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© History Oasis / Created via Midjourney
Many people have a natural fear of clowns.
For good reason.
We’ve compiled actual killer clowns in history to show how legitimate fear can become a reality.
1942-1994 | Chicago, Illinois
John Wayne Gacy raped and murdered 33 young men between 1972 and 1978 as a respected businessman in the community.
Gacy liked to perform as “Pogo the Clown” at children’s hospitals and community events.
He used makeup featuring sharp-angled eyebrows and a pointed smile.
He liked to lure victims to his home with promises of work or alcohol, handcuff them during a “magic trick,” sexually assault them, and then strangle them with a rope or his bare hands.
Gacy buried 26 corpses in the crawl space beneath his house, pouring quicklime on the bodies to accelerate decomposition.
The stench got so bad that he told guests it came from “damp moisture” under the house. When his crawl space filled, he dumped four bodies in the Des Plaines River.
Police discovered the remains in December 1978 after connecting Gacy to the disappearance of 15-year-old Robert Piest.
The excavation process took weeks, with bodies stacked on top of each other in decay states ranging from skeletal remains to recent corpses.
During questioning, Gacy calmly drew a diagram showing exactly where each body was buried.
He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.
1796-1846 | Paris, France
Jean-Gaspard Deburau, a Bohemian-French mime, took the character of Pierrot from a minor character into a central figure in pantomime.
His pale face became the archetype of the “sad clown” that persists today.
On July 3, 1836, Deburau killed a 15-year-old boy named Nicolas Vivet on a Paris street.
Walking with his wife, Deburau encountered Vivet, who recognized the famous performer and shouted insults at him.
Enraged at being mocked outside his stage persona, Deburau struck the boy with his walking cane, delivering a fatal blow to the head.
The boy died instantly on the street.
The trial became a sensational media event for its time.
Despite the clear facts of the killing, the court acquitted Deburau, judging the boy’s insults sufficient provocation.
May 26, 1990 | Wellington, Florida
At 10:45 AM on a Saturday, Marlene Warren answered her front door to find someone dressed as a clown.
The person was wearing an orange wig, a red bulb nose, white face paint, and a clown outfit—holding foil balloons and flowers.
The clown handed her the items, then pulled a .38 caliber revolver from a pocket and shot Warren point-blank in the face as her 21-year-old son and his friends watched in horror.
Warren collapsed in the doorway of her Wellington home, blood pooling around her head.
One balloon in the bouquet read, “You’re the Greatest!” The clown calmly walked back to a white Chrysler LeBaron and drove away.
Never to be seen again.
For 27 years, the case remained unsolved.
In 2017, police arrested Sheila Keen-Warren, who had since married Marlene’s widower, Michael Warren.
DNA evidence from hair fibers in the getaway car and witness testimony that Sheila had purchased a clown costume days before the murder led to charges.
The murder was probably due to a love triangle.
Sheila worked for Michael’s car rental agency and was having an affair with him while he was married to Marlene.
October 18, 2013 | Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix, former leader of the Tijuana Cartel, celebrated with family members at a luxury beach resort in Cabo San Lucas.
Several entertainers performed during the children’s portion of the event, including a clown known professionally as “Kikin” (Joaquín Ferreira Hernández).
As Arellano Félix watched the performance, Kikin approached him directly.
Without breaking character or removing his clown makeup, Kikin pulled out a pistol and fired two shots into Arellano Félix’s head, killing him instantly in front of his family.
The killer escaped through emergency exits.
Mexican authorities determined the murder was orchestrated by rival cartel members seeking to eliminate Arellano Félix.
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