Clown Posing Myths

Many stories are passed down from generation to generation. Often times, these stories are spoken to one another as a warning to behave a certain way or stay out of trouble. Sometimes, a simple tale can get twisted into different variations, all of which aren 't true. These legends are notorious for scaring people into believing that unlikely events could actually happen. Recently, I was eating lunch with a couple of friends and we told each other scary tales that we had heard. That was the moment where I heard about the urban legend of the clown posing as a statue in someone 's house. This story shook me to my core, mostly because I believed it was true. I will do my best to retell this story as I heard it, research it 's background, and analyze

There aren 't any real cases of clown murderers. According to Mikkelson, "homicidal maniacs and pedophiles have not commonly taken to donning clown costumes and passing themselves off as items of home décor"(sec. origins). Also, I discovered that there are several versions of this legend. The version that I heard makes the teen the victim, as the clown is in the parents ' bedroom. The alternate version tells the story with the clown being in the kids ' bedroom, having them be the ones in danger. These versions change the way that the story is interpreted. For example, in the version where the teen is in danger, a common urban legend is touched upon. It is a common theme in movies and stories that a babysitter is being watched by an unknown person in the house. This legend is known as the "Babysitter and the Man Upstairs" (Mikkelson, sec. origins). However, if the kids are the targets, the clown is portrayed as a creepy pedophile. In some versions, the kids are known to tell the babysitter that something in their room is touching them. Even though this story isn 't true, there is one true account that seems similar. According to Mikkelson, "in 1992, in Noblesville, Indiana, a Ronald McDonald statue toppled onto a six-year-old girl, severing the fleshy part of her fingertip" (sec. origins). Although this real story is entirely different from the legend, it most definitely could have inspired