Where The Fear of Clowns Originated

A few weeks ago my friend Lindsay and I went out shopping. We browsed the baby stuff at Walmart and came across a creepy clown toy for infants. As I looked at it I remembered this creepy clown I had as a child. Lindsay had mentioned she also had one. I think hers had something on the back that you wound up to make sing. On mine you grabbed his big red nose and spun it to wind it up and then it would play some melody. I cannot remember what the song was, where I received the clown or if I ever liked it.

I do know that it is a freaky thing and am pretty sure I only saved it because it was one of the creepiest toys I ever owned.

For those of you out there with a fear of clowns, did you happen to ever have a toy that looked like this?