A disabled woman who has an extreme phobia of clowns chasing her in her wheelchair decided to try ‘exposure therapy’ – by dressing up as Pennywise and being chased by clowns. Kerry Greenfield has had a ‘paralysing phobia’ of the colourful entertainers since stumbling across the 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s IT on TV while home alone aged 12.
The 41-year-old was left terrified when she watched Tim Curry’s portrayal of the kid-munching clown and still lives in terror at the prospect of being chased by one. Kerry concedes that her fear, known as coulrophobia, is heightened by the fact she’s a wheelchair user and unable to run away from the creepy characters.
Brave Kerry decided to have a stab at ‘exposure therapy’ by donning a grey ruffled Pennywise costume adorned with red fluffy pompoms and being chased by her nephews dressed in clown outfits.
To complete the eerie look, Kerry donned a red wig and diligently painted on classic clown make-up, including a sparkly red nose. Despite tackling her fear head-on, Kerry’s still not fully cured – naming Pennywise, Ronald McDonald and CBBC’s Mr Tumble as the top three clowns that still creep her out.
Kerry, from Widnes, Cheshire, said: “I hate clowns. There was a film called Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I have a memory of being in primary school aged 10 and kids were talking about it, getting all carried away and dramatic.
“I got extremely afraid and after that I was highly suspicious of clowns. Then at 12 I stupidly decided to watch IT on my own and I was paralysed with fear.
“Pennywise is very strange and creepy. It creeped me out that he was in the sewer with his weird face paint on and he was eating children. I was like ‘no, I’m not into that’.
“I couldn’t even close the curtains to the living room because I thought ‘what if he comes in and I need one of the neighbours?’ It was a bad decision on my part, I didn’t sleep very well.
“I tried to address it last year and thought I should watch it on Netflix to see if I could move on from it, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to get past the trailer. I think I watched until his tongue fell out.”
Born with spinal defects including spina bifida, Kerry lost the use of her legs aged 25 and relies on a wheelchair to get around, admitting this is another factor in her clown phobia. She made her exposure therapy as part of a series of promotional clips for her wreath-making business – Wreaths Ever After – even making a 50-inch clown wreath.
Kerry said: “Every few years on the news at Halloween you get these stories about clowns chasing people around. Imagine if you’re just going along and some weirdo in a clown suit jumped out on you? It freaks me out.
“It makes my heart race, it plays on my mind and i think ‘imagine that happening?’ I’ve had nightmares of clowns chasing me. I think some of it (my clown phobia) is because I use a wheelchair and I think I couldn’t even run away.”
Kerry decided to advertise one of her huge American-style clown wreathes by swallowing her fear and donning a clown costume and make-up. The clip shows Kerry wearing an IT-style costume complete with red wig and make-up clutching a ‘time to float’ sign.
Kerry said: “That’s me in the video dressed up as a clown. Because I make American-style wreathes – that world is big, crazy and over the top, sometimes it’s just fun, particularly at Halloween, to match the wreath.
“I like being creative and I like having fun with the reels. The wreath came out really well so I thought to myself ‘come on Kerry you’re going to have to face up to it’.
“I got myself a Pennywise suit, which was quite funny, I bought it so I matched the clown. I did the make-up, did a Google tutorial, looked at myself and thought I was very creepy.
“I had to imagine that Pennywise had turned me into some kind of zombie creation and we did it from there. I quickly took the outfit off afterwards, it’s not quite cured me of my fear yet but it was fun.”
Despite making some baby steps in conquering her clown fear, she’s still not keen on them. Kerry said: “The worst clown is Pennywise, he’s the one I hate the most. I can’t forgive him for eating the children. I hate Mr Tumble, he freaks me out. When my nephews were into him I would go out of the room when he came on the telly, I have a strong dislike for him.
“I feel guilty as he’s a really nice person but I can’t cope. Ronald McDonald, he’s another one. I did like going to Maccies when I was younger but I was a bit dubious about him.”