Houghton HEW 2.7.4 - Grimaldi, Farewell Benefit, 1828

Not a lot of people suffer from a debilitating phobia of clowns but a lot more people, however, just don’t like them, especially in the U.S.A. Some circuses have held workshops to help visitors get over their fear of clowns by letting them watch performers transform into their clown persona. In Sarasota, Florida, in 2006, communal loathing for clowns took a criminal turn when dozens of fiberglass clown statues—part of a public art exhibition called "Clowning Around Town" and a nod to the city’s history as a winter haven for traveling circuses—were defaced, broken, beheaded, spray-painted and abducted.