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
These types of clowns I have a problem with. The other kind with the wigs, I have no opinion whatsoever.
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it only takes one bad clown to spoil it for all of them…
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I don’t have a fear of clowns, but I do have a fear of crazy people with guns.
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I have that same fear…
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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.
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no worries. thanks for letting me know about the Clown Motel!
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I love Clowns and even want to visit The Clown Motel, but that guy was just an Idiot, Not a Clown.
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I have never heard of the Clown Motel – sounds quite intriguing…
and idiot is a good description…
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It makes you think clowns are idiots, which of course they are not!
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personaly, I would hope clowns are not idiots 🙂
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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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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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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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that is ironic about the MAGA folks wanting another election. I am sure in the contests where Republicans win, there will be no claims of voter fraud…
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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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Quincy the Clown was there in spirit 🙂
now you’ve got me thinking about Dairy Queen…
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But clownboy had such a convincing story, how did he not get away with it…
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I was impressed with his cover story…
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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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you are right, it is the perfect metaphor…
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The gun is a problem and what makes this person a threat worth fearing. But remove the gun from the situation, and this person would fit in perfectly with the Republican Circus in D.C.
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agreed. the clown part would have been easy to deal with, and make for a funny story. the gun makes it downright scary. such antics are a sign of our times…
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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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Was thinking of what to say after getting over the shock that this happened in Pennsylvania and you said it perfectly!
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I guess it’s shocking there might be doolallies in Pennsylvania. And thank you, I’m always prefect.
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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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I didn’t know you were a Republican state. I thought the Wizard of Oz was losing to the communist with the neck growth.
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Aren’t you funny! Yes, we are a Republican state, especially the area we live in! We keep quiet when it comes to politics, for yeah, we have a Dairy Queen near us!
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Keeping quite seems like a wise strategy, given today’s political environment.
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discretion is the better part of valor…
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you must live in the Alabama part of the state…
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Apparently we do!
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🙂
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it is quite the choice…
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I think of PA as a toss-up state…
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🙂
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as I heard one person describe Pennsylvania: it’s got Philly on one side, Pittsburgh on the other, and Alabama in the middle. I think this happened in the Alabama part 🙂
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LOL!
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👍
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agreed; it is the people on the extremes on any issue, politics or otherwise, who are usually the problem. and I think I’d agree with any cellmate I’d have in prison…
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I might hesitate to agree if he told me to bend over.
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maybe he’s a proctologist…
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Perhaps he went to jail because he’s a light-fingered proctologist.
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😶🤚!
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!! 🙂
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plus you have to wonder what kind of person would want to be a proctologist…
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Actually, I’ve wondered about that a lot. But I can’t quite put my finger on it.
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and that’s a good thing…
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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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that’s an interesting and clever approach; plus it cuts down on how much time the clown has to actually perform 🙂
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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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I could see how this clown would just reinforce people’s fear of clowns. and JB is excited to be mentioned in the same sentence as Bozo 🙂
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So he was not only dressed as a clown but acting like one too…
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Also remember those random clowns that went around murdering people at Halloween one year? People with coulrophobia are not totally wrong. Clowns can be scary.
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yes, clowns’ reputations took a big hit a few years ago…
these types of events certainly do not help…
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a very dangerous clown…
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LOL seriously have never heard of this term haha learn something new every day! I definitely will be using this in future phobia-related convos with friends LOL
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I would guess most people have never heard of it. even those who have it!
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He sounds like a real clown. Not!
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real clowns only carry water pistols… 🙂
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Thank goodness for that.
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I know about fear of clowns but I only found out because of this post.
And I understand why they choose to be clowns to commit crimes. The anonymity it offers hehe
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Found out what’s it called.
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it would make it hard to identify the real person 🙂
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Hi Jim, I have never minded clowns, in fact, I thought they were good fun. I have made a fondant one for my circus cake display. I hope it doesn’t scare everyone. I’ve never considered them scary.
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that sounds like a fun cake, and I’ve never understood the fear of clowns either. but some people might feel the same way about my fear of crocs!
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Crocs are very vicious and unpredictable creatures, Jim. I think most people would be scared of them and I wouldn’t want to dance with one. Clowns, on the other hand, aim to entertain the public [not eat them – hehe].
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good to know I’m not alone in my fear of crocs. 🙂
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Hey Jim
This was a fun post and the clown or the wig? Hahaha the wig and the vest for sure
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thanks. the wig and the vest sound like quite the combo… 🙂
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☀️😊
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👍
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The craziness continues! I have no problem with bonafide clowns who entertain so many of us.
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I guess sometimes it’s hard to tell the “real” clowns from the wannabees…
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Who knew there’s actually a name for fear of clowns. 🙂
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I wonder if there is a word for fear of people with guns…
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If there wasn’t, there should be one by now 😦
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and such a word might be unique to the U.S….
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😦
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