Main Piece:

Participant – “My brothers told me that there was a clown that was gonna kill me in the drains on the side of streets, so I was never able to step near them cause they could somehow grab me and suck me through the cracks and kill me, and I never stood by the… I still to this day do not walk near grates.”

Context:

One night while eating dinner, the participant and I shared a variety of stories told to us when we were younger.

Background:

Participant was born in and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and is currently a second semester freshman at the University of Southern California. She is a Law, History, and Culture major with a minor in Art History. This legend was told to her by her two older brothers when she was very young.       

Analysis:

There are many legends often told to children with the sole purpose to scare them. In this situation, the participants older brothers were the ones playing a trick on her, a very common occurrence among siblings. As a child, this legend scared the participant so deeply that even now as an adult it still sticks with her even though she knows it not to be real. Clowns are often the subject of many scary legends, this is an interesting juxtaposition to their typically happy association.

For another version of this legend read IT by Stephen King or see IT the movie.