! I GOT A CLOWN!"
"You idiot, that's a mime."
"What's the difference?"
"A clown has more white meat."
I have to admit I was sorely tempted when this moral panic started to get a creepy clown costume and go out and mess with people.
Then I decided that I didn't want a panicked individual to shoot me.
4251328 WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Sounds to me like some people are going to get lynched for picking the wrong Halloween costume this year.
Nice job hunting down the original source.
On the plus side it gives me an excuse to post a link to this: