Scream Café: Telling Tales Of Creepy Clowns And Campus Ghosts

“We look to these narratives to find a place to put this fear that we’re feeling anyway.”

–folklorist Sarah Gordon

Today at Café Indiana, we’re celebrating Halloween with an investigation of the creepy clown pandemic. As in many states across the nation, schools and law enforcement agencies in Indiana have been on high alert since rumors of sinister activity perpetrated by clowns have swept the Internet. Given the seriousness with which the schools and the police have been  taking these rumors, I decided to investigate by asking local kids and parents what they think, and getting insight from a folklorist, an anthropologist, and a professional circus clown.

If there’s anything the creepy clown pandemic has shown us, it’s that people want stories to latch on to. And at this time of year, we tend to latch on to the chilling ones. Indiana University’s ghost stories live in a binder. Whenever students in the Folklore and Ethnomusicology Department hear a new one, they jot it down and add it to the stack. Maybe it’s a ‘jolt story’ that ends with a scream or a slammed door. Or maybe it’s supernatural artwork or just plain old superstition. Then, a selection of those stories is told on the annual Ghost Walk. Annie Corrigan met up with one of the tour guides to sample the spooks.

Along with the Ghost Walk, another longstanding tradition marks Halloween on the IU campus: music school alumnus Dennis James, an internationally-renowned silent film accompanist, visits the IU Auditorium to play the organ during silent movies. This year’s film is The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  George Walker spoke with James during one of his previous annual visits.

Stories On This Episode

Just Like Pagliacci Did: Creepy Clown Comeback Story

By Yaël Ksander - Oct 28, 2016

Clowns have been sending out mixed signals for hundreds of years. But why is this narrative of the evil clown suddenly so compelling again?