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East Chicago in 1991, Washington, DC in 1994, South Brunswick in 1997...
1991年东芝加哥一起，1994年华盛顿一起，1997年南布伦瑞克一起……
When you think about what first made people afraid of clowns,
最初是什么原因让人们开始害怕小丑的？想到这个问题，
it’s tempting to pin it to Gacy, or movies like “It,” “Poltergeist,” and “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”.
我们很容易将这种恐惧和（变态杀人狂）Gacy或者《小丑回魂》、《鬼驱人》和《外太空杀人小丑》之类的电影联系起来。
But to understand how clowns gained the dark associations that they have today,
然而，要理解小丑是如何有了他们今天所拥有的黑暗联想的，
you have to go back to the British Regency era,
我们还得追溯到英国摄政时代，
back when a clown named Joseph Grimaldi was the most popular entertainer in England.
回到小丑约瑟夫·格里马尔迪还是英国最受欢迎的艺人的那个时代。
If you look at the costumes that he wore,
看看他的服装，
you can see how he invented a lot of the classic “clown” look as we know it today:
你就会发现，是他创造了那些我们今天所知的经典的“小丑”形象:
the colorful hair, the extravagant clothes, the white face makeup.
五颜六色的头发，夸张的衣服还有惨白的妆容。
But Grimaldi rose to stardom at a time when what it meant to be famous in pop culture was changing.
然而，格里马尔迪成名的时候，流行文化里成名的内涵已经变了。
"An interest in celebrity culture began to emerge, you know, people were interested in the personal lives of people that they saw in public.
“对名人感兴趣的文化氛围开始萌芽，你懂的，就是人们对公众人物的私生活有了兴趣。
So being a public person was no longer enough,
所以，成为一名公众人物还不够，
people wanted to know about the private individual and the secret and potentially scandalous aspects of their private life. "
人们还想知道他们私生活中的秘密，甚至是丑闻。
And that private life had a dark side: Grimaldi suffered from depression and alcoholism.
而明星们的私生活也有黑暗的一面：比如，格里马尔迪就患有抑郁症，还有酗酒的习惯。
When he was first starting out as a writer, Charles Dickens edited Grimaldi’s memoirs,
刚以作家的身份开始写作时，查尔斯·狄更斯编撰过格里马尔迪的回忆录，
and later immortalized a version of that disturbed clown character in his first novel, the Pickwick Papers.
后来，他在自己的第一部小说《匹克威克外传》中塑造了一个精神错乱但永垂不朽的小丑形象。
The image stuck, even though entertainment went through major changes.
这一形象一直流传了下来，尽管娱乐的风向已经经历了数次重大变化。
Slapstick clown humor had always worked well in situations where you couldn’t always fully see or hear what a performer was doing, like in large auditoriums or in movies without sound.
当观众无法总是完完全全看清或者听清表演者的表演，比如在大型剧院观看或者观看的是无声电影时，闹剧式的小丑幽默往往都能收到很好的效果。
As mainstream culture changed, clowns became darker characters.
随着主流文化的改变，小丑的形象逐渐开始黑化了。
“Think of a wildly popular clown who's very highly visible in popular culture — there isn't one, or rather there are two:
“试想一个非常受欢迎，在流行文化中非常显眼的小丑——更确切地说有两个:
There’s the Joker, who’s a sinister psychopath,
一个是电影中的那个小丑，一位邪恶的精神病患者，
and there’s Krusty the Clown, who’s morally, financially, and physically bankrupt… "
还有一个是（《辛普森一家》里的）小丑Krusty，那个无论是从道德上、经济上、还是身体上都破产了的家伙……
"Oh I don't know what you're saying, it all sounds so crazy to me."
“啊，我听不懂你在说什么，你说的这些听起来都太疯狂了。”
So the days of, you know, Howdy Doody and others figures are unfortunately gone.
所以，豪迪杜迪和其他小丑的时代已经很遗憾地地一去不复返了。”
"I do have some sympathy for the clowning community, I mean, their numbers have dwindled
“我确实对小丑们有一定的同情心，毕竟，他们的人数越来越少了，
and then they really have been reduced to a children's party performers
而且，他们如今已经沦落到为小孩聚会表演节目的处境了。
and you know, that's quite a considerable demotion from the place that they've occupied in our culture,
相比此前他们在我们文化中占据的位置，两者之间可以说是天壤之别，
really for two thousand years if not longer, into ancient classical history."
毕竟他们在我们的历史中已经至少存在了2000年了，即便追溯不到古典时期的话。”
"So we wanna encourage people who may be inclined to dress in clown outfits not to do it. And to avoid doing it at all. "
“所以，我们想鼓励那些可能有穿小丑服这一倾向的人不要那么做了。压根儿就不要那么做了。”
A lot of police statements have made sure to clarify that these aren’t “real clowns,” they’re people dressed as clowns.
很多警方声明都明确表示，那些人并不是“真正的小丑”，只是打扮成了小丑样子的普通人而已。
And while that might sound like a silly distinction, it’s actually really important for the professional clowning community.
虽然这么区分听起来有些愚蠢，但对职业小丑群体来说却是非常重要的。
“It does frustrate us because we work very hard at our art form, and we take it very seriously.
“这确实让我们感到很泄气，因为我们是很努力地在追求这种艺术形式的，我们的态度是非常认真的。”
It brings clowning a bad light as a profession.”
他们给小丑这个职业带来了不好的影响。
Traditional professional clowning is in a rough spot.
传统的职业小丑已经陷入了艰难的处境。
Membership in the World Clown Association, which is the nation’s biggest trade group for clowns, reportedly dropped from about 3,500 in 2004 to 2,500 in 2014.
据报道，我国最大的小丑行业协会“世界小丑协会”的会员人数从2004年的3500人降至2014年的2500人。
And since the latest wave of sightings, many professional clowns are afraid to make public appearances.
而且，自从最近一波目击事件发生后，许多职业小丑都不敢在公众场合露面了。
Some have even canceled previous events out of fear for their own safety.
一些人甚至出于对自身安全的担忧而取消了此前已经安排好的活动。
“I’m more afraid for the clown than for the citizens, because everybody down here got guns.
“比起市民的安全，我更担心小丑们的安全，因为这里的每个人都有枪。”
I don’t want to be the one to ride up on you and have an encounter with you, because I don't think it's gonna end well.”
我不想成为和你碰上的那个人，因为我不认为到时候会有好的结果。”
If you want a better idea of the scale of the clown prank epidemic that's going on right now, you should go over to Atlas Obscura.
如果你想更好地了解目前流行的小丑恶搞潮流的规模，你应该去看Atlas Obscura频道的作品。
This guy named Erik Shilling has put together this interactive map that looks at all of the sightings,
那个叫Erik Shilling的哥们儿把所有的目击事件发生的地点，
all of the reports, and all of the false reports that have come out in recent weeks.
所有的报道，以及最近几周出现的所有虚假报道都标在了一张交互式地图上。
I haven't tried to count everything on this map, but there is a lot.
我没有去数一共有多少起，但确实有很多。
