Main Piece: “ I had a weird experience like two years ago that really scared me. Two years ago my friend and I were in his house playing video games in his living room. It was like almost midnight and we were both getting kinda tired so I wanted to leave. As I was grabbing my stuff from his room I saw a shape of a clown in his window, and it just looked like it was just staring at me. Usually I don’t get freaked out by this stuff so I didn’t care. I went back downstairs and I noticed something was wrong with my friend. He looked white and like he was sick. When I asked him what was wrong he said he saw a figure that looked like a clown in his window in his kitchen and that it stared at him for like three minutes. After that I told him what happened and we both got so worried we each got kitchen knives to defend ourselves in his kitchen (informant starts laughing). I think since I started to believe there actually was a clown I started to hear things too, like girls laughing and stuff. I don’t know if there were actually girls laughing or if that was in my imagination. But after we had our knives we realized we were probably overthinking it and that it was a weird experience. I can’t lie though ever since then I have been scared of clowns.”

Background Information: The informant had this experience when he was nineteen at his friends house in San Diego. He said that this contributed to his fear of clowns and that his friend is also scared of clowns as well.

Context: During a walk with the informant in San Diego

Thoughts: This is different than a typical “ghost story” than I expected the informant to tell. This is because instead of a ghost, there is a clown. There has been a surge in the fear of clowns in the last couple of years, especially with movies like the IT, Clown, and 31. The fear of clowns seems irrational since they are usually linked with happiness and entertainment. It is interesting how clowns are becoming as scary as ghosts and why that is; maybe it is because clowns invoke a sense of uncertainty within us or because their facial expressions don’t make us happy or entertained. It will be interesting to see if there is a increase in clown folklore replacing traditional ghost stories.