Monsters of the Modern World : Clowns

Graeme Maclean

Photo Graeme Maclean (Creative Commons licence)

Since the dawn of time, clowns prey on humans, especially children. The first clowns didn’t wear makeup, of course. They were the tribe’s jester, the itinerant public entertainer. At first, they weren’t very harmful, but they soon realized their power on people. They started feeding on laughter, on their audience’s joy and happiness. After a clown was gone, those who watched it experienced some fatigue, eventually headaches, general weakness. Then, some clowns learned magical tricks from fairies, as a reward for making laugh the whole Unseelie Court, and their feeding techniques improved.

A clown feeds sparingly, as vampires do, since they don’t wish to be noticed, especially since some movies have started exposing them. They won’t cut someone’s throat in a dark alley, unless they’re convinced of complete impunity. On the other hand, if they can isolate a child from his parent or his school group, they will grab them, use their spells to keep them silent, and absorb their fear and pain. The process implies great sufferings for the victim. Usually, the child is reported missing and never found, but sometimes the corpse is discovered. Maniacs or accidents are blamed, no one really thinks a clown is the culprit.

Rarely, a group a clowns gang up to attack isolated adults, or small groups, usually in lonely houses in the countryside. When the police investigates, they never find any traces of the real murderers.