Clownselling offered in Shropshire for fear of clowns

Roll up! Roll up! A circus arrived in a Shropshire town over the weekend, but bosses had to put on special counselling sessions to help people with a fear of clowns.

To help those with the phobia overcome their fears, bosses at John Lawson's Circus invited people in Market Drayton for "clownselling" sessions with their clowns Kakehole and Popol.

The circus was held in the field opposite Muller dairy on Saturday and Sunday and attracted hundreds of people. Experts say coulrophobia, the fear of clowns, is believed to be caused by a subconscious fear of the unknown.

A clown's heavy make-up can be seen as a mask that hides the character's true intentions, which can seem unsettling.

Circus chiefs said they were inspired to offer the free sessions where visitors can see the clowns don their make-up and practice their madcap routines, after a recent poll placed clowns as the nation's third biggest fear behind spiders and needles.

Ringmaster Attila Endresz said: "It is surprising how many people seem to be frightened of clowns."

She said the situation had been made worse by films such as Stephen King's It, in which a group of childhood friends are terrorised by sinister dancing clown Pennywise.

Popol the clown said: "It upsets us when audience members are scared of us. People are not scared of us when they get to know us."