One of the most common fears people experience is coulrophobia, or as it is better well known as, the fear of clowns. Due to their uncanny appearances, smile clad permanently on their faces, many people freeze in complete terror at the sight of these circus performers. Children especially fear clowns for their artificial appearance, not made any better by the ghoulishly pale make-up. Once a common source of humor, clowns have now become icons of the horror genre. Whether it is Pennywise from Stephen King's book It, or Twisty the Clown from the TV show American Horror Story, it is universally agreed upon by audiences that clowns are freaky.

However, should we use clowns as a source of commonplace scares in horror media? After all, they were originally created to become a source of escapism for those watching brutal rodeo shows or something humorous for the kiddies in the circus. Are they as sinister as The Joker, or is there something else to clowns that a lot of people are missing based on uncanny appearances alone?

In reality, clowns are a completely misrepresented aspect of horror fiction. They are a relic of past times, where the structure for humor was a lot different than it is in modern day. They were never supposed to be the source of so many iconic scares in horror media. Instead, clowns were invented to distract audiences from brutal reality. It is through their unnatural appearances that people are meant to find a sense of the imaginary worlds they ventured into as little children. When someone is a child, they invent creatures in their head that to an adult would looks unnatural, as their brains are still developing to understand the world around them. Children use these imaginary creatures to learn about the unknown, creating more structured forms in their heads as they mature closer to adulthood. That is why the humorous aspect of clowns is played up so much in their performances. Clowns are supposed to trigger a feeling of nostalgia lost after childhood that only the stage can hope to replicate.

Clowns are even more misrepresented in horror media due to the ripple effects of one particularly bad person; John Wayne Gacy. Also known as The Killer Clown, John Gacy killed thirty-three people in cold blood, all the while donning the persona of Pogo the Clown at parties. When it was discovered this horrible man had committed such sickening crimes on young boys and men, the media spread the story like wildfire. The common depiction of John Gacy was of his clown persona, creating the idea in many people that clowns were a source of evil. Hence since his arrest in 1978, the horror medium exploded with stories about evil clowns, a trend that was just gaining momentum at the time from The Joker and a few other lesser known super villains.

Clowns in modern horror are a prime result of changing times, and mass media. With these two aspects of our culture mixing together, clowns suddenly abandoned their humorous roots for one of scaring children. It is a prime example of misinformation crafting a cliché that most modern horror fans are now faced with left and right. What is worse is the effect this trope has had on the clown industry as a whole, who have suffered massive losses in revenue due to these scary fictional clowns. The scary clown cliché is an example of misinformation tainting an otherwise innocent aspect of our culture, much like witches before them.

The only true solution to reversing the bad card played towards clowns is to undo the damage ourselves through the truth. People need to know that clowns were never intended from the start to be scary hellish creatures that love to feast on children's souls. They were intended to bring humor to people in this dark world of ours, even if the practice may seem a bit outdated for some audiences in modern day. Just because bad people like John Gacy exist, and the make-up clowns wear looks unnatural does not mean all clowns are evil.

Instead of writing about evil clowns, you could be more inventive with the center of the scares. A strong method you could try is to create your own creature based on the combination of your innermost fears and anxieties. After all, that is the basis as to why clowns are scary for most. For example, you could turn a fear of the unknown into an inky, soulless shadow that mimics the worst aspects of its intended victim. These "clones" could become a slasher killer, with only the original person it copied having the power to permanently delete this beast from existence. Whatever you create, it would be a million times better than just writing about an evil clown again.

Give the clowns a bit of a break in horror novels. Try breaking the cliché by spreading information about the source of the trope, and crafting new ideas no one has ever seen before in the horror genre.