Hey everyone, Dave here bringing you another
installment of Interdimensional Swap. This week
we are bringing you an episode from one of my
favorite shows, Perplexity, a mystery podcast.
It's a show where Kedra the host dives into a
whole bunch of mysteries, cryptids, aliens, UFOs,
unsolved mysteries. Weird history. She pretty
much runs the whole gambit. And the show's weird,
but a lot of fun. It's very thoughtful, very
well -researched and well -delivered. Like I
said, it's one of my favorite shows. I listen
to it a lot. And yeah, if you like what we're
doing over here, you're going to love what they're
doing over there. So definitely, if you like
what you hear, give them a follow. Give them
a five -star rating and review. And yeah, so
with that out of the way, enjoy her telling you
about one of my biggest fears. Clowns. You are
listening to Perplexity. Unfortunately, we are
all familiar with clowns. Known for their colorful,
oversized costumes and facial features, distinctive
makeup, and general buffoonery, their purpose
is to induce hearty laughter. This career goes
back thousands and thousands of years and still
persists today. And while many strange people,
in my opinion, enjoy clowns, there are just as
many, if not more, who find clowns to be absolutely
terrifying. So where did clowns come from? Why
are we so scared of them? And should we be scared
of them? Let's get into it. Today's episode is
all about clowns. Hello, everybody, and welcome
back to another episode of Perplexity, a mystery
podcast. As always, I am your host, Kaedra. If
you're new to the show, hello and welcome. I
tell tales every single week that have perplexed
me. So if you love a good mystery that leaves
you wanting more, don't worry, you're in the
right place. And if you end up enjoying today's
episode, I would love if you continue to follow
along. If you're a returning listener, hello,
my friends. Welcome back. So happy you're here.
I'm really facing my fears today because I love
you guys so much. I don't know what got into
me this week, but I thought let's do an episode
on one of my biggest fears. I have hated clowns
since I was a kid and it has always perplexed
me. Like what is in someone's psyche to make
them want to dress up and be a clown? And I did
find a lot of things really affirming as to why
I'm scared of clowns from a psychological perspective.
So we will get into all of that. I'm super excited.
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I just released my coverage of the Martha Stewart
documentary, and I have some more things coming
very soon. But tons of fun stuff going on over
there. Texas urban legends, creepy stories from
the internet, some vlogs and like personal stories,
some bonus episodes. It's really whatever you
guys want. And it is a community. So go check
that out if that interests you. Trigger warning
for today's episode. I scared myself with this
one. Okay. So this episode might not be for you
if you have coulrophobia, fear of clowns, like
me. So listener discretion is advised and all
the sources that I used for today's episode will
be available down in the show notes. So ready
or not, let's get into this insane episode all
about clowns. So the word clown comes from the
Icelandic word clunny, which means a clumsy person.
And the fear of clowns, something that I 1000
% have, is known as coulrophobia. The first known
clown dates all the way back to the fifth dynasty
of Egypt around 2400 BC. The Egyptians would
capture other tribes and they would force them
to make up dance routines to entertain their
kings. Early clowns were also priests. Yeah,
I know. There wasn't really anything to do back
then, so I guess they were religious and entertainers.
They had balance. And I mean, there wasn't a
lot of entertainment back then, so we had clowns,
I guess. They thought, specifically in Egypt,
that it was really important to have a good laugh.
It was good for the soul. The earliest ancestors
of the clowns go back to ancient Greece as well.
And these clowns were distinctively bald and
they wore a lot of padding. They were known to
be background characters. They would parody the
actions of more serious characters in a production,
kind of like a mime. They were also known to
sometimes pelt the spectators with nuts. Can
you imagine just sitting and watching a play
and a clown is throwing peanuts at you? wild.
These clowns also appeared in Rome, except they
wore pointy hats and checkered robes. They were
known as stupidists. They were consistently the
butt of the jokes. They were privy to abuse from
their fellow actors. And in Rome, if someone
died in your family, it was also common tradition
to hire a clown for the funeral. It was basically
this mime that would come out and impersonate
the dead person. I'm just really trying to imagine
a funeral where a bunch of people are around
this casket crying over their loved one. And
all of a sudden, a mime just comes out and starts
impersonating the dead person. Like, I don't
even know what I would do. It's like some weird,
creepy roast. And I've never seen a silent roast.
In the Middle Ages, clowns were also known as
jesters, and they served as royals like servants.
They wore patchwork clothing, and this symbolized
being lower class. But they were allowed to say
whatever they wanted, including being allowed
to get away with making fun of royalty. There
are also other cultures, including Native Americans,
who viewed clowns as being magical. They were
deeply intertwined with spirituality, and to
them, humor was part of the spiritual awakening.
This clown phenomenon spread to other parts of
the world, and in the 16th century, clowns became
very popular in Italy. Masked clowns were very
popular there, specifically because of a traveling
Italian theatrical company known as Commedia
dell 'Arte. They developed one of the most famous
clowns of all time that they called the Arlecino
or the Harlequin, which might sound familiar.
You know, Harley Quinn. The Harlequin wears a
checkered costume and is known to be lighthearted,
witty, but they are also a trickster. They cause
a lot of chaos. In fact, the Harlequin has been
known to trick just about anybody, even the devil
himself. He's known to wear a black domino mask
and carry a bat or a noisy slapstick, which he
would frequently use to spank people. Spicy.
This is where the term slapstick came from. They
would actually put gunpowder on these sticks
or bats, rub it on there, and then when the harlequin
would slap the bat down, it would make this insanely
loud noise. I didn't know that's where slapstick
came from. Traveling English actors of the 17th
century were responsible for the introduction
of stage clowns to Germany. And one of the really
popular characters here was Pickle Herring. Quite
a name. And Pickle Herring fits the bill for
what we see in our minds when we think of a clown
today. He's got those oversized neck ruffles,
which are called ruffs, by the way. the big shoes,
the oversized clothing and hat, and the traditional
white face makeup. This apparently was first
introduced in France with a character called
Pedrolino. He had a bald head and he used flour
to whiten his face. This character came to life
even more in the early 19th century, thanks to
a very creepy looking clown. Pictures will be
on YouTube and in the Instagram. Jean -Baptiste
Gaspard Devereaux. Devereaux created this sad,
lovesick, pathetic clown. And the characteristics
that Devereaux created are still used in the
clown personality today. And fun fact, Devereaux
also killed a little boy, whacking him in the
head with a stick after the little boy said something
to him on the street. He apparently was making
fun of him and Deborah just whacked him across
the head, killing him. Whether it was an accident
or not, um, super fucked up. And this kind of
began the point in my story affirming why I don't
like clowns. I also found this hilarious Britannica
article that talked about a bunch of famous clowns.
The most famous clown of all time is Joseph Grimaldi.
And we owe thanks or blame to this London, England
performer because he was the father of modern
clowning. He was the OG circus clown, okay? And
in the early 1800s, Grimaldi created the character
Joey, who reportedly was the first clown to wear
white face makeup and paint. He painted the large
red lips, you know? Some clowns that had the
white face, but not all the extra color. And
he had been clowning since he was two years old.
He learned all the tricks of the trade from his
abusive, psychotic father. Grimaldi is where
we get the classic clown look from. He also specialized
in classic physical comedy. He would flip around,
he would fake trip, and he used slapstick. But
Grimaldi was also known for being... inappropriate
with his young female students. He had intimate
relations with them offstage. He did have an
injury during one of his shows. He got a little
too excited, and he accidentally shot himself
in the foot. Yeah, and this put him out of work
for a month, and by the time he came back, he
had become a drunk. Some people argue he was
the OG sad clown. He also developed severe arthritis
by the time he was 30 because he was doing all
these insane stunts. He was flipping around all
the time and he was in so much pain after his
performances. He would like give it all he's
got and he would have to have assistants physically
carry him off the stage. Grimaldi also had a
son who he raised in a similar fashion to how
he was raised. He wanted him to become part of
clowning, but things did not end well for his
son. His son passed away at the young age of
31, putting Grimaldi down an even darker and
depressed path. He and his wife actually attempted
suicide, but both of them survived. Just five
years later, though, Grimaldi would pass away.
So he really did have a life of tragedy. Another
famous clown is Oleg Popov. Again, what a name.
And according to this really funny Britannica
article, he might be considered the Tom Brady
of clowns. They said, like the famed NFL quarterback
whose big break came when he replaced a hurt
teammate, Oleg Popov took the lead when the Moscow
circus's main clown was injured. So the rest
is history. In 1956, Popov became the head clown
and went on to become one of the most beloved
clowns in the Soviet Union. He was known as the
Sunshine Clown because he was very optimistic.
Then you had another famous juxtaposition of
Oleg Popov, another clown. This was Emmett Kelly,
and Emmett Kelly created the clown Weary Willie,
another great name. This was a sad clown who
wore tattered clothes, and arguably his most
famous routine involved him trying to sweep up
a spotlight and appearing startled when it disappeared.
So he's the reason we have the sad clown. Then
there is a clown pretty much everyone has heard
of. This fictional character appeared on various
TV shows in the U .S., most notably Bozo's Circus,
later The Bozo Show. So this is Bozo the Clown.
His show premiered in Chicago in 1959. He wore
fiery red hair. He had a big nose, oversized
shoes. He was super popular with kids and the
show went on for a long time. The pictures of
this guy really creep me out. I just, I don't
trust it. And similar to Bozo the Clown, we had
Ronald McDonald, the mascot of McDonald's since
the early 60s. And Bozo the Clown actually helped
create Ronald McDonald. But he inspired his original
look, which I had never seen before. And holy
shit. So Ronald McDonald in his, you know, yellow
jumpsuit, the red hair, everything. That's not
what he used to look like. He, believe it or
not, looked even scarier before that. Basically,
I guess they were trying to advertise the McDonald's
food. So he had like a giant tray of food on
his head. He had a McDonald's cup as a nose.
He had a belt that dispensed hamburgers to children.
Again, these pictures will be on Instagram and
in the YouTube if you dare to look at them. But
this design didn't go well. It freaked out kids.
So he got the rebrand that we know today, and
that's when he became really popular with the
kids. In the early 21st century, it was estimated
that more than 95 % of American youth recognized
Ronald McDonald. So he became quite famous. He
was so popular, in fact, that some people blame
him for contributing to childhood obesity because
he was promoting this unhealthy food at McDonald's.
So now that we know a little bit more about the
history of clowns and some famous clowns that
got this all started, I want to lead us to the
next question. Should we be scared of clowns?
We have to talk about this infamous serial killer,
arguably the most guilty of starting the modern
trend of evil clowns, John Wayne Gacy. Pretty
much everybody knows who John Wayne Gacy is,
and I'm not going to go into too much detail
because I do eventually want to do like a full
episode on him, but just a brief synopsis. In
the 1970s, John Wayne Gacy brutally murdered
35 people, primarily young men and boys in the
Chicagoland area. When he wasn't committing these
horrific murders, Gacy was known to dress up
as Pogo the Clown, and he would perform at various
charity events and children's parties. And at
one point, he actually said, quote, clowns can
get away with murder. But he was convicted in
1980 and he was executed by lethal injection
in 1994. But Gacy really made people start to
think twice about these clowns showing up at
your child's birthday party. And around this
time in 1988, the horror comedy classic Killer
Clowns hit the screens. This involved evil alien
clowns. And they came up with very inventive
ways, we're talking like Final Destination style,
to kill their victims. Like there was one time
where they encased a bunch of their victims into
cocoons made from cotton candy. And then, of
course, there is Stephen King's Pennywise, who
really became popular in 1986 when he released
his horror novel, It. This was an evil, shapeshifting
murderer that was known to kill kids and often
took the appearance of a clown called Pennywise.
And this happened in the fictional town of Derry,
Maine. Perhaps the most frightening clown of
all time. It is also theorized that Pennywise
inspired the clown hysteria in the 1980s and
more recently in 2016. There's also the urban
legend of Sprinkles the Killer Clown. The urban
legend goes something like this. In 1973, a caravan
of circus performers were making their way across
the Appalachias. It wasn't a busy part of the
circus season. It was a bad winter and there
was a big storm coming. As they rounded the many
turns coming down the top of the mountains, the
icy roads finally got the best of the caravan.
Several cars found their way off the road and
over the hill. One of these vehicles carried
four clowns and was never found. Several weeks
later, two of the four clowns were found walking
down from the mountain with only their pants
on. They drastically needed medical attention.
Frostbite from the snowstorm robbed them of many
of their fingers and toes. After months of receiving
care, the local police were able to question
the whereabouts of the other two performers from
the wreck. Their story was grim. The third clown
had died instantly from the wreck, and the fourth,
known as Sprinkles, used the dead body to feed
the rest of the clowns. He kept the other two
clowns tied up like hostages in the wreckage.
It wasn't until one of the survivors got his
hands free to get the upper hand on Sprinkles
just long enough that they could make their escape.
They left Sprinkles laying in an ice -cold stream.
They assumed the icy cold waters would end his
life. But no. According to pictures taken on
a trail cam in eastern Kentucky, Sprinkles could
very well still be alive, living out in the woods,
laying in wait to terrorize more people. These
photographs did surface online, and again, these
will be on Instagram and on the YouTube video.
The photographs are believed to have come from
somewhere around 2010, maybe a little earlier.
The photos you see are a man in an oversized
inflatable green and yellow clown costume with
very large black eyes, a white face, red nose,
rainbow wig, and oversized shoes staring menacingly
into the trail cam. And this leads us to the
2016 clown panic, which I briefly talked about
in my mass hysteria episode that I did forever
ago. I talked about three different examples
of mass hysteria, but we're going to get into
it in more detail now. So Friday, September 30th,
2016, police in Newcastle would receive a report
of somebody dressed as a creepy clown. He was
leaping out of the bushes and scaring kids. Over
the next few days, more and more reports trickled
in. And by the time it was getting close to Halloween,
October 5th, the tabloids officially announced
there was a terrifying clown craze sweeping the
world. Concerned parents began to make Facebook
pages about the clowns, but this only further
fed into the panic. The Metropolitan Police were
also advising kids to call 999 if they saw a
killer clown. This trend arguably became more
popular when people all over the country started
dressing up as clowns, allegedly as part of a
PR stunt, because Stephen King's 1986 horror
novel, It, was now having a movie come out. You
guys remember? It was a terrifying movie. So
apparently one of the theories is that a bunch
of people were dressing up to help advertise
the movie, which I got to say is pretty smart
and it seems like it was quite successful. But
this panic got really intense. There were reports
of clowns terrorizing children and even attacking
people. As a matter of fact, in Pennsylvania,
there was a report of a teenager that had been
murdered by someone in a clown mask. But feeding
into the panic more, this report was later proven
to be false. So this is just an example of a
lot of the media that was involved in how they
like really blew up this panic. It was actually
the person that was murdered that owned this
clown mask. They weren't murdered by a clown.
A few weeks prior to this murder, there was also
a report of a clown stabbing a teenager in Varberg,
Sweden. The media continued to publish dozens
and dozens of unsubstantiated claims. There were
all these articles being published about creepy
clowns, killer clowns everywhere. And these sightings
suddenly became international. There was even
hotlines for children's counseling that were
getting hundreds of calls from kids worried about
being hurt by a clown. The police advised people
if they saw a clown to just ignore it, don't
engage, walk away. and to report the incident
to authorities, saying that the clowns would
only disappear if they got bored. At one point,
the panic got so bad, schools in Texas and Alabama
shut down. The police were making dozens of arrests
also, because there were people either making
false reports for attention, or there were people
actually dressing up in clown costumes, trying
to scare people. The paranoia got so bad it even
reached the White House, where Press Secretary
Josh Earnest had to field questions about the
president's stance on creepy clowns during a
press briefing. The 2016 clown panic is an example
of what folklorists would call ostention, which
is the acting out of urban legends. Another classic
example of ostention might involve a group of
high school students going to a cemetery that
they think is haunted and claiming that they
saw a ghost there. But sometimes ostention can
become very dark, like the infamous true crime
case where two young girls in Wisconsin stabbed
their friend to appease Slenderman in 2014. A
folklorist named Radford has also offered another
theory for the original origin of the 2016 clown
panic. When I was researching this, there were
a lot of different theories of like exactly how
it started. But according to Radford, he believes
this phenomenon began around 2013. There was
this young filmmaker in Northampton, UK that
was dressing up as a clown and he was posting
photos on Facebook. for a social media experiment
and the photos went viral soon there were copycats
in britain ireland france and the us popping
up all over the internet in 2014 french police
arrested 14 teenagers who terrorized local residents
by dressing up as clowns and carrying weapons
so it seems like it was this domino effect these
events combined with stephen king's new movie
may have been responsible for putting these creepy
clowns back on the map and leading to a moral
panic. So, why are we scared of clowns? Other
than the obvious fact that they look super terrifying.
According to a study done by ScientificAmerican
.com, 54 % of people between 18 and 77 years
of age are scared of clowns to some degree. with
5 % saying they are extremely afraid of them.
It was also found that women are more afraid
of clowns than men for some reason. And in this
study, they also looked at the science as to
why we're scared of clowns, and they came up
with several reasons. So one of them is the creepy
makeup. Similar to artificial intelligence, clowns
are human -like in appearance, but not quite
human -looking. This is also why we are scared
of dolls, mannequins. It's existential and unsettling.
Clown makeup hides emotional signals and makes
us feel uncertain because we can't tell what
their intention is. We can't see a smile or a
frown. Our brains can't compute what their facial
expressions are trying to tell us. The color
of the makeup that clowns wear, the red, also
might subconsciously remind us of death, infection,
or blood. It's also believed that the clown's
exaggerated facial features might biologically
and subconsciously convey to us a direct sense
of a threat. And then there's their behavior.
Clowns break social norms. They're very unpredictable
and that makes us uncomfortable. And then it
could also be learned behavior. Having a fear
of clowns could be learned from your parents
or negative portrayals in the media and in movies
and books like Pennywise, John Wayne Gacy. We
don't see a lot of clowns in the media that are
positively portrayed, you know? So what about
some clowns that further play into the sphere
and are just plain creepy? Hey, everybody, we
are going to take a quick break from the show
so I can let you know about the special that
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mystery podcast. I will see you over there. Now
back to the show. In 2015, an anonymous man from
Florida created the character Wrinkles the Clown.
He would dress up and hire himself out to parents
to scare kids for a few hundred bucks. This creepy
dude was offering to come into people's houses
and scare their kids. This character went viral
in 2015 on YouTube after a video surfaced of
this man sleeping under this girl's trundle bed
and coming out from the drawer and popping up
and scaring this little girl while she was sleeping.
Subsequently, the character appeared in several
more videos, either scaring the shit out of kids
or engaging in very disturbing behaviors like
standing on the side of the road when it was
dark outside and just like waving to passerbys.
So people just thought this was some creepy clown
and these awful parents were hiring him to scare
their kids. And this was believed for several
years. But this would change in October 2019,
when a documentary called Wrinkles the Clown
was created about the character. This documentary
revealed, spoiler alert, that these videos were
staged. This was all part of conceptual performance
art. And Wrinkle's true identity was also kept
secret. But I gotta wonder, like, what was the
purpose of doing this? Another case that I was
familiar with before I did this story is the
murder of Marlene Warren. Marlene was fatally
shot by a clown in 1990. Marlene would hear her
doorbell ring in Fort Lauderdale. She opened
the door and came face to face with a smiling
clown wearing a bright orange wig, holding flowers
and two balloons. The clown handed her the balloons,
one of them reading, you are the greatest. And
Marlene thought it was a nice gift from her husband
or somebody. So she's like, oh my gosh, this
is so nice. And then the clown pulled out a gun
and shot Marlene point blank in the face. Horrific.
Her son Joseph was also home when this happened,
so he hears the commotion, runs to the porch,
and he's cradling his mom, who's bleeding out,
and he remembered meeting the dark brown eyes
of this assailant before the clown fled away
in an unmarked vehicle. Marlene Warren's murder
remained unsolved for nearly 30 years, but eventually
the killer clown was identified. And it was a
woman. Sheila Keene Warren was arrested and pled
guilty to second -degree murder in a plea deal
after improved DNA testing tied her to evidence
found in the getaway car. At the time of the
shooting, Sheila was employed by Marlene Warren's
husband, Michael, at his used car lot. like Marlene,
had also been married to Michael. This man had
two wives. Unbelievable. Sheila and Michael eventually
relocated to Abingdon, Virginia, and they ran
a restaurant together just along the Tennessee
border. Witnesses would tell investigators way
back at the time of the murder, Sheila and Michael
were having an affair, though both denied it.
Years after the murder, costume shop employees
identified Sheila Warren as the woman who had
bought a clown suit a few days before the killing.
One of the two balloons was this silver balloon
that read, And this was sold at only one store,
a Publix supermarket, which just so happened
to be right by Sheila's house. Employees told
detectives a woman who looked like Sheila had
bought the balloons just one hour before Marlene
Warren was shot. The presumed getaway car was
also found abandoned with orange hair -like fibers
inside, just like the wig that the clown was
wearing. This was a white Chrysler convertible
and it had been reported stolen from Michael
Warren, the husband's, car lot a month before
the shooting. How convenient. Sheila and her
then -husband repossessed cars for Michael. Relatives
told the Palm Beach Post in 2000 that Marlene
Warren, who was 40 when she was murdered, had
been suspecting her husband of cheating and had
planned to leave him. But the car lot and other
properties were in her name, and she feared what
would happen to her financially if she left Michael.
She allegedly confided in her mom shortly before
her murder, saying, quote, if anything happens
to me, Mike done it. To this day, Michael Warren
has never been charged with any involvement in
Marlene's murder. However, he was convicted of
grand theft, racketeering, and odometer tampering
in 1994, serving about four years in prison.
A year before this, Michael Warren was at a Palm
Beach County courthouse walking out of the courtroom
with an attorney named Christopher DeSantis when
he asked the lawyer a very interesting question.
He was like, theoretically, let's say a husband
was going to kill his wife. What would happen
to her estate? And DeSantis was like. Okay, weird
question. But you know, I'm gonna advise this
person. But then somehow, like, I gotta look
sideways at DeSantis a little bit, because somehow,
the topic of dressing up as a clown comes up.
And apparently, DeSantis told Michael, if someone,
a killer specifically, dressed up as a clown,
they would likely get away with it. Because witnesses
wouldn't be able to tell if the killer was a
man or a woman. And now I really want to get
into this case more and learn about it. There's
a three -part documentary on the case called
Killer Clown Murder on the Doorstep. This aired
on Sundance TV, AMC Plus, and Sundance Now. So
I want to see if I can find it. But that is the
murder of Marlene Warren. And how tragic. A man...
couldn't keep his hands away from another woman.
And this happened. And Sheila was stupid enough
to do his dirty work for him. Further feeding
into the fear of clowns, I naturally had to go
to Reddit and see what I could find. And I regretted
it instantly. But I'm facing my fears today.
And you have to hear these stories too. We have
to be scared together. So this first clown encounter
story from Reddit is from Reddit user Time189,
and it is titled Childhood Clown Incident That
Still Has Me Wondering Experience. Quote, When
I was around five to six years old, my younger
brother and I, who would have been around four
at the time, were playing in our front yard as
we often did. We lived in a very bad town in
Southern California. A town that had a bad reputation
and numerous tragedies, especially on the street
that we lived on. Suddenly we heard laughter
coming from across the street. I stopped what
I was doing and I looked across the street and
saw a clown in a full suit and makeup. He was
standing on the upper balcony of our neighbor's
house. The clown then took out an umbrella. and
floated down from the upper balcony and landed
right in front of where my brother and I were
playing. I remember the clown started talking
to us, but I cannot remember what he said. I
just remember he was very loud, and he would
move his arms wildly when he talked. He then
took out two large circus -style lollipops, handing
one to each of us. The clown said something to
us and then pulled the umbrella out and floated
back up to the neighbor's balcony and went inside.
I always chalked this up to something I imagined
since I was so young when it happened. I never
mentioned it to anyone until I was 19. My brother
and I were hanging out with some friends and
sharing stories about strange experiences. I
decided to retell the clown story when all of
a sudden my brother's jaw dropped to the floor.
His eyes were the size of dinner plates. He said
he remembered the clown and he described details
about the incident that I left out. I couldn't
believe that he would remember something like
that. I was also in disbelief that it wasn't
something that I had just imagined. Now this
particular street had its fair share of strange
and tragic occurrences, from murders, house fires,
and overdoses. It was always considered a cursed
street. Could we have imagined this? Or was it
something that was conjured up from all the negative
energy of that town slash street? The idea of
a clown fucking floating down, with an umbrella
and being like, hello, would you like a lollipop?
I would be locked away in a psych ward. You would
never see me again. I would never recover from
that. I would become one of those conspiracy
theorists that's like locked in a house all the
time. Like the lady from Final Destination Bloodlines,
that would be me. I would never leave my house.
Oh my God. And then the fact that the brother
was like, yeah, I remember that too. It kind
of reminds me of the episode I did a while back.
Sam, the sand down clown. Do you guys remember
that? It was an alien robot kind of clown. Like
the story does give me paranormal kind of alien
vibes for sure with the floating and everything.
So then on this Reddit story, there were a bunch
of comments and they were also like people who
had had creepy clown experiences and there's
some pretty good. Crazy ones. One reply to their
encounter was from Reddit user FireDance, and
they say, quote, so, um, that's weird. And here's
why. When I was about five -ish, we were living
in Southern California. We lived in an apartment
building, and the kids in the building started
telling their parents about seeing clowns, at
least from what my parents said. Then I saw the
clown. It was in my bedroom on the second or
third floor. I screamed, of course, and my parents
came running, finding me hysterical about this
clown that was in my room. My parents must have
assumed it was a nightmare, except my window,
which had been shut and locked, was wide open.
I wasn't tall enough to reach the latch, so I
couldn't have opened it. My parents checked outside,
but there was nothing there. My dad and some
of the other men in the building also searched
the area around the building. Even though it
had just rained recently, there were no footprints
or ladder marks, so there was no way anyone could
have been in my room unless they floated up.
End quote. California, what's going on? Are there
floating alien clowns? I need more information
because I'm supposed to go to California in a
few months and I can't deal with this, okay?
So then there was another comment from Reddit
user PointDefiant who said, I also lived in California
as a kid. We lived more in the Central Valley
area, but had a lot of relatives down south where
we would go visit. I remember when I was around
eight to nine years old, one of my cousins told
me about a clown that randomly appeared in her
yard. She told me he talked to her and what he
said. I don't remember what she told me that
they talked about, but I remember not believing
her. But that night, I went to bed in the room
with her. And we both woke up to a knock on her
window. And I shit you not, it was a clown looking
at us through her window. We were on the second
floor. There was also no balcony or anything.
So the only way someone could be up there is
if they were floating. scared the shit out of
us so bad that we ran to the living room. And
when we told my uncle, he said we were tired
and our eyes were playing tricks on us. But I
know what I saw, end quote. Reddit, you better
not be playing with me right now because I can't
deal with this. This was the point in the episode
that I had fully scared myself, but I was in
too deep, okay? There's no going back now. Separate
story that I found. Getting away from the floating
alien clowns. This is from Reddit user Ansbrook,
who has just as terrifying of a clown encounter
to share. They say, quote, I had a clown puppet
that a customer of my family's business bought
me. I put it in the closet because it scared
the hell out of me. I was about eight or nine
and my sister was five. She remembers this too.
It used to open the closet door and dance. We
would find it moved around the room. The final
straw was when it slammed open the door and fell
on the ground. I had the puppet hanging from
a hanger. It was not animatronic either. Then
the puppet stood up and tried to walk. I threw
a doll at it and knocked it down. I wrapped it
in a blanket after flipping out for hours. My
mom believed us. My dad didn't. My mom helped
us throw it away. But the damn thing was back
in the closet by morning. But it was in my sister's
closet. Then my mom took it and we never saw
it again. But this whole thing had gone on for
like a year. I don't know if it was imagination,
but my mom still says it was freaky, even though
it was 20 years ago. And my sister remembers
it too. Who knows what really happened or how
my mom finally got rid of it. I think she maybe
just took it to the dump, but she can't remember.
End quote. We are mixing some of my worst fears,
clowns, puppets, and dolls. No. no no no if any
of you ever mail me a clown a puppet or a doll
we're going to have beef okay this next story
is from reddit user vixki their encounter was
in 2016 during the clown panic i found their
story on this subreddit talking about the 2016
clown panic and they say quote I was chilling
at a local park with some friends when I decided
to walk through the park and the trail to McDonald's.
I had just gotten to the trail entrance when
I heard rustling in the bushes on my left. Keeping
in mind it was about 9 o 'clock and dark and
this type of thing didn't happen since I was
there almost every day. Needless to say, it freaked
me out and I ran back to my friends and told
them what happened. They were all pissed. As
a group, we ran back to the bushes and started
searching, when we heard quiet giggling, and
it confirmed my suspicions, so I yelled, come
out, pussy. No response, but about five seconds
later, a rusty razor blade comes flying out of
the bushes and hit me in the chest. We were all
spooked and ran off. The next day on the news,
An elderly man had been stabbed by a man dressed
in a clown costume. Not fun. Edit. I live in
a small town in Canada, so this type of thing
really shook my town. The man was never caught
and he's probably still out there. End quote.
That's horrific. And I hope that person got a
tetanus shot because a rusty razor blade hitting
you in the chest is not, not good. It really
does sound like they just avoided being murdered
by a clown. This next story is from Reddit user
Alberta underscore fish be the name. And they
say, quote, scary clown in the woods. I'll start
off by explaining the area so you get a good
picture of where this occurred. We lived in a
small neighborhood. All of the surrounding streets
dead end into a half circle park. But behind
the park are some woods and a railroad track.
When we were younger, we all played in the front
part of the woods. We never ventured too far
back. This was our play area for years. We never
had issue, and we were never scared. This area
was pretty well lit. But one day, my brother
Jimmy, my best friend Sarah, and my brother's
best friend Ian were all playing near a dam in
the middle of a small creek that ran through
the park and the woods. The boys decided they
were going to head back to Ian's house and get
some snacks. Sarah and I decided we would stay
and we would finish our camp area that we had
been making. As we were moving rocks around,
I got a very odd feeling. It suddenly came over
me. It was a strange feeling that we were being
watched. I immediately thought it was the boys
trying to scare us, so I just continued on with
what I was doing. Sarah and I loaded up some
big rocks and we headed back to the creek and
put them down at the dam. But then I got that
feeling again. And as I stood up, I saw something
right in front of me about 30 feet away. I couldn't
clearly make out what it was yet because it was
behind a bush, but I did see this checkered red
and blue pattern. I knew that it was nothing
the boys had on, so at this point, I was focusing
my eyes trying to figure out what it was. Then,
as I was scanning up and down the bush, I started
to realize... I was looking at a clown. I shit
you not, my heart started pounding immediately.
The clown and my eyes locked. He was wearing
a blue and red hat with a reverse pattern red
and blue jumpsuit. I grabbed Sarah's shirt and
immediately pulled her upright, and she also
noticed the man. He was smiling with a full face
of makeup and holding a giant knife. We both
said nothing and started running as fast as our
legs could take us. He started following us.
We heard twigs snapping and the ground crunching,
but we were booking it. We ran through the front
of the woods, through the side of the park and
up our dead end street. Ian and Jimmy were two
houses up from the end and they saw us running
and screaming. While running past, we screamed,
a clown was there, and they started laughing.
We were still running and screaming for our lives
when we finally made it to the middle of the
street where Sarah's dad, Danny, was now running
out the front door because he heard the screams.
We met Danny right at the beginning of the neighbor's
house when we were trying to explain what we
had seen. He said, girls, stop it now. This is
ridiculous. What are you talking about? We tried
to catch our breath, and by this time, Jimmy
and Ian had caught up with us. We were crying
and pointing and telling Danny again that we
had seen a clown with a knife. Jimmy and Ian
were laughing, and Danny was asking if they played
a prank on us. About this time, an old yellow
Pinto type of car came up from the dead end at
the park and pulled right up next to the sidewalk
of the yard we were in. Sure enough, plain as
day, it was the fucking clown. No hat this time,
but he still had a knife in his hand and told
us to come closer. Danny started shoving us all
toward the house and he himself got so scared
and started running. The car then drove off down
the street. We got inside and Danny called the
police. We had to give statements and the police
patrolled the neighborhood and the park for a
couple weeks. We were never allowed to go to
that park again. And a few months after that,
the city started to clear out the woods. They
were cutting down a lot of trees. They made a
walking area that you could see through all the
way to the train tracks. My friend and I used
to talk about this many times up to her death,
but no one would believe us. All of it was just
so scary. This man wasn't afraid of us. He got
so close to us and held a knife even when my
friend's dad was there. I feel we're lucky to
be alive. And had it been just one of us in the
woods that day, I don't think we would have been
so lucky. Sarah's dad stopped drinking that day
and we all have a fear of clowns." I did have
to reword some of that for it to all be cohesive
and make sense. That's just what happens sometimes
when you get stories on Reddit. So it wasn't
the most well -written, but that is a thing of
nightmares, truly. Like, that sounds like an
event that would come straight out of Stephen
King's It novel. So, the ultimate question. These
stories are so terrifying. Should we be scared
of clowns? Well, despite my fear, I will say
the good news is statistically it is very, very
unlikely that you would ever be hurt or killed
by a clown. You're more likely to be killed by
your local doctor. Luckily, there seems to have
just been a handful of killer clowns in the last
century, like John Wayne Gacy and Sheila Warren.
Killings known to have been completed by clowns
account for less than 1%, .0088 % of all murders
in the U .S. to be exact. Arrests of clowns in
the U .S. also by and large have just been for
minor offenses. But nevertheless, there is, and
I think there always will be, this little part
in the back of my mind that imagines walking
through the woods at night and there being a
clown. Lurking in the shadows. So whether that
is a rational fear or not, the concept of clowns,
the history behind them, and these encounter
stories are certainly fascinating, terrifying,
and perplexing. So that, everybody, is my clowns
episode. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.
I really faced my fears with this one. So I hope
you appreciate that. If you did enjoy this episode,
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I also just wanted to say really quick, because
I've had quite a few listener requests for topics
coming in. If you've made a request, I I'm pretty
sure I've gotten back to everybody. It is in
the queue. I haven't forgotten about you. I know
it's taking a while to get to some of those requests
and I apologize. I'm trying to bring a lot of
variety because this is a mystery show. So I'm
trying to cycle between a true crime, a paranormal,
a history episode, you know, so those requests
are coming. I'm looking forward to doing them.
I love when you guys send me requests. If you
want to send a topic request, you can always
email that to me or DM me on Instagram. And as
a matter of fact, I will be covering a listener
request next week. So be on the lookout for that.
And yeah, I hate clowns. This didn't make me
feel any better about them. But it's very interesting
to learn about. And yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed
it. You all are amazing. I hope you have the
best week. Please stay safe. Don't get killed
by a clown. I hope one doesn't tap on your second
story balcony window. And I will talk to you
all next week. Bye. Thank you for listening to
Perplexity, a mystery podcast hosted, written,
and produced by Kedra Brannan. Assistant producer
is TJ McRae. If you enjoyed today's episode,
tell the world about it by leaving a five -star
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or a perplexing story of your own you'd like
to share? Until next week, stay curious.