[ZTAngel]

When I was little, my grandparents use to take my sister and me to the Barnum & Bailey Circus every year. My grandfather took me to get some popcorn and there was this booth where you could get your face painted as a clown. So, I got my face painted and we walked back to where my grandmother and my sister (she was 5) were sitting. My sister saw me and just started SCREAMING. I kept trying to tell her that it was me but she kept screaming bloody murder. She refused to sit anywhere near me. Not to mention that there were clowns EVERYWHERE. During one of the acts where all the clowns are onstage, my sister would bury head in my grandmother's shoulder and just start wailing.
To this day, she's frightened of them. She called me the day after Halloween this year to tell me about her embarrassing moment. Some guy went to the party she was at dressed as a clown. She spilled her drink all over herself and started having a panic attack. She got all shaky and ran to the bathroom. She stayed there the rest of the night throwing up.

ETA:
Any psychology people out there know why there are so many people afraid of clowns? What is it about them that give so many people the heeby-jeebies?