Coulrophobia

Or, "Can't sleep, clown will eat me". Organizers of a rock festival to be held in early September on the Isle of Wight in England have been forced to cancel their original theme for the festival. They were originally going to go with a clown theme. So many ticket holders complained of having a phobia about clowns that the organizers are dropping the idea.

The "Bestival" event on the Isle of Wight, off England's south coast, in early September was to have encouraged festival-goers to dress up in curly red wigs and oversized shoes.

Last year's "Cowboys or Indians" theme broke a world record for the biggest fancy dress party when 10,000 people turned up in disguise.

But organisers feared thousands of clowns in one place could spark mass panic in the psychedelic atmosphere of the festival, which is popular with so-called "nouveaux hippies", the Times newspaper said Saturday.

"We have had so many people with clown phobias contact us I am worried everyone might end up hiding in the woods," Rob da Bank, a BBC Radio One disc jockey who will "curate" the show, was quoted as saying.

Nouveaux hippies? Wow, they're growing them wimpy these days, aren't they? Real hippies are tough – they camp in the woods with tie-dye and Ben-Gay.

(Discussion about coulrophobia here).