No Wonder Some People Have Coulrophobia

family, happiness, humor, lessons learned 1 Minute

Never heard of coulrophobia?

Neither did I until five minutes ago.

No, it’s not a fear of Dairy Queen.

Coulrophobia is a fear of clowns, and can bring on feelings of fear when you see clowns or clown images. It’s a specific phobic disorder that causes anxiety, a racing heart, nausea, and profuse sweating.

This past week, a man claiming he sought to “restore Trump to the president of the United States,” and would “kill all Democrats” to do so was arrested in a Pennsylvania Dairy Queen after entering the establishment armed with a handgun.

According to an affidavit obtained by WTAJ, Jan Stawovy of Hunker, Pennsylvania, allegedly entered the Dairy Queen last Saturday, placing $120 on the counter and telling the manager it was a “tip” for “non-Democrats.” Police were alerted later in the day to an erratic driver, and reached the Dairy Queen after Stawovy returned to the location.

Stawovy, dressed in what witnesses say was a rainbow clown wig and a bright yellow safety vest, attempted to convince police officers at the scene that he was “undercover with Pennsylvania State Police” and there “working on a major drug sting.”

I hope people don’t read this story and say “I told you so. Clowns are bad news. We’ve got to do something about the clowns in this country.”

Most clowns are good people, and just want to make people happy.

Of course, a clown with a gun is a completely different story. I wouldn’t want to be around such a person either.

But I also wonder, when people saw this clown with the gun, what they found more frightening, the clown wig or the gun…

*image from Nu Look Exteriors

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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79 thoughts on “No Wonder Some People Have Coulrophobia”

      1. Please forgive me but I am Unfollowing your blog. A lot of your posts are becoming overly political after starting out simply and my beliefs are different than a lot of your Followers and yours.
        The Clown Motel is in Tonopah, Nevada.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Anyone who without a shred of credible evidence thinks Trump won the 2020 election and there is massive voter fraud is a clown of the MAGA persuasion and very dangerous with or without a gun. Most of those clowns don’t put on a wig and a red nose and don’t suffer from mental illness in the technical sense. So far society has given them an easy pass for being in the Cult of Trump and trying to invalidate the votes of the majority of legitimate voters. Sorry for the unkind comment but having been around when many of the same places that tend to buy this obvious lie and are enacting laws to restrict voting routinely disenfranchised many Americans, this crap is serious and dangerous. It needs to be called out.

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    1. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts, John. I feel the same way. It is a scary situation, and I just read that Trump has suggested that if he is indicted, there could be trouble… Sounds like he is trying to incite his mob again…

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      1. Of course he is. People like Trump and his pal Putin are experts at threats and intimidation and they also like to play the victim. The really odd thing is MAGAs say they believe there was massive election fraud (only as to Trump b/t/w) in 2020 that to date no one has been able to uncover. Yet they can’t wait for another election. Hmm! In my view, this is fundamentally about democracy and the rule of law — things we must take very seriously unless we want one man and violent mobs to decide our elections. On the other hand, it could make elections a lot easier. We’ll just go with whoever Trump says was the winner.

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  6. I expected some Quincy the Clown stories with this post. I had to reread to make sure I hadn’t missed something. I think my mind started to wander at the mention of Dairy Queen.

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  8. Reminds me of all of those scary clown news stories from five or six years back. As a metaphor for everything Trump has done, and is still doing, and for all those who have been conned by him, it is pretty apt.

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  10. Anyone on either side of the aisle who takes politics that seriously, is a clown in my view. And I think any fear of this type of clown is rational. If I was his cellmate, and he started talking politics, I’d agree with everything he had to say.

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      2. Haha! Yes, the doolallies are only in California. ) Oh except for the “prefect” guy that lives there
        Actually I shouldn’t be surprised about Pennsylvania. We are a very Republican state. .

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  11. I just heard about a clown in the York region who arrives for kids parties with no makeup and then transforms herself into a clown as part of the program. the kids aren’t afraid of her because she starts out ‘normal’. She’s doing er part to desensitize the world against creepy clown syndrome.

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  12. as you know, I am one who has this fear, and this only reinforces it for me. I also know that I liked bozo and there is a blogging clown here whose initials are jb, who I am not afraid of, but those are the exceptions for me. )

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