People have always feared clowns, especially around October, but this year the phobia is even worse in the midst of a murderous clown craze. Americans across the country have reported clowns loitering in parking lots, stalking people, holding weapons and coming after them with those weapons. What makes it worse is how creepy the clowns are.

But why do people hate clowns to begin with? Why is there a phobia, known as coulrophobia, dedicated to clowns?

One explanation is Hollywood's depiction of clowns. After all, one can hardly think of a killer clown without thinking of It. However, Hollywood did not make clowns scary all on its own.

There is a psychological explanation to it. As a psychology major, I was really interested in finding out why so many people hate them and even have a phobia of them. It has to do with familiarity and abnormality. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, wrote an essay on it. Freud said that something is uncanny if it's almost familiar and recognizable but somehow a bit off. That is why creatures that look human but aren't, like zombies or people with deformities, evoke a creepy reaction. A clown's face is the perfect example of something human-like and familiar yet inhuman and unfamiliar at the same time. We humans hate and fear anything that is abnormal and inhuman.

Some psychologists hypothesize that it is the ambiguity surrounding clowns that make them creepy to us. After all, they are always smiling but are they actually happy? We feel secure when we can identify someone and read their faces. But a clown wears makeup that hides their identity, making them anonymous, and makes it hard to read facial expressions, especially as they are forced to always wear a grin.

It is also about unpredictability. You do not usually know when a clown is about to throw a pie in your face or prank you in some other way. Who knows what the clown will pull out of his hat or try to get you to do.

Embarrassment is another factor. Clowns do what they do to make people laugh and enjoy themselves. But a lot of people have a tough time poking fun at themselves and would definitely not want to be pranked by a clown or anyone. Some people handle embarrassment well, others do not. A lot of people, especially those with anxiety disorders, fear the possibility of embarrassment. I know I do.

Of course real-life clown killers have helped give their brethren a bad name. The most famous case that helped give birth to this stereotype was of John Wayne Gacy, who was convicted in 1978 of molesting and murdering 33 young men and boys in Chicago. When he wasn't hurting innocent boys, he performed at children's parties and hospitals under the name "Pogo" or "Patches." His favorite subject was clowns when he took up oil painting on death row.

I personally do not have coulrophobia or hate clowns. I consider myself neutral on the matter. However, as a psychology student, I understand the basis for which other people are disgusted by them and avoid them.