Since childhood I was terrified of clowns. When they would show up at a friends birthday or the local fairgrounds I would cling to the nearest family member’s leg with horror. And now, it seems that my reaction was more than justified. Horror clowns are a real thing.
Creepy clowns have crossed the pond
What started as a humorous (yet still equally terrifying) trend in the US in August, there have now been multiple “scary clowns” sighting across the globe: England, Scotland, Canada and now Germany too.
In the northern German city of Rostock, a man disguised as a horror clown assaulted a 19-year-old with a baseball bat this past Thursday. The victim had injuries on his head and arm. Earlier in the day, also in Rostock, a man also disguised in a scary clown costume threatened a 15-year-old boy with a knife. Luckily, the boy was able to runaway without being harmed. It’s currently unclear whether it was the same attacker in both incidents.
This isn’t the first incident in Germany either…
On the same day, in the western German city of Wesel, 48-year-old women also encountered a horror clown while walking her dog. A person in a clown mask suddenly jumped out of the bushes wielding a chainsaw. Despite several attempts to start the machine it failed and the women managed to escape unharmed.
On the previous day, an attacker dressed as a clown scared five children in the German city of Bochum. He approached the children with a “shiny object”, likely a knife according to police reports, in a dimly lit metro station.
Just next door in the town of Gelsenkirchen, on Wednesday as well, two men dressed as clowns attacked a deaf man.
The first incident of clown sightings in Germany occurred in mid-October. A man disguised as a clown threatened two men with a knife. The attacker spoke in both English and German.
Attacks expected in increase leading up to Halloween
German police expect more assaults to continue leading up to Halloween.
“I’m afraid that the very, very ugly trend of clown attacks will spread in the big cities over Halloween,” said Rainer Wendt, the head of Germany’s main police union.
“The clowns are not only idiots but criminals. To scare someone in such a disgusting way is an assault,” he said.
Victims are asked to report incidences immediately to police.
Party clowns are not happy
For those who work as professional clowns, this creepy clown craze is nothing to joke about. In addition to evoking fear among the people, it could do a great deal to damage the reputation of those that actually work as entertainment for birthday parties and other events.
Professional clowns across the globe have spoken out against people dressing up as a horror clown. Rhubarb the Clown, also known as Martin Solity, has been a professional clown in the UK for forty years.
“This is a person or a number of people who wear masks with grimacing faces, they are not clowns. They’re crazy people wearing clown masks, which is very different to being an actual clown,” he said.
Even McDonalds is putting their beloved Ronald McDonald on the back burner for a while, until the hysteria passes.
