“Boo!”
Organisers of a music festival have had to change their fancy dress circus theme after some ticket holders told them they had a phobia of clowns.
The Bestival, which takes place on 8, 9 and 10 September near Newport, Isle of Wight, had asked festival-goers to turn up in curly wigs and large shoes.
But organisers decided to shelve the idea after a number of ticket holders said they suffered from Coulrophobia.
Revellers are still encouraged to wear fancy dress but to avoid clown outfits.
Coulrophobia – fear of clowns – can cause panic attacks, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea and overall feelings of dread.
This is just plain pathetic.
It’s just any other question of taste. You don’t like it. Don’t go.
Can’t stand clowns, don’t watch C-SPAN.
I first ran into this phenomenon of coulrophobia when I blogged the “Sarasota clowns” issue last year– http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=3297. It was the first I had heard of it, and bear in mind that l lived for years in Sarasota myself !
I have anthropophobia… so I’ll ask that all other festival-goers stay home.
is there a phobia that means “I’m afraid of people with phobias”?
Phobiaphobia? In answer to 5.
Actually…really… clowns.
I mean what’s the idea of a grown man hiding his real expression, putting on a creapy voice and walking around in a funny way. Oh no, that’s George Bush. We’re talking about clowns… Oh no… my mistake. I see the link.
If they can ban clowns can’t SOMEONE ban Ann Coulter? She scares the crap out of me!
GregAllen, I was wondering how long it would be before someone brought up Ann Coulter. It’s only a couple of letters to go from “Coulrophobia” to “Coulterophobia.” 🙂
I hate clowns, have since I was a kid. Not afraid of them, just find them stupid and the makeup looks really gross close up.
But the insane act of changing a festival intended for thousands of people for a few whiners makes me want to show up at said festicval wearing full clown gear.
this article caught my eye a couple days ago as I have a good friend back in Arizona who is deathly afraid of clowns.(or was)
He tried therapy and it worked to some extent, now he is just *creeped* out by them.
Seriously, am I the only one who can only think about that Seinfeld episode where Cosmo Kramer goes to the circus?
first peanuts on planes, now clowns at a fair, what next tall building or crowds