Caulrophobia

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What, I can hear you ask is caulrophobia. Apparently it is the fear of clowns that is more common than I thought and is often sparked off by a traumatic event in childhood, possibly at a circus. For myself, I have just never found clowns particularly funny. Their slapstick humour is too often predictable and even unkind to one of their number. Also I wonder what is behind the carefully constructed mask, which is just too cheerful to be true and sometimes can even seem slightly sinister. Although I wouldn't actually go and shoot a clown like Seeley Booth did in an episode of Bones, neither do I feel comfortable around them.