Clown in a Cornfield

In the novel, the antagonists adopt the avatar of a clown mascot linked to the industrial history of Kettle Springs. By utilizing the image of the clown to represent the threat to the protagonists’ lives, Cesare taps into a niche subgenre within American horror—killer clown horror.

Killer clown horror weaponizes the discomfort symptomatic of coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. The exaggerated features of clowns—from their painted faces to their loud clothing—mask the intentions of the people who wear the costumes, creating a sense of unease beneath their playful façade. This unease has deepened the clown’s impact as a figure of horror in popular culture.

One of the earliest manifestations of killer clowns in literature dates back to Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 short story “Hop-Frog.” In Poe’s tale of revenge, a jester dressed in motley tricks a king and his court into entering a public death trap. Similarly, the 1892 Italian opera Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo tells the story of a murderous clown with no remorse for his crimes.

By the 20th century, the killer clown took a more prominent place in mass media forms. In 1940, DC Comics debuted the Joker, the clown archenemy of Batman. His appearance was inspired by actor Conrad Veidt’s portrayal of the title character in the 1928 film The Man Who Laughs, a man whose face holds a perpetual smile.