Trending
It’s not a good time to be a clown.
With rumors of creepy clown sightings ravaging news reports and social media, times are tough for the men and women who have made clowning their vocation. And it’s no laughing matter.
“We take this seriously,” said David Mitchell, President of the Toontown Klowns Clown Alley in Altoona. “This is not a good thing. It’s affected all of us.”
By all of us, Mitchell means the real clowns, not just someone dressed like a clown in a scary mask.
There’s a distinction, Mitchell said, and he used stories of people impersonating police officers to make his point. When that gets reported, there is a distinction made that it’s an impersonator. The clowns that people are claiming are out doing creepy things aren’t really clowns, but they’re lumped together with the men and women who are legitimate.
“It’s a man impersonating a clown,” Mitchell, 47, said. “It’s not a real clown.”
Mitchell said the near hysteria surrounding reported creepy clown sightings has already cost the organization one gig.
Mitchell said the organizers of a scheduled event called to tell the volunteer clowns that, in light of the rumored clown sightings, perhaps it would be best if they didn’t show up.
“It’s definitely not a good thing for our business,” said Mitchell, who blames the media for perpetuating the rumors of clown sightings, which started springing up in August after a report of clowns attempting to lure children into some woods in North Carolina.
Since then, reports of random clowns have spread as fast as social media will allow, although it’s hard to separate fact from fiction.
Trooper Jeff Petucci, spokesman for the state police Troop G in Hollidaysburg, said there have only been two reports of clowns and nothing to substantiate the claims. One report was on Tuesday in Cassville, Huntingdon County, where a woman told police she saw a clown in her yard. The other was a report Sept. 17 on River Road in Tipton.
Local police said they’ve heard more rumors on Facebook of sightings in the area, but no one has actually reported anything to their departments.
Jaffa Shriner Richard Gates, who is president of the Calliope Clowns, called the phenomena weird and puzzling, especially in light of the fact the Jaffa clowns spend a lot of their time visiting hospitals to brighten the lives of sick kids.
“It really takes away what we’re all about, to get them to smile and laugh and forget about their troubles for an hour or two,” said Gates, who goes by the clown name of Gator.
Gates said it’s troubling that something that is supposed to be fun has turned into something menacing and to be feared, although he did say clowns are very much aware that not all people like them and some people are scared of them no matter what the situation.
“It’s just like being afraid of heights or something,” Gates said of coulrophobia, the clinical term for fear of clowns.
Gates said when the troupe of clowns is working an event, they can tell who is receptive and who is not, and they just avoid people who obviously look uncomfortable.
“You can tell when someone’s scared,” he said.
Mitchell, whose clown persona is Skeeter, said he’s noticed three categories of people who act afraid of clowns, and he suspects it’s not always legitimate. Children between the ages of 3 and 7 often get scared, which Mitchell said seems legitimate, but then there are the teenagers who seem to do it for show. Some adults, he said, when you approach them get visibly nervous and anxious, and so to not put people through the stress of a clown interaction, he will imply turn his attention elsewhere.
Mitchell said the negative feelings toward clowns really hit home last year when Clowns of America International sent out a letter last year cautioning clowns and suggesting they contact local police when they are going to be out in make-up and costume. So that is what the Toontown Klowns have started doing.
“You have to protect yourself,” he said.
Penn State journalism professor Russell Frank, who has studied and written about urban legends and folklore, said it’s not a coincidence that these scary clown sightings have popped up ahead of Halloween, although he did say they started a little earlier than usual.
Frank said it happens every year, and soon an isolated event – or even a mere report or rumor – becomes the latest boogey man story.
“All it takes is one real incident – and not even real, just reported – and it lights the fuse and stories start popping up all over the place,” Frank said.
Frank said with the latest creepy clown sighting stories, there is much more story than actual substance when you take the time to look more closely at the claims.
“If you look into it, there’s nothing there,” Frank said.
Frank said the clown stories fit the pattern of an urban legend well. People in disguises that are out of place in their surroundings make people think someone is up to no good, he said.
“If it’s not Halloween and you’re in disguise, why are you in disguise? You must be up to no good,” Frank said, pointing out that this happens not just with clowns. He’s seen children react with fear from encounters with Disney characters at Disneyland and even with the Nittany Lion at Penn State football games.
Add in the natural strangeness of clowns, with their distorted, painted on faces and smiles – sometimes even grotesque features – and you have all the makings of an urban legend.
“It’s nonsense,” he said of the sightings. “The fear, the anxiety – that’s real. That’s what’s interesting.”
Ron Turnbaugh, who also clowns with the Toontown Klowns, said he got into clowning to have fun.
“I know a number of people who have told me they’re afraid of clowns,” Turnbaugh, 28, of Altoona said. “We’re not doing this to scare anybody.”
Turnbaugh, whose clown name is Wavy Gravy, tells those people that clowns are out there to entertain.
“Then something like this comes along, and it’s the exact opposite of what I tell them,” Turnbaugh said.
Turnbaugh said he thinks the clown hysteria is “a little out of hand at this point,” and people are just making up the sightings with social media fueling the rumors.
“I think it is blown out of proportion,” Turnbaugh said. “If there are creepy clowns out there, there are not as many as people are making it out.”
Mitchell said he believes the trend will ultimately go away, but that it is a very real problem at the moment.
Mitchell said he started the local clown “alley” after the passing of Denny Huber, the area’s most ubiquitous clown – Hubie The Clown. Mitchell said that with Huber gone, there was really no one to call for clowns apart from the Jaffa clowns.
“There was no one in this area doing what he did,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the world of clowning is big and diverse – it even has an international hall of fame – with clowns falling into different categories such as the white-faced clowns most people think of, along with auguste clowns and hobo clowns, which actually fall into two types: tramp and hobo.
“You don’t realize how big the clown world is until you immerse yourself in it,” Mitchell said.
Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7450.