Do You Remember The Clowns In 2016?

My scary experience through the clown epidemic my senior year of college

I am deathly afraid of clowns.

I struggle to watch clown movies. I have never seen the movie IT. I am not coherent when I see the slasher clowns in movies or television. I can barely tolerate basic ones. Clowns are not a favorite character of entertainment of mine. In fact, they never were. It’s not like I was given a chance to.

My Clown Fear Origin Story

But first, let’s talk about baby Bambzi’s first encounter with a clown. We can call this the origin story, or just a memory that I had tried to suppress since it happened.

I remember the day, tents propped out on the old fairgrounds like a proper circus. I was young, about six or seven. I was with my brothers, sister and mom. My dad was working that day, so mama decided to treat us to the circus that came to town. I was excited because it was our first time at the circus.

Until I met the clown at the popcorn stand.

He was what I considered a basic clown. He had red hair, blue eyes, a red mouth, and a red nose.He had a butter stained bag of popcorn ready to hand me. Originally I thought he had a sweet smile. And young Bambzi was NOT a people person. So this was a lot coming from me. I used to run away from my relatives. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt. My mama paid for it. She trusted him, I should too. I can’t remember why, but for a moment, mama turned away from me, to focus on my brothers. The clown’s smile curled into something sinister. I didn’t notice, I excitedly reached for the popcorn. I pick at kernels enjoying the popcorn. Then I see something red in my popcorn. The red object begins to move. My eyes widen when I realize they were ladybugs.

They start to crawl from the bottom of the bag.

I’m frozen in mid kernel picking. My sister sees the bugs and I’m not sure what she says. Something along the lines of “Eww, stop eating that!” before she swats the bag out my hand and into the nearest trash bin. Even as children, she was a big protector. But she doesn’t see the clown’s reaction. I look up, and I see the clown. He has the same evil smile on his face. It turns from a sinister grin to a mouth full of rotted teeth showing as he laughed at the horror in my face.

I became so overwhelmed with fear, like I had seen the devil. Chills went up my spine, my hands shook. I was ready to pee my pants.I had never been so scared in my life. I started to panic and look around for my mama. My mama wasn’t far, but she never noticed the clown, or what happened to my popcorn. She assumed I finished my popcorn. I didn’t tell her what happened until I got older. Of course, she didn’t believe it. But she learned my fear of clowns and their mischievous manner. And she was on the phone with me as I lived through one of the scariest moments of my life.

Do You Remember The Clowns from 2016?

I will never forget it. I still think about what could’ve happened that night if they were bolder. It was Hallow’s Eve. I made frequent trips alone to the library in the late hours of the night. The clowns were well in their prime this time around. And our college was an open campus. This particular night, I switch up my idiot routine. I had a friend walk with me from the library to my dorm. We had run into each other as we were walking out and he offered. It was about an eight-minute walk, tops. We talked about how the clowns would walk around with knives, bells whistles, strange things. I was praying that there would not come a day where I was out and ran into one. Finally, I make it to my room, I made the college meal of champions, ramen noodles, chips, and water. I was watching Netflix, couldn’t remember what show.

But I knew that a bicycle bell was not apart of the show. I felt the muscles in my legs tense.

Quickly I pause the TV and listened. I heard the bell again. This time accompanied by laughter. It was a menacing laugh, one like you hear in movies. I get a sharp bell sound notification on my phone. It was an email from the school about the clowns terrorizing the town. And my brain is rushing because they have made it to our campus. Quickly and quietly, I roll off my bed, turn off my TV, my lights the sound of my phone. I checked my fridge, then unplugged it. I needed complete silence. I checked to see if my door was locked. My legs are shaking from the adrenaline and my fear of being heard. I carefully climbed back into my bed. I had knives, so I brought one to my bed with me. No one could see through my blackout curtains, but you could never be too safe.

I’m vulnerable, sitting in complete darkness and shivering like a child. I hear the bell again, followed by the laughter and I can hear the clowns rising past my window. Someone was on foot, I could hear the pattern of footsteps past my window. I heard the scuff of his shoes come to a halt. I was scared to tears. Granted, these could have been a bunch of lame white teenagers from high school. But teenagers are weird. They can be scary too. And could have easily been drunk and wanting to hurt people for a good time. I wasn’t taking the risk. I can hear them whispering to each other outside. I’m thinking, did they hear me? I can hear a group of students outside screaming because they see the clowns. I felt like a helpless child. Suddenly, the laughter and whispers fade as they walk away from my window.

Something Told Me to Call My Mom.

It took three rings for her to pick up. This is the phone call my mother learns my fear of clowns is real. “Mama?” “Why are you calling me so late?” “There are clowns on campus.” “….. like the ones from the news?” “Yes!” I’m sobbing at this point, covering my mouth so they wouldn’t hear me if they were still close. I could hear the fear in her voice. “ Oh my God…. Oh my God…Where are you now?” “ In my room,” laying in my bed, stiff as a board. “ Turn everything off, close your curtains — “ “I did mommy, I did.” I’m sniffing every word, choking on my gasps, and just wanting desperately for the night to end. “You have to be quiet.” She says calmly. “Mama, I’m so scared.” There was a brief silence. Then a loud audible sigh of stress from my mama. Then, I hear another, “Oh my God.” She was running out of things to say. I couldn’t blame her. I was bringing her to hysteria over a prank or pure terrorism by some stupid locals. And she was hours out of my reach. I hear the laughing, coming around to my window again. I hold my breath. The clown on the bike is back. I text my mom telling her the clown is back. She hangs up texts me for what felt like an hour. It was stupid of me, but I peeked through a crack in my curtain. It was a male, wearing a black hoodie and dark rinse jeans. His clown mask was warped. It had green eye paint, a mouth that looked melted, and red hair on the sides. He carried a box in the arm he didn’t navigate the bike with. I watched him press the button. That menacing laugh shoots out louder, so loud I could feel it in my chest.

What the hell? A laugh box?

I don’t know how I got my fingers to move, but they finally dialed campus security. I told them where I was and that clowns were running around the yard of our dorm.

Campus security came to our dorms in thirty minutes. It was the longest thirty minutes of my life. Thirty minutes of laughing, bicycle bells, hitting my window panes. I guess they saw the lights of the campus security SUV and booked it. I could hear campus security after them, screaming at them telling them to get the hell out of there. Tears of relief were uncontrollable at this point. The bells sounded like a rattle the way it rushed into the night to God knows where. I called my mom back, it was early morning, but she is always awake at ridiculous hours because it is hard for her to fall asleep. I knew I sure as hell wasn’t going to after that. “Are you okay?” “Yes.” I say, still shaken, “Campus security came.” Then she said something that made me laugh, “ I didn’t know you were really afraid of clowns.” “Deeply.” To a point like my first experience with a clown, I freeze. “I thought it was just your sister that didn’t like clowns.” I thought about all the clown incidents I had. I thought about the circus, the time I ran out into the street almost getting hit by a car to avoid a clown, movies I avoid watching, to that day. To be clear, my mama didn’t raise any whimps in her house. You can have a moment to be afraid. And you can do something about it. But she also has children with real fears that make them freeze faster than the Black Panther. I said, “Mama, you have no idea.”