CLOWNS

Barnum and Bailey would be ashamed to find that for some people the greatest thrill they could ever provide was not daring trapeze artists or vicious tigers, but a red-nosed, big-shoed and makeup-masked mime.

That’s right, clowns seem to be a popularly shared fear these days, and while some might call it irrational, those who have read Steven King’s It might have another opinion about that. What could be scary about a friendly actor in funny pants?

“Their smiles,” senior Kaylee Colon said. “It’s so creepy. I feel like they’re just going to eat my face or something.”

This fear is viciously exploited by the media. Clowns have been transformed from a symbol of simple entertainment to diabolical scheming. Movies, television shows and books all find ways to make clowns scarier and scarier.

“All the scary movies they make about them are terrifying,” freshman Cecilia Huckaby said. “Their faces, but really everything about them is scary.”

Halloween is a particularly unbridled time for clown fear. This fear leads to some pretty gruesome and hilarious Halloween pranks and fairly terrifying haunted houses.

“When I was 12, my friends paid some guy to dress up as a clown and he chased me down four blocks,” Colon said. “Now I’m absolutely terrified of clowns. They really just shouldn’t exist.”

-Zach Short

HEIGHTS

The stomach dropping. That heart stopping feeling. The sensation of free-falling. While some enjoy the thrill of skydiving or the excitement of rides like the Tower of Terror, others are fearful of anything high in the sky.

“I just get so nervous,” junior Gabbi Zepeda said. “I tense up and I grind my teeth.”

For senior Chelsea Gutierrez, her fear of heights is a specific one.  Rather than being afraid of heights everywhere, Gutierrez’ only concern is with man-made structures. She says no matter what it is, if it’s man-made, she doesn’t have confidence in it.

“If I fall, there’s nothing I trust to grab onto and save me,” Gutierrez said. “When I was seven, I was in Austin in a high building and I was looking out a glass wall, and I just saw a straight drop. It’s a straight fall and I definitely don’t bounce.”

‘Acrophobia’, the official term for fear of heights, is common.  People often can’t go about their daily lives without experiencing their fear at least once. Zepeda says overpasses on highways are a particular fear of hers.

“When I’m on the highway I get really freaked out,” she said. “I realized I had these fears when I was about five or six.”

Sophomore Elise Coleman says the reason she is afraid of heights is because she likes to have her feet on the ground, unless she is a on a rollercoaster.

“I realized I had this fear when I was walking on a bridge and looked over and saw really tiny people,” Coleman said. “I always crawl very cautiously in the middle when on a bridge now.”

-Kristina Jingling

BUGS & INSECTS

There is something about the way insects move — whether it’s the way they crawl across a wall, weave their webs or fly stingers posed to attack – that makes bugs so terrifying.

“I don’t care when they’re just there, but once they get on me it freaks me out,” junior Aerik Ashley said.  They could be poisonous and they could bite or sting me. I don’t mind when bugs are on the ground because I can step on them.”

For junior Kyle Unger, just being near creepy crawlies like crickets and cockroaches are what scares him.

“I have a phobia of bugs,” Unger said. “Once I thought I had killed a cockroach but two days later I was back in the room and I saw it with its head off walking around.”

Students aren’t the only ones afflicted by the fear of bugs. Environmental Science Teacher Jessica Ross has always disliked insects.

“I’m afraid of bugs but because of my profession I’ve had to, as my dad would say, ‘Man up,’” Ross said. “Especially in my environmental science class. I can’t really be afraid of bugs so I’ve had to get over it.”

Ross used to be an Earth Science teacher and would have to show the students different animals. To prove to her students that they need to face their fears she let a tarantula crawl all over her for an entire day.

“It was not the most comfortable experience but my biggest concern that it would get off my arms and I would squish it or it would fall off because it was someone’s pet,” Ross said. “It was unsettling knowing that something that looked creepy was on me. It was a creature that I hate but that I respect. They have eight eyes, fangs and they’re furry. They are not cute.”

-Shelly Spencer

DOLLS

Porcelain and baby dolls may not be as popular as Barbies and Bratz, but for some people even the thought of these glassy-eyed, little dolls causes fear to bubble up.

“When I was 7, my mom would always leave trails of doll heads into my room and always dressed up as one, head to toe,” junior Jariah Johnson said. “Her head was tilted and everything.”

The glassy eyes are part of the fear factor when it comes to dolls. The pristine faces with the moving eyes can make people think the dolls are following them. It’s just the thought of being followed by an inanimate object that gives some people a chill.

“They stare at you,” sophomore Anona Underhill said. “It’s like they’re going to kill you in your sleep.”

Movies like Chucky have given porcelain and all dolls in general a bad name, portraying them as murderers and criminals.

 “I’m afraid of dolls because of all the scary movies that feature killer dolls,” junior Allison McCloud said. “They are creepy.”

When Johnson was a kid, she loved to collect dolls, until her mother filled her head with stories of dolls stalking their prey. The sweet, innocent dolls coming to life was enough to give her nightmares.

 “Till this day, I am still afraid of dolls,” Johnson said. “But I just laugh at them. Okay, sometimes I cry.”

-Kristin Nicol