We all have that one friend who is mind-numbingly afraid of clowns—if you Clockwork Orange’d them in a chair and screened IT for them against their will, they’d probably unfriend you on Facebook and in real life. While coulrophobia (aka the fear of clowns) isn’t recognized by any psychological manual, horror fans get it. Clowns are unnerving, with their excessively wide, painted grins and their oversized, freaky getups (and don’t get me started on the shoes). But when did these jester-types start stalking children on bicycles and turning fun houses into haunted houses? How were these joyous buffoons subverted into waking nightmares? …read this story in full over at Bloody Disgusting!