Coulrophobia, ‘The Dark Knight,’ teen girls and spook houses

Add comment July 17th, 2008

Everybody’s talking about Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker in “The Dark Knight” Batman movie opening at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

His menacing clown face sure is creepy. One thing I’ve noticed is that if you ask most any teenage girl one thing they’re scared of, they’ll say “clowns.” Maybe it’s cool to say that, or they can’t think of anything else to say. But there is a word to describe an irrational fear of clowns: coulrophobia.

In the Rockford area this Halloween time, there’ll be creepy clowns like the ones that spooked thrill-seekers at the Trail of Screams the past few years.

But Trail of Screams in Rockford is no more. Ann Naber, owner, said she couldn’t negotiate a deal with the YMCA’s Camp Winnebago this year. But Trail of Screams will open in early October for the scare season again at Camp McCormick in Stillman Valley, and the group will offer a new site in a barn at 6512 Manchester Road, South Beloit. The latter is being called Screamatorium.

Naber said she’s scared of clowns, too. Maybe one scared her as a kid, she said. Johnny Depp had nightmares of clowns as a child. And who wasn’t terrified of serial killer John Wayne Gacy dressed as a clown.

What creeps you out about clowns? What are some of your favorite clown Web sites. Check this video out that compares the three Jokers in Batman movies, of course, in their clown makeup[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rh6C0Z03Yx0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]