It is unclear when the shift in the way we look at clowns occurred exactly. At one point, they were considered fun, friendly, non-threatening beings. Somewhere along the lines, probably due to clowns like Stephen King’s “It” or John Wayne Gacy’s real life killings, people started to associate the circus characters with death and danger. I understand that blood-filled balloons and razor sharp teeth aren’t exactly standard in a clown’s tool kit, but those images are just scarring enough that the public can’t forget them. Or stop make disturbing gifs out of them. More
