Overview

Bad clowns—those malicious misfits of the midway who terrorize, haunt, and threaten us—have long been a cultural icon. This book describes the history of bad clowns, why clowns go bad, and why many people fear them. Going beyond familiar clowns such as the Joker, Krusty, John Wayne Gacy, and Stephen King’s Pennywise, it also features bizarre, lesser-known stories of weird clown antics including Bozo obscenity, Ronald McDonald haters, killer clowns, phantom-clown abductors, evil-clown panics, sex clowns, carnival clowns, troll clowns, and much more. Bad Clowns blends humor, investigation, and scholarship to reveal what is behind the clown’s dark smile.

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9780826356666

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Reviews

Clowns with sinister sides and malevolent motives come under critical scrutiny in this pithy, abundantly illustrated study of the 'bad clown' as a pop culture phenomenon. - Publishers Weekly

Do you fear clowns? As this book shows, you're not alone, and such fear is not completely irrational. Benjamin Radford reviews an amazing array of bad clowns in media from comic books to pornography. He discovers the reasons behind their evil ways, and he analyzes clown aversion. It's rough stuff, but it is given a skeptical, scholarly, and engaging treatment. --Jan Harold Brunvand, author of Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends

Author Information

Benjamin Radford is a writer, investigator, and columnist for Discovery News. He is the author of eight books, most recently Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment and Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore, both published by the University of New Mexico Press. Radford lives in Corrales, New Mexico, USA.

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