Another reason to fear clowns

[rice cracker]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0526042clown1.html

Child Porn Charges For Circus Clown
International probe nets Ringling Bros. performer "Spanky"
MAY 26--Meet Spanky the Clown. The 23-year-old Ringling Bros. performer, also known as Thomas Riccio, was just nabbed on kiddie porn charges. Arrested last week when the circus pulled into Fayetteville, North Carolina, Riccio was charged with ten felony counts after a search of his computer turned up images of young children participating in lewd acts. Investigators were led to Riccio as part of a large international child porn probe, dubbed Operation Falcon, that has already resulted in about 100 U.S. arrests. Riccio, denied rouge in the below left mug shot, is being held in the Cumberland County jail on $150,000 bond. (2 pages)

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art3/0526042clown1.jpg

[yoMAMA]

that is disturbing....

not as disturbing as nick nolte's mug shot, but somewhere in the ball park when you add the clown face..... :tongue:

[kasia]

http://www.tshirthell.com/shirts/products/a247/a247.gif

[rice cracker]

I'm conflicted about your post, kasia. I want to laugh, but it's no laughing matter.

[yoMAMA]

nah.

clowns are not people like us.

[Mr.Lum]

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE clowns. all of them. bad experiances.

[rice cracker]

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE clowns. all of them. bad experiances.

Do tell. :confused: I just think they are very ugly. And pedophiles.

[yoMAMA]

kim hates me!

http://www.comicscartoons.hpg.ig.com.br/encicl/krusty01.gif

[Emperor_Mike]

I don't see what the big deal is behind the whole "Afraid of Clowns" thing. What's there to be afraid of? The garish makeup? The perpetual smiling visage? The bottle of seltzer that may be substituted at any given moment with concentrated sulphuric acid which is then sprayed on unsuspecting audiences?

If you want to be afraid of clowns, be afraid of IT:

http://www.game-revolution.com/chatter/mailbag/it.jpg

[robotic]

when i was 6, i used to watch an indian t.v. show which was about a clown that could transform into a toy (like nightmare on elm street), kidnapped children (if they bought him) and killed them brutally. i was afraid of my clown toy, and clowns in general after that. recently, we went to watch a show and a clown there started making references about "not having any hands" because we weren't clapping. bad memories.

[>:^|]

John Wayne Gacy was a clown, wasn't he?

[Faithless]

Rapists, kiddie porners, sexual predators: They're all a bunch of clowns.

[rice cracker]

when i was 6, i used to watch an indian t.v. show which was about a clown that could transform into a toy (like nightmare on elm street), kidnapped children (if they bought him) and killed them brutally. i was afraid of my clown toy, and clowns in general after that. recently, we went to watch a show and a clown there started making references about "not having any hands" because we weren't clapping. bad memories.


Jesus Christ, that's horrible. I swear, clowns have the worst PR of any entertainment fixture.

[kimpossible]

Jesus Christ, that's horrible. I swear, clowns have the worst PR of any entertainment fixture.

Except maybe mimes. If you haven't seen it you should rent Shakes the Clown.

[Mr.Lum]

Do tell. :confused: I just think they are very ugly. And pedophiles.

once, I got lost at a carnival when I was little. I would go up to the clowns (tons of them I remember, dont know why) and they would not help me, I was like 6 and theyd give me a fucking flower, all of them. or start laughing like they were on coke. it took me the entire time basically to get back to my aunt who I came with and it was traumatizing because the fuckers would not listen to me and offered no help what so ever. shit, the only one there who helped me was a bloody mime. another time, there was a peeping tom/rapist in our area. he would dress like a clown and peep on women and or rape them. they called him "big red".

[deez nuts]

my clown phobia exists even now.

[Faithless]

Statement from Barnum & Bailey (http://www.ringling.com/general/news/release.aspx?rtype=nr&docid=0000011802)
STATEMENT REGARDING THOMAS RICCIO

(Vienna, VA)--At Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, the safety and security of our customers and employees is paramount. We were shocked and appalled at Thomas Riccio's arrest and the nature of the charges. We do not tolerate criminal behavior. Mr. Riccio was an employee for less than six months, and he has been terminated.

We are proud of our tradition. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is the world leader in providing quality, live, family entertainment and has done so for 134 years – we always have and always will.

Spanky missed his true calling, apparently:

http://www.esmas.com/fotogaleria/images/galeria/espectaculos/mananero/Mananero03.jpg

(Associated link) (http://www.esmas.com/fotogaleria/foto_9374.html)
Brozo, the politically abusive clown of El Mananero of Mexico.

Chicago Tribune article (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0405130110may13,1,6749042.story?coll=chi-leisuretempo-hed)

Who's this clown?
Brozo, Mexico's unshaven, green-haired TV star, is known for his raucous, naughty morning news show. He's also known for his tape of a politician taking a bribe.

[hooligan]

clowns seriously freak me out. i don't understand what's so funny about them.

[yoMAMA]

clowns seriously freak me out. i don't understand what's so funny about them.

it's the nose :tongue:

[rice cracker]

once, I got lost at a carnival when I was little. I would go up to the clowns (tons of them I remember, dont know why) and they would not help me, I was like 6 and theyd give me a fucking flower, all of them. or start laughing like they were on coke. it took me the entire time basically to get back to my aunt who I came with and it was traumatizing because the fuckers would not listen to me and offered no help what so ever. shit, the only one there who helped me was a bloody mime. another time, there was a peeping tom/rapist in our area. he would dress like a clown and peep on women and or rape them. they called him "big red".

Daaaaaamn, I'm sorry that happened. I am now a clown hatah.

[kasia]

my mom hired a clown for my sixth or seventh birthday. i remember being all happy during my party until that damn clown arrived. i started crying and ran to my room and hid under my bed. my friends tried to coax me out but there was no way.

[ism]

My dad got this framed lithograph series of clown paintings as a gift (twisted, huh?) and my mom put them up around the house. I was scared shitless to go down to the basement because directly down the stairs was this smiling clown with a balloon, and in the dark it was just freaky. I bet it was bad for Feng Shui too; clowns radiating evil up the stairs.

[Fireblade]

weren't clowns actually murders and psychos during the middle ages? because they got to travel from town to town, they could get away with murder and rape, because no one could recognize them without their face paint on, and the circus troop would move travel to another town, before locals could find the bodies. At least that's what I'm assuming. Because of that history, I'm pretty fucking scared of clowns.

[Faithless]

If you fear clowns, you are not alone:

The horror ... the horror: From snakes to spiders to clowns, irrational fears fuel electronic escapade (http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2004/05/14/entertainment/columnists/reality_bytes/hogue.txt)

We've all got irrational fears, those weird little triggers that take us to a dark and unsafe place, the ones that reduce us from functioning adults to toddlers clutching our stuffed rabbits and gibbering incoherently at something nonexistent in the corner. Sometimes the fear is almost universal, such as the archetypal fear of snakes.

Sometimes our fears divide us, as has happened when a large spider appears near my desk. It usually starts with a scream and ends up with me perched on my office chair.


I come from the "Smash it with something heavy before it eats my face" camp, but the spider-lovers in the office have prevented many premature spider deaths by rescuing the helpful arachnids from out of my lethal swing and placing them in the office garden.

My cat comes from the "Spiders are tasty nighttime snacks" camp, which fits a little more closely with my philosophy, taking care of my fear and her tummy at the same time.

Other fears are a little more mysterious, a little more likely to be ridiculed by others if they only knew what makes your skin crawl. Sometimes we manage to hide these fears simply by avoiding situations that could cause the wiggins, rather than exposing ourselves to such terrors, or revealing that fear to those close to us.

I, for example, avoid circuses and carnivals due to an intense fear of clowns that stems back to childhood.

Unfortunately, my job has at times put me in close proximity to clowns, thus revealing to my co-workers my unexplainable and easily mocked fear, to the point that it's become a running joke among office mates.

Once, years ago at another newspaper, a co-worker actually sent a clown from a visiting circus to visit me at my desk. I later slugged him (the co-worker, not the clown, obviously it's not the poor clown's fault) in the arm hard enough to spin him around in his desk chair. The incident was not repeated.

I've since learned that clown fear is shared by others, and even has a name, coulrophobia. And it's not the strangest fear out there.

According to phobialist.com, some people are afraid of the color white, while others are afraid of beards. There are hundreds of recognized phobias out there, and some that aren't medically recognized, but terrify some all the same. To see some of the more wacky phobias (and check if yours is on the list), go to www.unusualphobias.com.

There are even Web sites that claim they can help with my clown fear, such as www.changethatsrightnow.com, although I'd recommend if the fear is interfering with your life, then you'd probably be better off seeking professional help rather than attempting to cure it through a Web site.

Then, of course, there are those who enjoy making fun of all those strange phobias, fears and other things that daytime talk show hosts love to exploit. For a site that looks extremely convincing but is actually a tongue-in-cheek poke at support groups, visit www.goat-trauma.org. Make sure you move your mouse over the goat's face, and you'll see the true nature of goatness.

Another fun and gently mocking site is home.comcast.net/~flanatic/support.html, a "flan addiction" site that helps those who lust after the carmelized custard dessert come to grips with their problems. It even has a test you can take to see if you're a true flan addict, or if you can stop at any time.

Finally, and this is not meant to be offensive to any professional clown reading this article, I found this site extremely therapeutic, even cathartic. It's titled, simply, www.ihateclowns.com (http://www.ihateclowns.com).