Tricksters, jokers and harlequins have appeared for centuries throughout many cultures.

The court jesters of medieval England, clowns of ancient Egypt, ancient Rome's, the stupidest figure.

Literary critic Edmund Dugoncourt, who wrote,

The clown's art is now rather terrifying and full of anxiety and apprehension.

Their suicide and feats, their monstrous gesticulations,

and frenzied mimicry remind one of a lunatic asylum.

Karen Tutin of Post-Reason blog describes an incident that happened to her in the mid-1970s.

She says, when I was 17, I was working in a small convenience store, when a woman

came in to buy cigarettes. At first, I didn't pay any attention to her until I saw her hand

when she handed me the money. It was not like a normal human hand. This startled me, so I looked

up and I saw a very pale entity wearing a thin black coat,

like a raincoat, with a collar turned up to cover her neck, a heavy, long-haired wig,

and very large black glasses. This did not entirely hide her strange face, a very pointed chin, scant lip and nose. She did not

speak, took her cigarettes and left. I was kind of stunned. Oddly, I cannot remember the details

of her hand, and yet it was the first thing I noticed. Nor do I think she left in a car, which was

odd, since most patrons drove up the store, as it was somewhat isolated.

I wasn't paying much attention until I saw her hand.

She was startlingly strange-looking.

Other details that really jumped out at me, like her hand, were her facial features were not human looking.

Whatever she was, the memory of her face has stuck with me to this day.

But what I find really odd is that her hand, I cannot remember.

The visual is completely gone.

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