Most Americans knows about the year of the clown, 2016. People ran around waving knives dressed up as clowns, hence  the name “killer clowns.” From wearing clown masks to robbing stores to chasing young children away from their bus stops, these clowns did it all. 

After these occurrences, states such as Michigan began to ban the wearing of clown masks. By the time December rolled around, people weren’t worried about getting killed, harassed or robbed by clowns. 

Keeping the clown trend on track, “IT” came out in 2017. The second part to this movie recently came out this September, resurfacing the conversation of clowns. This movie captivated some and frightened others.

Those scared were those who have coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. Those who enjoyed the movie were the people who had been interested in the clown craze of 2016 or are people who had read Stephen King’s book previously. 

October 2018 rolled around, and the killer clowns were back. Sightings started appearing and fewer people could put it off as a joke. In the back of their minds rested the haunting thought that the clowns never really left. 

“IT Chapter 2” came out in September, furthering the clown craze. People even began dressing up as clowns on popular video platform TikTok, and the videos went viral. This has had clowns looked down upon. Even though fewer clown attacks have occurred, it is still hard to be a clown in society. 

Even before 2016, clowns had a bad rap. John Wayne Gacy reinforced the notion that clowns were bad. Gacy murdered, kidnapped, raped and even ate some of his victims. He did get a life sentence, but the fact that he masqueraded as a clown and even found victims as a clown scares people. 

Enough said, it’s not the time to be a clown. As the year goes on, we can only hope that the future holds an absence of clown epidemics. It’s safe to say we’re done with everyone clowning around.