John Wayne Gacy

Not all clowns are made-up figures. The fear of clowns was possibly first introduced by John Wayne Gacy. Over a six-year period in the 1970s, Gacy raped, tortured, and killed 33 young boys. Gacy earned the moniker "Killer Clown" because he performed at charity events while posing as Pogo the Clown and visited children's hospitals. He fit the description of an evil clown.

After investigations into the disappearance of missing teenager Robert Priest connected Gacy to his disappearance, the serial killer was eventually apprehended. 26 of Gacy's victims were buried in the crawl space of his home. He was found guilty in 1980 and put to death by lethal injection in 1994 despite saying that "clowns can get away with murder." He was considered one of the creepy clowns of all time.