Coulrophobia is the name given to the phobia suffered by those with a fear of clowns. Once an extremely popular form of Childs entertainment and a main stay of circuses worldwide the clown has in recent years increasingly become the substance of nightmares.

Coulrophobia or the fear of clowns is common amongst both children and adults, with suggested reasons for the development of Coulrophobia being the sufferer having had a traumatic experience with a clown personally, or through the sinister portrayal of clowns through movies and other media. Coulrophobia or the fear of clowns is actually a very common phobia, and is thought to be one of the ten most common specific phobias people suffer from.

Another explanation given for the fear of clowns by sufferers of Coulrophobia is that it is impossible to detect the clown’s true emotional state, hidden behind its make-up and painted on smile. Celebrity Coulrophobia sufferers include Johnny Depp who suffered from terrible clown based nightmares as a child, and P. Diddy who has it written into all contracts that there are to be no clowns present at any of his concerts.

Possibly the scariest clown ever is ‘Pennywise’ from the 1990 movie entitled ‘IT’ by Stephen King. There is something positively terrifying in the appearance of the pale faced Pennywise with his bright red hair, and the substance and delivery of his sinister quotes are guaranteed to send chills down the spine.

“Awww, come on bucko! Don't you want a... balloon?”

“BEEP BEEP Richie! They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!”

Another clown guaranteed to terrify every Coulrophobic is the clown doll that pulls the young boy Robbie under the bed in the 1980’s movie directed by Stephen Spielberg, ‘The Poltergeist’.

Other movies featuring nightmarishly scary clowns include: the camp blood trilogy, clown murders, clown house, dead clowns, evil night, fear of clowns, final draft, funhouse, killer clowns from outer space, killjoy, Mr Halloween, S.I.C.K, we all scream for ice cream, and within the woods.