Circus Clowns are Evil

I am terrified of clowns. I will admit it. Clowns are the epitome of evil. It all started when I was 4 years old and my big sister's friend asked her if she could go to the circus with her and to be nice they even offered to take me. I was psyched! I had never been to a circus before and I was excited to see the elephants and the tigers and the tightrope walkers and whatever else a circus had. It was going to be exactly like what was in my Richard Scary books that I liked to read. All week I kept asking my mom what I was going to see and she would say "A whole bunch of fun things!" Well...that was non-specific. Finally the day came when we could go to the circus. I was excited more than Big Sister and when her friend and her parents came to pick us up it was everything I could do to not ask umpteen thousand questions about the circus. It was a short ride into town and it seemed to take an hour to get there we were so excited. Finally, we pulled into the fairgrounds and saw the red and white striped Big Top tent and the multicoloured flags flapping in the breeze. The big "Barnum & Bailey Circus- The Greatest Show On Earth" banner boasted a white-faced, red smiling, pom-pom hat wearing clown making the circus seem like the greatest thing in the world. As we made our way into the circus tent the smells of popcorn, roasting peanuts and sawdust filled my nostrils. Everything was so BIG! The ceiling of the big top seemed to be 100 feet tall and the tightrope stretched between the giant posts looked like a thread between needles. We found our seats on the bleachers, right down in the front where we could see the action up close and be able to get to the bathroom quickly with less hassle if needs be. Friend's parents bought us some cotton candy and popcorn from the vendors weaving thru the crowds yelling "POPCORN! HOT BUTTERY FRESH!" and "SWEET FLUFFY COTTON CANDY!" The noises all blended into each other making a lovely cacophony of sounds to my 4-year-old ears. It was wonderful. With a blare and a crash, the brass band started playing a circus tune and the lights dimmed. A spotlight glared into the center of the ring on the red jacketed, black pant wearing Ringmaster and he spoke in a loud booming voice into the microphone, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of AAAAAALLLLLL ages! Welcome to the Barnum and Bailey Circus!!" The crowd cheered and everyone clapped, my eyes were riveted on the Ringmaster as he announced the different acts that we would be seeing. Then with another blare and crash he shouted "Let the FUN begin!!" The spotlight went out and the tent went dark. Suddenly, bright multi-coloured spotlights started circling around the center ring and out came the clowns! They were all dressed in such bright and colourful costumes and honking horns and laughing raucously, tumbling and jumping over each other that it was difficult to watch them all at once. Their crazy actions and bursts of laughter scared me a little and I crawled up into Friends daddy's lap. He looked down at me and said, "Are they scaring you, Jenny?" I nodded in the affirmative as fear had closed my throat and my eyes were as wide as saucers. Suddenly, one of them catapulted over the ring barrier and headed right in our direction. His wide red grin, huge eyes painted with bright blue eyeshadow and dark eyebrows were staring at me like he was going to do serious harm to my 4-year-old self. He no longer appeared funny, he was now the devil in disguise and hell-bent on taking me away with him. Scared out of my mind, I leaned further into Friends daddy hid my face in his coat and held on to him for dear life. Evil clown was not taking me without a fight. The closer he got the more I shook, I would peek at him quickly and see him still advancing on me and turn my head back into Friends Daddy's chest,eventually pulling his coat over my face and body. Finally, Friends Daddy had enough, in a firm but nice voice, he looked Evil Clown straight in the eye and said, "You are scaring her." I dared a quick look from behind his coat and Evil Clown tried to make me smile, shaking uncontrollably, I once again hid inside the coat praying that he would just go away. Finally, Friends Daddy became a little angry with the Evil Clown, "Please," he said in an angry tone, "that is enough. She is very scared. Go. Away." Evil Clown looked at him, shrugged and moved off to terrorize another small child. The rest of the circus was anti-climactic for me. The elephants came and went, the lady hung by her hair from a rope and did all sorts of amazing stunts, the tightrope walkers balanced precariously from their thin wire above our heads, the beautiful white horses pranced and danced through the ring with lovely riders and daredevils on their backs, and the trapeze artists were breathtaking and heartstopping in their performances. Yet, everywhere you turned, their were clowns. Red smiling clowns, sad faced clowns, sleepy clowns, evil clowns with seltzer bottles lurking in the shadows waiting to grab you and run. And then, years later, Stephen King introduced us to "It" and Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The most evil clown in all history who haunted your nightmares. Yeah, Mr. King....thanks for that...