Everybody loves a carnival! They've got clowns, and popcorn, exotic animals, and- what? The animals and performers are mistreated? And the snacks cost HOW MUCH?!

Well, too bad. The Big Top is in town, and it's calling your name. Have you got your ticket?

Something's changed since you last visited the circus. When you were a child, it was all bright lights and exciting displays, games to play and toys to win. Now, as you walk between the haphazard, hastily erected structures that litter the fairground, you feel anxious and out of place. Out of the corner of your eyes, you glimpse shadows that seem a little too murky, uncertain as to what could be casting them. At the fringes of your awareness, you can hear the faintest laughter that pushes too close to the border between hilarity and derangement. With every step, you feel the thickness of the air, like walking through a stifling haze, making everything just a little fuzzy at the edges.

This carnival is cursed.

Pick something traditionally found at a carnival or circus - a performer, a ride, a game, even a concession booth - and design it such that it feels wrong. Try not to be too obvious, but strive to speak to the scared animal within each of us. Whisper to the part of us that, at all times, wants nothing more than to escape.

If you do choose to go with a humanoid character for this one, don't be afraid to play with the anatomy and proportions - purposely making them unnatural can be a great way to create an uncanny, unsettling effect.