( CNN ) -- It sounds like something made up just in time for Halloween . Several reports from France of attacks by people dressed as clowns -- and armed with anything from knives to baseball bats -- have been making headlines in Europe . Taken with the recent sightings reported by some communities in Florida , New Mexico and Indiana , among others , it is easy to wonder what is going on . What is it about clowns ? Why these strange sightings now ? But to those of us who have been following what is proving to be an unusually lively period of clown reports -- whether they be actual crimes or simply hoaxes -- neither the reports themselves , nor the peculiar interest in these incidents , is all that surprising . For a start , while these developments are notable , the recent outbreak of such activity is actually not without precedent . In the mid-1980s , for example , a number of episodes were recorded on both sides of the Atlantic , first in Scotland and then in various towns across New England , as people reported clowns in ice cream vans attempting to lure children . We also know that clowns inhabit fertile ground in terms of phobias -- after all , they can invoke anything from a fear of masks , to stranger danger , to our anxieties regarding public humiliation . ( And that 's not to mention the question of why a grown person would dress this way , in a kind of asexual fetishism ) . Meanwhile , the Clowns of America International , the professional organization representing U.S. clowns , has reported a significant decline in the number of students attending clown school in recent years . So it is possible , then , that these two elements -- the decline in `` licensed '' clown performers and the rise in the number of `` sinister '' sightings -- are more closely related than they seem . After all , all forms of monstrosity are essentially commentaries on the nature of humanity 's social relations ( the Twilight books and movies , for example , offer a straightforward examination of adolescent sexuality explored through the lens of a vampire/human/werewolf menage . ) Indeed , in many ways , the crisis in the clown community mirrors the anxieties that are felt across many sectors of society -- class friction , social estrangement and an economy many still feel uncertain over . Keep in mind that clowns have always been marginal members of society . In the Middle Ages , the fool was a scapegoat and outcast , an egregious misfit with license to speak truth to power . In the 20th century , the two greatest clowns were essentially homeless indigents : `` Weary Willie , '' the unshaven and ragged hobo clown of Emmett Kelly , emerged straight from the American Dust Bowl , while Charlie Chaplin was known simply as `` the Tramp . '' In all these instances , clowns enjoy a relationship to society that is tenuous at best . In this sense , it is no great leap to say that dressing up as a scary clown is an expression of anti-social alienation , especially when coupled with another phenomenon that we might term `` industrial nostalgia . '' The stereotypical scary clown almost always takes its inspiration from clowns associated with the golden age of the American big top circus . These white face clowns with their colorful hair and costumes are known as `` Joeys '' in honor of the great comedian , Joseph Grimaldi , and evoke a specific time in American history , a time of optimism and potential . But this golden age has passed , and our ideas of clowns are now set against a backdrop of recession , social atomization and a distrust of traditional institutions . When seen from the vantage point of the present , the Joeys of the big top seem hopelessly naive , the leering remnants of an industrial past whose promises are unfulfilled . It also seems no coincidence that the narratives that employ scary clowns so often associate them with failed businesses -- empty music halls echoing with the ghosts of past laughter or abandoned theme parks repurposed as lairs . The idea of the scary clown , then , taps into the frustrations and fears of a time in which so many are feeling themselves pushed into the margins . So , should you think you see a clown peering through your curtains this Halloween , take comfort in the fact that it 's nothing personal . The image of that grinning , shock-haired psychopath you are imagining is in your wardrobe will probably start to fade when the economy turns around . Photo blog : WWI : The Golden Age of postcards .
Reports of clown attacks in France have made headlines . Clowns have often been seen as on society 's margins , says Andrew Stott . The French government has launched a campaign to combat the phenomenon and is encouraging people not to be afraid of clowns or clowns.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/world/middleeast/syri@@