Are you down with clowns?

By: Kurt Allemeier

Clowns inspire thoughts of calliope music, tiny cars, big feet and pratfalls in most people, but for others, the circus characters bring a tightness in the chest, labored breathing and a sense of unease.

People who cringe at the sight of Bozo or Ronald McDonald have coulrophobia, or a fear of clowns.  Brian Moore, who works occasionally as Doc the Clown, said he deals with someone who is afraid of him nearly every time he performs.

"I've had adults run from me," said Mr. Moore, who owns Mr.Wong's House of Magic, a clown supply store in Davenport.  "I don't believe I'm scary when I go out."

A phobia, like a fear of clowns, is based on irrational fear, said Dr. Earnest Galbreath, a psychiatrist with the Robert Young Center for Community Mental Health.  That irrational fear can cause avoidance reaction, increased heart rate, sweating, increased breathing and anxiety. 

The fear is often caused by some past life experience or can be triggered by a television program or movie. 

"Whatever it is has made a significant impressions on a person to elicit a fear response," Dr. Galbreath said.  "They realize there is nothing they need to be afraid of, while others may have a very deep-seated experience in life."

Mr. Moore mentions Pennywise, a murderer in clown garb from Stephen King's "It," as a possible cultural trigger for coulrophobia.

"If I saw that when I was 7 years old, that would scare me," he said.