A Look at the History of Scary Clowns

Vulture took a look at the history of scary clowns. They spoke with writer and clown expert Benjamin Radford to find out exactly what happened to make clowns so creepy.

Clowns have always been represented as tricksters and jokers, from the days of jesters all the way through Ronald McDonald, but the high jinks were always paired with pathos and humanity. However, at some point in the last century, clowns became a source of a major cultural phobia, and the “scary clown” has become a staple of the American pop-culture landscape.