Clowns are creepy. Yes, they are. At least, that's the impression I've always gotten from most people I've met when the subject of clowns comes up in conversation. It seems the ratio of people that dislike or who are afraid of clowns far exceeds the number of people that actually enjoy watching their antics.

It makes sense, as it is hard to trust a person in a weird outfit who is hiding his real expression behind his makeup and its big fake smile. Despite generations of clowns being passed off as entertainment for kids, I've rarely met an adult who liked them. In fact, I've met a bunch that are really scared of the colorful bastards.

Of course, this fear of clowns has been exploited to the point of becoming a cliche. Clowns have popped up regularly in horror films for decades, for understandable reasons. When was the last time you saw a clown in a movie that wasn't scary? It doesn't happen often.

Stephen King wrote one of his most popular novels about an evil clown, and, to a lot of people, Pennywise from "It" is one of the horror master's most frightening creations. The preteen gang-bang orgy that occurs late in the book (yes, really) is more disturbing to me than King's monster ever was, but the success of that novel and enduring boogeyman status of Pennywise has proven that a lot of people are really freaked out by creepy clowns.

The idea of a shape-changing, kid-killing clown monster is pretty scary, but there have been many examples of clowns over the years that are bigger doses of nightmare fuel than anything in "It." Let's take a peek into the shadows, and examine a few of these awful clowns more closely.