The creepy clown is just creepy – but there has been a quite fantastic development in the story, at least in one part of the UK. A man dressed as the superhero Batman has taken to the streets, vigilante style, to protect citizens from the clowns.
BBC Cumbria has reported this new twist quite beautifully:
“It appears a superhero has swooped in, determined to help youngsters sleep easy tonight. Cumbria Superheroes, a costume company, has sent ‘Batman’ out and about on the town’s streets to fight off the evil clowns. The man behind it insists he is not a vigilante, but is hoping to give children some reassurance that they are safe.”
And then they posted this on Facebook:
But while this is a bit of fun, there have been some serious reports arising from this craze. Clowns have been arrested in Australia for intimidating behaviour and there are claims that a pregnant woman who was scared by a creepy clown went into premature labour.
The clown thing is gaining momentum in the UK, it seems from reports. In London, reports include a clown confronting a man with a hockey stick, clowns chasing children and a knife-carrying clown on a bicycle following a woman.
Police in Kent, southern England said, they had 59 reports of incidents involving clowns between Friday and Monday.
Here in Australia, clown sightings are happening across the nation with special social media pages being established purely to report on the phenomenon.
An Australian social media expert has spoken to the ABC expressing concerns about the dangers of pranks escalating into something more serious.
“Something that is just an innocent prank can very easily turn and become something that’s much more sinister, and can end up with people in jail,” Murdoch University social media and public relations lecturer Catherine Archer said.
“It’s fuelled by people talking in real life about it and then talking on social media about it. The flames get fuelled and it can really spiral out of control.”
Over in the US where it all began in August, it has fast spiralled out of control with many schools across the US being forced into lockdown amid claims people are lurking in the shadows to frighten and chase people and steal from them.
