Phantom Clowns

American Hysteria

W!ZARD Studios

Society & Culture

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For most of us living in the US, clowns have become much more associated with horror than the laughter of kids. The “killer clown” epidemic went viral in 2016, with reports across the nation of evil clowns trying to lure children into the woods, attacking adults, and threating harm to local schools, but as you might guess, they were all hoaxes or hysteria. However, it wasn’t the first time that America was invaded by Phantom Clowns. For this episode, I will trace the history of our relationship to the clown as a cultural archetype, explore a strange theory of creepiness known as the uncanny valley, and try to understand why these particular creatures emerge from the woods when they do. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Produced and edited by Clear Commo Studios Show art by Roache Voice Acting by Will Rogers Become a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly! Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	On this season we'll be exploring the moral panics, urban legends, and conspiracy theories
0:13.9	that shape our psychology and culture and why we end up believing them.
0:18.0	I'm your host, Chalceboe Borsmith, and this is American hysteria.
0:23.7	That man had a clown mask on, had a red nose that matched his hair.
0:28.5	This is an actual clown attack in Ohio, shutting down several schools.
0:32.4	One parent actually grabbed a gun while looking for the clowns.
0:35.5	The police were called, but they could not find the clowns when they got there.
0:39.2	The clowns have tried to lure children.
0:41.6	They're running around the property, creating fear in these children's eyes.
0:56.8	During the McDonald's play place as a kid in the mid-90s, greasy fingers smudging the
1:02.4	clean metal of a new hot wheels happy meal toy.
1:05.9	My breath would catch when I saw him.
1:08.8	The life-size, full-color Ronald McDonald's statue with his striped arm stretched across
1:14.7	the top of the bench.
1:16.8	One large red shoe resting on the bend of his knee.
1:20.8	Waste deep in the ball pit, I could see him through the limp dirty netting, and then,
1:26.2	after running into the open mouth of a plastic tunnel and into the primary maze, I could
1:31.2	still feel him there, still feel the cold, weird, burn of his existence.
1:38.0	A horror fan since the beginning, I would always break away from my family at blockbuster
1:42.8	and run to my favorite aisle.
1:45.5	Always I would find the same VHS.
1:48.0	Tim Curry's oblong head painted white, eyebrows sharp and sinister as fish hooks, thin red
	...

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