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Clowns spotted acting suspiciously in Northampton (UK)

gncxx said:
But zombies are actually popular these days...
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Not with me they're not! Bastards! There ought to be a law against it!
 
Honestly, what's the world coming to if you cannot eat a passerby in your own street?
 
People of King's Lynn advised to ignore clowns

People in a Norfolk town are being advised by police to ignore any clowns they might stumble across.

Officers say pranksters have been dressing up as clowns in King's Lynn and deliberately startling passers-by.

Police have vowed to hunt down the clowns to offer them "strong words of advice" - although they stressed that dressing up as a clown is not illegal.

Urging townsfolk not to give the clowns the satisfaction of a reaction, police said: "That's what they are after."

There have been clown sightings in the market town on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Police believe the clowns aim to startle passers-by before chasing them.

The King's Lynn clowns are the latest to plague the unsuspecting citizens of towns across England.

A clown spotted in Northampton in September became a global internet sensation, and since then there have been sightings in Burnley, Scunthorpe, Mansfield and Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.

Norfolk Police are interpreting the King's Lynn clown activity as "anti-social behaviour being fuelled by reports on social media".

Supt Carl Edwards said: "Firstly, I'd like to stress that it isn't against the law to dress up as a clown.

"Nobody has been assaulted and it appears that the people involved are waiting for a passer-by to be startled by their appearance and run away, and then the clown runs after them for a short distance."

He pointed out that some people, especially the young or elderly, could be worried be any clown encounters.

"We will be out in the areas where reports have been made to attempt to find those responsible and offer them strong words of advice," he said.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-25140358
 
Kings Lynn Clowns

I had just come here to post that, but Sherbetbizarre beat me to the post.

First Northampton,
Then Boston,
Now Kings' Lynn...

Do we have the three corners of a "Clown Triangle" ? Or will it spread further?

Mr P
 
UK's concerned clowns call for end to copycat crime wave

Freedom of information request reveals numerous incidents of nuisance or intimidating behaviour by people dressed as clowns

Britain's clowns fear their good name has been tarnished after police forces around the country revealed incidents of people in costume scaring members of the public.

The copycat craze – believed to have been started by a man known on Facebook as the Northampton Clown – involves people dressing as clowns to surprise passers-by in public places.

Several police forces have issued warnings after reported sightings and now details released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed the extent of the trend.

These include reports to Derbyshire police of a clown carrying a knife and incidents in South Yorkshire of a clown staring through the windows of people's homes. Those two forces recorded 29 and 28 clown-related incidents respectively.

Tony Eldridge, secretary of Clowns International which represents the entertainers in Britain, said the situation had escalated beyond harmless fun.

Eldridge, whose clown name is Bluebottle, said: "This is doing clowning no favours and is harming society.

"The people behind it might see it as a bit of a laugh, but for the victims it can be a horrible experience.

"The fear of clowns – coulrophobia – is a real thing and some people will react very badly to this. Not to mention people who are elderly or vulnerable.

"This has nothing to do with clowning, it's a small group of people with stupid views and it spoils the fun for everybody else."

Most legitimate entertainers followed a code of clown conduct which included not wearing their costume in public, he said.

"We have to reclaim clowning as a positive thing which brings happiness."

The trend first emerged when the Northampton Clown rose to prominence over the summer, gaining nearly 200,000 "likes" on Facebook.

The person responsible posts photos of himself in public places. He most recently uploaded a photo taken outside a brewery in the town on 13 December.

He defended his behaviour, writing on Facebook: "Yes, there have been copycats, but that's not me."

The craze has spread with police in Lancashire reassuring the public after speculation about sightings involving a Stephen King-style clown.

A force spokesman said: "We have had no first-hand reports of any incidents of violence or intimidation."

Last month Norfolk Police told members of the public to ignore clowns in the street after a number of sightings around King's Lynn.

These included a person in a "full clown outfit" with a red suit and red hair chasing members of the public.
Superintendent Carl Edwards said no one had been injured or assaulted.

Dressing as a clown was not illegal, he said, but the force would offer those behind the make-up "strong words of advice".

Sally Beadle, also known as Crazy Bananas, works as a clown in the King's Lynn area.

She knows somebody who was chased by a clown in Downham Market, Norfolk, and said they were left shaken by the experience.

"Before this happened I would pop into the petrol station in costume on my way to a job but now I can't do that," she said. "Even my own children who grew up around clowns have been scared by this.

"It's more than just a job, it's something we love, but people's reaction to us has changed – I was getting messages on Facebook asking if I was responsible for scaring people.

"This is my business and I don't like frightening people."

Responding to the freedom of information request, South Wales police confirmed it had received a report of somebody acting suspiciously while wearing a clown mask.

Derbyshire police received 29 reports of clown sightings after social media claims that a man in the Nottingham area was dressing up and carrying balloons and a knife.

One report read: "Caller scared as someone had tried to get in to their house – posted on Facebook that a clown had been going around village trying door handles."

Another said: "Caller reported having received numerous calls from concerned parents about a clown going up to the windows of houses brandishing a gun and knife frightening the residents."

South Yorkshire police recorded 28 incidents involving people dressed as clowns.

These included a clown standing in a park, jumping out at somebody in the street and staring through the window of a house.

Other police forces also recorded incidents involving people dressed as clowns, although not all were linked to the craze.

Sussex police received reports of three incidents involving the characters, including a speeding offence involving a motorcyclist in full clown costume.
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http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013 ... crime-wave
 
Burnley 'clown' man a hoax

THE anonymous creator of the Spot the Burnley Clown Facebook page has admitted the whole episode was a hoax.

The person behind the page, which attracted more than 6,000 followers, said it was set up as a ‘social experiment’.

Last month, hundreds of messages on Facebook and Twitter claimed the clown was spotted in the Rosegrove, Rosehill, Towneley Park and Harle Syke areas of Burnley, as well as Blackburn, Accrington, Clitheroe, Sabden and Haslingden.

Lancashire police were prompted to issue a statement after several second-hand reports of the ‘clown’ mugging people and even attacking people with baseball bats.

The Lancashire Telegraph first reported that the clown was fake on Sunday, November 21, after police said they had received no first-hand reports of any sightings.

They did, however, release a statement the following day confirming that they had taken ‘a number of calls from concerned members of the public’ regarding the clown. Pictures posted online, allegedly showing the clown in Burnley, were taken from the original Northampton clown page, which gained almost 200,000 followers on Facebook in October.

On Friday, Spot the Burnley Clown wrote: “All right Burnley, I made this page as a social experiment to see if people would believe it. I never expected 6,000-plus likes.”

It added: “There never was a clown. I just made this page and then all of a sudden Twitter and Facebook exploded with rumours and lies of a clown going round attacking people.

“There never was a clown! And yet schools had assemblies about it, the police issued statements, it was just a Facebook page! Never mind the hundreds of death threats this page received. Truly, Burnley it is you who are the clowns.”
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http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne ... ax/?ref=mr
 
Interesting quote from the concerned Rochdale parent. (my bold emphasis below) It suggests there is a full blown school-rumour-urban-legend-event going on at the minute. reminds me of the Skinhead gang rumours mentioned in FT a few times, and in my School in the 80s It was murderous knife wielding tramps!

No laughing matter:
Bizarre spate of clown-related crimes reported across region
9 Mar 2014 14:18

Disguised with colourful wigs and white facepaint, smiling crooks carried out bogus charity collections, vandalised property and even carried out robberies, an FOI has revealed.

Call in the clown prosecution service - a spate of red-nosed crime has been reported across Greater Manchester. Police dealt with 19 incidents involving people dressed as clowns last year, and most were no laughing matter. Disguised with colourful wigs and white facepaint, smiling crooks carried out bogus charity collections, vandalised property and even carried out robberies, an FOI has revealed.

In one of the most serious incidents, recorded in Stockport last November, a man dressed as a clown threatened someone with a knife to steal their bicycle.
Other calls were received from people in Stockport to report someone dressed as a clown was going around spraying graffiti and a man dressed as a clown had followed children on their way to school.

In Rochdale there were reports of a clown lurking in an alleyway and sightings of a possible police suspect dressed as a clown wearing a blue wig, red nose, white facepaint and overalls walking down the road.

In another call to police, a teenage boy in Rochdale reported a clown holding a bunch of balloons had tried to grab him.

One worried parent from Rochdale even rang police for advice after her children returned from school saying there were rumours clowns were going around the town killing people.

It was one of five calls made to GMP where callers in Rochdale, Oldham and north Manchester said they had heard rumours of a gang of clowns committing crimes.

Two reports of a man dressed as a clown looking into peoples’ homes were also received in Bury - in one case with the clown holding a bunch of balloons as they stood outside. But the reports weren’t all bad. In Cheadle, a caller rang police to say men dressed as clowns were trying to collect money for charity at the side of the A34 Handforth bypass - and was worried for their safety on the 50mph road.

Professional clowns have condemned the more sinister incidents, which they fear are giving their occupation a bad name.

Tony Eldridge, secretary of Clowns International, said: “The clowning profession can do without stupid people who don’t understand the profession and appreciate that it is a performing art and not a spontaneous jolly jape.” And Dave Tawney, European director of the World Clown Association, added: “Professional clowns and children’s entertainers seek only to create fun and enjoyment for their audiences and it is regrettable when persons dressed as clowns carry out anti social behaviour.”

Dr Ann Featherstone, a drama lecturer at Manchester University who has co-written a book on Victorian clowns, said portrayals of malicious clowns in popular culture, such as in the Stephen King novel and film adaptation It, may have added to a growing fear of them in recent years. But she added that there had probably always been some suspicion of them.

“They are masked or use makeup so you don’t see the real person underneath and the mask accentuates the grosser parts of the face,” she said.

“Their behaviour is hard to read, too, so it’s unclear whether they are very stupid or just pretending to be so and hiding a more knowing purpose.

“They demonstrate anarchic behaviour - they will not be controlled and their behaviour can be out of line, so you don’t know what they’re going to do.”

Clown incidents by borough:


• Rochdale - 6 including four of suspicious circumstances involving clowns

• Stockport - 4 including highway disruption and criminal damage

• North Manchester - 3 including one hoax call

• Bury - 2 both suspicious circumstances

The other four calls were from Bolton, Tameside, south Manchester and Oldham respectively.

Among the crooked clowns caught red-nosed in Greater Manchester was a fake charity fundraiser who donned fancy dress to con drinkers out of cash.

Colin Smith wore the multi-coloured costume complete with wig and facepaint to disguise himself as he took a bucket into the Roebuck Hotel in Rochdale and claimed to be collecting money for a cystic fibrosis charity.

Landlord Anthony Dearden at first agreed to let him carry out the collection but soon became suspicious and asked him to produce ID before alerting police. Smith, of Orange Grove, Liverpool, was arrested and hauled before magistrates in Bury, where he denied any wrongdoing. But he was found guilty of fraud-related offences after a trial in June last year.
Smith, who had a string of similar convictions between 1996 and 2006, was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 150 hours’ unpaid work and ordered to pay £320 costs.
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Source Manchester Evening News

Mr P
 
I suspect the GMP would already have been aware of any murders committed by clowns!

Some great stories though.
 
Turn a blind eye to a single clown and before you can say gypsy scum you'll be knee deep in dog muck, thieving kids and crusty jugglers.
 
theyithian said:
Turn a blind eye to a single clown and before you can say gypsy scum you'll be knee deep in dog muck, thieving kids and crusty jugglers.
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:lol: :lol:
 
theyithian said:
Turn a blind eye to a single clown and before you can say gypsy scum you'll be knee deep in dog muck, thieving kids and crusty jugglers.
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I'm more worried about incompetent jugglers. Theres a juggler on Grafton Street, Dublin who juggles burning brands. Hes always dropping them. Come to think of it I haven't seen him for a while. Probably set himself on fire.
 
It reminds me of the phantom social workers a bit.

It's started happening in America:

In New York City’s Staten Island, there are reports of a grown man dressed in a clown costume who is wandering the streets, spooking locals and haunting their dreams for years to come.

<creepy photo>
“He was just kinda standing there waving like he is in the picture,” said Vincent Innocente, who took the photo above on Sunday night.

“I just got freaked out coming home from the studio in Tottenville #weirdo #retards #detourillnevertake #pennywise #it #bozo #doinktheclown,” he wrote on Instagram.

Sightings have been reported by the Grasmere and Richmond Valley train stations, according to the Staten Island Advance. On Instagram, he’s been spotted in front of the detour sign above, and lurking behind trees and poles.

Updated — March 25, 11:55 a.m. ET: However terrifying this man clown may be, it could just be the result of a publicity stunt.

The New York Post reported on Tuesday that three of the men who posted photographs of the clown on Instagram are all tied to the same Staten Island based horror movie production company, Fuzz On The Lens.

On Monday BuzzFeed reached out to Michael Leavy, who was the first person to post a picture of the terrifying clown and who is also listed as a filmmaker for Fuzz On The Lens. Leavy said he saw the clown and took the photograph, but did not confirm that the production company is responsible for the orchestrating the possible hoax.

Leavy told BuzzFeed:

'All I can say is that if people want to believe it’s me or my production company they can feel free to do so, I won’t complain, confirm, or deny. Apparently he was seen last night by more islanders. It’s a small island so a lot of people know each other, it’s just how it is. Especially if it’s a well known production company as active in the community as we, a lot of people would have some ties to each other. It’s bound to happen. But I could tell you it’s interesting getting messages from some other clown spotters Vin Innocente and the comedian Vic Dibitteto asking me if we [Fuzz On The Lens] planned it to specifically goof on them or not.'

Robert Privitera, another Staten Islander who is friends with Leavy and Innocente, captured this and posted it to Instagram five days ago.
instagram.com

“I’m driving home from the gym and this is what I see! People are fucking crazy yo! Guess who ain’t sleeping tonight,” wrote Priv.
And here is the first picture that Leavy took of the clown being super freaking creepy two weeks ago.

<creepy photo>

“Ok so I’m a little freaked out right now,” Leavy of Fuzz On The Lens wrote on Instagram. “I was driving home from Buffalo Wild Wings and saw this waving at me. #wtf … is this real life?”

Leavy told BuzzFeed he has only seen the clown one time.

“A lot of other people on the island have said that they’ve seen him also, some that I know,” said Leavy. “I don’t know if it’s one or multiple people though but I’ve seen some of the other pictures on the internet and it looks like the same person to me.”

That means this ruthless man-clown who fears no god has been terrorizing innocent New Yorkers for at least two weeks. Whether or not it’s a publicity stunt, people on Twitter are rightfully freaked out by it:

Carlo Sorrentino @NEXGREATEST

So Im not cool with this staten island clown thing that's developing at the moment.
12:48 AM - 20 Mar 14

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Alissa @Alissacompz

If I see the Staten Island clown, best believe I'm either dying of a heart attack or going to jail for attacking it
2:35 PM - 24 Mar 14

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Taylor Nicole @TaylorNicole53

My mom tells me there is a guy dressing like a clown popping up all over Staten Island... wtf is wrong with people
2:36 PM - 24 Mar 14

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Grace Slick @LisaCattt

The fact that there's some douche lord dressing as a clown and roaming around Staten Island has me never wanting to leave my house. #FUCKDAT
9:26 PM - 23 Mar 14

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stephanieeee @StephanieGutez

So, there's a guy dressed up as a clown walking around Staten Island. Fucking sketchyyyyy.
12:31 AM - 20 Mar 14

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Others are asking the important questions:

Brokelyn @Brokelyn

What is Mayor de Blasio doing about the Staten Island clown?
3:14 PM - 24 Mar 14

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On Twitter Fuzz On The Lens denied they orchestrated the stunt:

Fuzz on the Lens @FuzzOnTheLens

Kinda insulted by all these #SIClown accusations...we're not just a "horror film company." We're funny too...I swear. #WeCanProveIt
11:12 AM - 25 Mar 14

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Comedian Vic Dibitetto — who has appeared in films made by the Fuzz On The Lens production company — spotted the clown in daylight, and he made a (very explicit) video that he posted to Facebook.
<Facebook Post>

Dibitetto, who once played a gynecologist in a Fuzz On The Lens film, said he did not know if the Staten Island Clown was a publicity stunt.

“I have no idea,” said Dibitetto. “Who the hell knows. Nothing surprises me anymore.”

Whether or not it’s a stunt: If you live in Staten Island and fear clowns, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

This Terrifying Clown Has Been Roaming The Streets Of Staten Island And Scaring The Crap Out Of Everyone

And no, of course this isn't the first time this has happened. Last year, a clown ravaged the town of Northampton, England. Maybe the Staten Island clown took notes from him.

buzzfeed.com
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/ ... -of-staten

My apologies for exposing you to the literacy levels of buzzfeed.
 
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