The History Of: Pennywise The Dancing Clown

Halloween is only 3 months away but it’s never too early to prepare when evil entities lurk around every corner! The first week of August is International Clown Week so we’re spotlighting one of the most terrifying and diabolical clowns to exist in the cinematic and written world of pop culture, Pennywise the Dancing Clown! Delve into the history of IT below!

"I am eternal. I am the Eater of Worlds."

-IT 1986 Bestselling Novel

From the vivid mind of Stephen King, Pennywise was first featured in the 1986 dark psychological thriller, IT, as one of the many forms that the unknown creature could materialize as. Repeatedly awoken from decades of hibernation by acts of violence and tragedy among the citizens of Derry, Maine, IT was said to transform into the most chilling apparitions of your deepest darkest fears. As clowns and spiders were among the top most common fears in children and adults alike, these were his main forms throughout the story.

Though his outfit has changed over many adaptations, Pennywise is often depicted with bright red tufts of hair, a painted face, and sadistic grinning red lips. Many wonder if King got his influences from the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was known to dress up as “Pogo the Clown” and visit kids in the hospitals, as the novel was released around the time of his conviction. Regardless, Pennywise quickly became a nightmare no one wanted the pleasure to meet.

IT comes from a space outside of our own universe, known by King fans as the Macroverse, but more specifically he was born out of the dimensional realm of “Deadlights”. This dimension is sometimes alluded to in the novel and film adaptations when IT refers to himself as “the last of a dying race. The only survivor of a dying planet” and when Beverly is seen hovering in the air while under a hypnotic-like trance while in IT’s den in the sewers. Beverly later refers to the floating lights she saw as “deadlights”.

IT feeds off of the psychological fear he instills in his victims mind through illusions, hallucinations, and manipulation. For hundreds of years he tormented the citizens of Derry all the while manipulating the town to ignore his presence, until Billy and his friends investigate Georgie's gruesome death. The Losers Club managed to put an end to his tyrant by belittling the shape-shifter until he shrunk in form, power, and presence in their minds. Without their fear to thrive on, he stayed in the shadows of the sewer.

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