image via – youtube.com
If being in the presence of a clown, or even the mere sight of one, fills you with feelings of dread, anger, fear, nausea, hysteria, or sickness, then you may suffer from Coulrophobia. That is the common term used to describe the blind, immense, and highly specific fear of clowns.
It has often been thought that the reason why some people absolutely hate clowns is because of their comical, albeit borderline monstrous, facial and bodily features. The highly exaggerated, drawn on expressions are unchanging and make it extremely difficult to get a read on the person behind the mask. Many clowns also sport huge hands, feet, noses, or mid-sections, which make them appear highly unusual and in some cases it’s almost as if they look partially deformed.
Whatever the reason may truly boil down to, clowns can be downright creepy and disturbing. Which makes the current trend of clown attacks that are sweeping the nation particularly disconcerting. It seems that every other day a new clown sighting pops up in the headlines. Everywhere from New Jersey to Texas, Idaho, Arizona, and beyond has been affected by the alarming rise in clown-related criminal activity. It all appears to have began a little over one month ago, back on August 29th, when reports first surfaced in South Carolina about a person dressed as a clown who was attempting to lure young children into the woods near an apartment complex. In the short span of time since then, clown sightings have skyrocketed and they have people everywhere on edge.
Much of the concern surrounding the recent wave of clown sightings has to do with what the clowns are reportedly doing. Their behavior isn’t passive or positive in any sort of way. Instead, many people claim to have been chased, attacked, and threatened by the clowns they’ve encountered. In some instances clowns have tried to lure or entice little kids away with them and some have even been armed with knives, guns, and in one case, a machete.
The anti-social clown behavior seems to be escalating as well and this recent video of a clown sighting captured by joggers in Newark, Ohio is chilling proof of just how scary a real-life run in with a creepy clown can be.
The two men, Chase Prior and Patrick Williams, had gone for a run at around 7:30am when they spotted a man dressed as a clown wandering down the trail up ahead of them. When they caught up the the clown he was about midway across a wooden bridge, with his back turned to them. They decided to confront the lone clown and called out “Yo what the f*%$ are you doing man? It’s 7:30 in the morning, have you heard about all this s*#%? People are freaking out about this.”
The clown turned to face them, said nothing in response, and started to walk briskly towards the two friends. That’s when they spotted a knife and decided to take off running, but the clown gave chase and ran right after them! The rest of the footage is mainly of the ground and blurry but when the camera does pan back it appears as if the clown may actually be gaining ground on them.
It’s incredibly freaky and no wonder Mr. Prior, who posted it on Facebook, called the whole thing “absolutely terrifying, joke or not. We didn’t stick around to find out.” After watching the clip, you can’t knock him and his friend for running away as fast as they possibly could!
All in all, it’s best to steer clear of any clowns you may happen to see at odd hours of the day, especially if they are in the middle of nowhere and armed with a weapon.
Please SHARE This With Family and Friends
