Clowns and other Sundries at the Antique Store

The Riverside district of Jacksonville has shops, restaurants, churches and businesses just ripe for exploring.  Lunch at Lola’s gave us the fuel to do some window shopping.  It is rare that Steve is up for any kind of shopping that doesn’t include West Marine, I took advantage of this and pushed to the limits.  We started off at the antique shops and then off to the boutiques.  

There is a game we like to play at antique stores–who can find the creepiest item?  We are either magnets for creepy or we are easily creeped out because today we found enough to keep us from playing this game for a while.   Today’s winner–clowns.  We must not be alone in our feelings that clowns are creepy.  If people really liked clowns, then they wouldn’t wind up in flea markets and antique shops.   Just think about that for a little while.  

The eyes of the clown above followed me around the room.  I turned him over onto his stomach–the next time I passed by, he was sitting upright again.  Below is toy replica of the clown Emmet Kelly.  I asked the shop owner for permission to take his photograph.  She laughed at me and said–take all you want.  

Our daughter Katy does not like clowns.  I found that out the hard way when I took her and her friend Jessie to eat at Taco Bell when they were small children.  A clown meant to entertain the children had the exact opposite affect on Katy.  From that day forward she has had an excessive fear of clowns also known as Coulrophobia.  


Joey Grimaldi, a famous British entertainer in the 1800’s created the standard clown makeup with a white face and red cheeks.  This exaggerated happy face hid the sadness in his own life–the death of his wife and the alcoholism of his son.  The French have their own first clown–Jean Gaspard Deburau whose clown name was Pierrot.  Pierrot killed a young down with a walking stick after the child yelled at him. In the US, we have the Killer Clown.  Serial killer John Wayn Gacy dressed as Pogo at children parties.  Gary killed 33 young men before being arrested.  Gary told his arresting officers “You know…clowns can get away with murder.”  CREEPY!

These items below aren’t so much creepy but do qualify for the category of “Why would anyone every buy this?”