Why are people so scared of clowns?

It's the stuff nightmares are made of.

This week, a parent complained to police after two teens dressed as clowns, one of whom was carrying a two-metre-long chain, chased children home fromParcLimbour, in northwestGatineau.

The subsequent news headlines all used the same word: creepy.

It's not the first case of its kind.

An ItalianYouTubechannel, DM Pranks, has earned millions of hits for featuring clips of menacing clowns behaving strangely or bludgeoning stuffed dummies in public.

The idea of the terrifying clown was perhaps most famously executed in the Stephen King novel, and subsequent movie, It, where the clown Pennywisepreyed on children.

All in a Day10:51Why do we find clowns so scary?

After people dressed as clowns scared kids in a Gatineau Park, apparently following an Internet trend, All in a Day wondered why clowns have the power to scare. A horror writer and historian explains.

The fear of clowns is so deeply rooted in human psyche it even has its own (albeit unofficial)name:coulrophobia.

Butwhy is the deranged clown a trope we return to in frightening books, movies, and television?

AalyaAhmad, an adjunct professor at Carleton University who teaches a class on horror, said clowns havea long history of being scary, beginning with their manic medieval beginnings.

Unpredictability factor

"The clown goes back to the tradition of the jester, or the holy fool, and the jester was the only one who had licence to speak freely to the king and nobles," she explained to CBC's All in a Day host Alan Neal.

Ahmadsaid nobles would count on the jester if they didn't trust their cohorts, but underneath the ridicule was a dose ofharsh reality.

"The clown and the monster both kind of get to go on these rampages and expose some of the fears that we hide," she continued. "It's lesspredictable than a zombie...The joker is wild, we don't know what they're going to do."

Derangedclowns also cruelly twistthe childhood association many people have with them. It's innocence gone "horribly wrong," saidAhmad.

They "expose some of the cracks in society through their innocence, through their childlike quality."

Mask of death

Clowns also play on the idea of the uncanny.

"You have this body, an adult human body,but you have this unfamiliar head. You see those pictures fromGatineauPark are extremely creepy," she said.

"What scares us about masks is they're highly artificial...The uncanny plays on that idea of the familiar becoming unfamiliar very suddenly."

Ahmadsaid other critics have noted that the only other time a person's face is frozen like a painted-on clown's face is indeath.

"White faced as a deathmask with a sense of humour," she said.

Of course, not all clowns are terrifying.

Toronto's Doo Doo the Clown saved a woman from a vicious attack last November.

Diane Sonnenberg said a man lashed out and began hitting her.

WARNING: Contains strong language. Doo Doo the Clown's dash cam captures moment when attacker jumps on SUV.

9 years ago

Duration 0:32

WARNING: Contains strong language. Doo Doo the Clown's dash cam captures moment when attacker jumps on SUV.

It was then that Doo Doo the Clown, best-known for his role in the AdamSandlerfilmBilly Madison, came out of nowhere to save the day.

"I remember pulling up as fast as I can screaming, 'Get in,get in!' and I know that I am a clown and I had a car full of clowns, but these ladies ran and jumped into the back,"said Doo Doo in a phone interview with CBC News.

News of the rescue prompted Coun. Norm Kelly to award Doo Doowith a scroll recognizing his act of bravery.