Benjamin Radford's Blog: Ben Radford's Blog of Booky Things, page 3

Upcoming Radio Appearance for 'Bad Clowns'

In about an hour and a half (1:00 PT/2 MT/4 ET) I’m slated to be a guest on the Rob Breakenridge show (on NewsTalk AM 770) discussing the recent spate of clowns allegedly stalking and luring children in Greenville, South Carolina.

Is this mysterious menace real or rumor?

It’s the topic of chapter 12 in my new book “Bad Clowns,” and you can listen live here!

Creepy Clowns Return!

In my book Bad Clowns, along with a survey of fictional evil clowns, I devote a chapter to real-life scary clowns. Among them are creeper clowns—people who dress as clowns and walk around, usually at night.

Social media plays an important role in these cases; a clown standing on an empty street corner is a pointless and pathetic sight. Clowns are performers by nature and need an audience; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter provide cheap and viral-friendly platforms for their pranks and performance art.

Earlier this month there were two new reports, one in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and another in Quebec. Both are almost certainly copycats of earlier creepy clown reports from years past, including in two California towns in 2014 and in a Chicago cemetery one year ago last month.

Bad clowns in popular entertainment may have also inspired the incidents. Last month publicity photos from the upcoming remake of Stephen King's classic horror novel "It" were released, with actor Bill Skarsgard playing the evil Pennywise the Clown—a character first portrayed by Tim Curry in the 1990 television miniseries. The new film Suicide Squad features the evil clown-like character Harley Quinn, part-time squeeze of the world's most famous bad clown The Joker (played in the film by Jared Leto). Though the reviews have been mixed the Harley Quinn character struck a chord among fans, with Vanity Fair calling her "the most divisive character in comic-book history."

Though scary clowns have always been with us, the phenomenon of people dressing up as clowns to scare people, usually at night, is fairly new. Usually it's done as a prank or a publicity stunt for a film or product. Many are copycats, inspired by online videos and news stories, and some are acting out scenes in scary movies in a process folklorists call ostension. Also called legend tripping, it’s basically a form of playacting in which people act out a legend, often involving ghostly or supernatural elements. The common “Bloody Mary” ritual is one example, and scary clowns are another.

The Top 10 Bad Clowns: Part 2

The clown has played an important role in all societies and cultures, and the bad clown is an inherent part of that. You can no more separate a good clown from a bad clown than a clown from his shadow. Bad, evil, and maladjusted clowns have plagued the world for centuries; here is a list of the top ten bad clowns of all time—some of them real, some of them fictional, and some of them seemingly in between. It’s the clown you fear will appear at your birthday party—or over your bed as you sleep.

Last week I listed the top 5 bad clowns... here's the rest, in order. Agree? Disagree? Tell me why!

6. Frenchy

Frenchy the Clown, who appeared in National Lampoon magazine in the 1980s and 1990s, was created by comedy writer Nick Bakay and illustrated by Alan Kupperberg. Frenchy’s wacky R-rated antics (including drug use, torture, and prostitution) soon became one of the magazine’s most popular features.

7. The Phantom Clowns

In the 1980s rumors began circulating that gangs of clowns were trying to abduct children, sometimes using white vans. Police investigated and determined that many of the reports were hoaxes or misunderstandings, noting that no clowns ever actually abducted anyone. The mystery has never been formally solved, though folklorists believe that the phenomenon was a form of mass hysteria.

8. Shakes

Written and portrayed by Bobcat Goldthwait, Shakes the Clown was featured in the 1991 film of the same name (described as “the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies”). In the film Shakes is framed for a murder by a rival clown and must clear his name while sobering up, reuniting with his lost love, and harassing mimes in his spare time.

9. Crotchy

Crotchy the Clown was charged with obscenity for exposing himself while hosting a public-access show called Cosmic Comedy in the 1990s; he appealed his conviction and his case ended up with the Nebraska Supreme Court being forced to watch him masturbate.

10. The Northampton Clown

A mysterious, sinister clown prowled the nocturnal streets of Northampton, England, in October 2013. He did not threaten anyone but unnerved and intrigued many, especially when eyewitnesses posted photos of the clown on social media. The Northampton Clown soon spurred copycat creepy clown reports in New York, California, and France.

The Top 10 Bad Clowns: Part 1

The clown has played an important role in all societies and cultures, and the bad clown is an inherent part of that. You can no more separate a good clown from a bad clown than a clown from his shadow. Bad, evil, and maladjusted clowns have plagued the world for centuries; here is a list of the top ten bad clowns of all time—some of them real, some of them fictional, and some of them seemingly in between. It’s the clown you fear will appear at your birthday party—or over your bed as you sleep.

1) The Joker
The most famous comic book supervillain and evil clown in the world, Batman’s archenemy the Joker first appeared in a 1940 issue of Batman comic and has been memorably portrayed in film by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.

2) Mr. Punch
Mr. Punch, the red-capped, gleeful, wife-abusing serial killer star of Punch and Judy puppet shows since the 1600s, remains popular today as family entertainment and has inspired countless writers including Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman.

3) Ouchy the S&M Clown
San Francisco-based Ouchy the Clown has been dispensing bondage and beatings to (un)deserving clients since 2001 and is America’s premiere provider of “adult clown services.”

4) Pennywise
Stephen King’s hit novel It featured an evil entity which took the form of a menacing clown called Pennywise. The 1990 television miniseries adaptation starring Tim Curry traumatized a generation of Americans and helped fuel the modern interest in scary clowns.

5) Pogo (aka John Wayne Gacy)
John Gacy preyed on vulnerable Chicago-area men in the mid-1970s, killing dozens by stabbing and strangulation; though Gacy was never a professional clown—he was a contractor by trade—he occasionally volunteered as Pogo the clown, cementing his reputation as a real-life killer clown.

Next week I’ll round out the rest of the top 10!

MS-13 and "Bad Clowns"

My most recent book Bad Clowns includes several chapters on real-life scary clowns, and in chapter 9 (“Creepy, Criminal, and Killer Clowns”) I have a section on “a clown-related gang whose threat is both very real and internationally known. It is the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, a criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s and has since spread to Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Consisting primarily of about seventy thousand members (mostly from El Salvador), the gang is notorious not only for their extreme brutality and cruelty, but also for their extensive, ornate tattoos, which often include clown faces and masks... Members of the Mara Salvatrucha have been found in Toronto, Canada, and the Canada Border Services Agency issued a handbook on gang tattoos to help its law enforcement officers identify members.”

I had originally hoped to interview members of MS-13 and so posted a note on my Facebook page asking if anyone knew how to get in touch with members. Many FB friends thought I was joking, but I wasn’t.

True, MS-13 were known to be brutal, but presumably a few members might be willing to talk to me anonymously as a journalist—assuming I stuck to innocuous questions about tattoos and didn’t inquire about any other activity. I wasn’t selling drugs on their turf, recruiting rivals, or trying to infiltrate their organization for the FBI; I just wanted to know about their ink.

A friend of mine in Los Angeles mentioned that he knew a guy who knew a guy who might know a guy involved in MS-13, and I asked him to try and make a connection and inquire on my behalf. The interview never materialized, however, and in the end while I’d have liked to get a first-hand source (and/or some really interesting evil clown art), it wasn’t really necessary for the chapter. Maybe if the book goes to a second edition...

On Being Recognized at Insane Clown Posse Show

A few weeks ago Insane Clown Posse came to my home town of Albuquerque, and I attended the show. I'm not an ICP fan, but since I include a section about them in my new book "Bad Clowns," I figured I should go to at least one show to see what it's like and get a sense of their fans (who, as I mention in the book, were at one point deemed a "criminal gang" by the FBI). I emerged a few hours later partially deaf and with a heavy misting of Faygo, but otherwise unharmed.

As it turned out, a Juggalo who was there e-mailed me last week to say he'd recognized me and explain why:

"The story starts with the [Albuquerque Journal] newspaper article about your book. saved the article so i could put it with the book once i bought it. i love clowns, and knew i had to have the book. went to the ICP concert and loved it as i am also a huge ICP fan. saw you upstairs where we were. sorry could not help noticing you, you stood out like a sore thumb. in fact i noticed you seemed to be there more to observe people, than to listen to ICP. i figured you to be a cop, you didn't seem to fit. my wife said she thought you took her picture, kind of bothered me, but let it go. talked about you on the way home, we were all sure you must be a cop. i don't really like cops, but that is a story for another time. so the next night after ICP, i finally got to start reading your book. awesome book, especially loved the history of early clowns. i could not put it down, read the entire book that night. here is the interesting part! got to the chapter about ICP, and some how it clicked... THAT'S THE GUY FROM LAST NIGHT. asked my phone to pull up your picture, yep that's him. kind of wonder, if i had waited a few more days to read your book, if i would have figured it out. kind of funny how it worked out. so a little about me. we were front row upstairs, in the middle. older bald guy, big long beard, covered in tattoos.had my tall blonde wife and even taller young nephew with me. i run a small motorcycle shop from home [here in town]. hope you enjoy this story as much as i do, as we share a few thing in common. i am still telling friends about it."

I met with him a few days ago at a local coffee shop, signed his book, and he showed me three of his evil clown tattoos. Nice guy!

Writing About Reading

Instead of writing about writing, I thought I'd briefly write about reading. Like many of you, I don't read as much as I'd like to; I read a lot for my job, and when the day is over it's tough to pick up a book for reading pleasure. Fortunately the materials I have to read for work are generally pretty interesting (to me anyway): Bigfoot, psychology, urban legends, ghosts, hoaxes, and so on.

The problem is that when I'm reading them I'm in Research Mode: I'm under deadline and trying to skim quickly, extract important information or a useful quote, try to figure out where to put it in the article or blog, edit it, and turn it in. There's no real chance to leisurely peruse the deeper context or context. Often I place a Post-It note with a quick scribble mentioning some important idea on the page, but I may or may not get back to it--until the next time I'm writing something on a related topic and consulting the same book.

This is why I try to set aside at least an hour or two each week to read for pleasure, otherwise it won't get done. Of course reading should be a pleasure instead of a chore--but when you've got four or five books open at the same time, it gets tricky to keep up on all of them...

I remember a quote from Warren Zevon who said that when we buy a book we like to think we're also buying the time to read that book.

Author Appearance About "Bad Clowns"

I was recently a guest on a TV show titled "2 KASA Style," talking about my new book "Bad Clowns."

You can watch the video here: http://kasa.com/2016/05/26/on-the-she...

New "Bad Clowns" Facebook Page!

By popular demand, I have created a Facebook page for my book Bad Clowns. I keep having weird clown news stories come up, so I figured I might as well collect them and post them once a week or so. So there's a new go-to page for all things clown malicious:

https://www.facebook.com/BadClownsBook/

Check out and Like the page to get updates... if you dare!

Free MP3: Chapter 1 of "Tracking the Chupacabra" Read by Me

A few years ago I recorded the first chapter of my book "Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore." I'm no Rob Paulsen (though I met him--great guy), but I think it turned out well.

You can listen at the URL below:


http://benjaminradford.com/books-by-b...