Coss Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 Several complaints have poured into police in France after a rash of attacks by 'armed clowns'. Photo / Thinkstock A wave of panic sparked by evil clowns stalking French towns has spread to the south of France where police have arrested 14 teenagers dressed as the pranksters, carrying pistols, knives and baseball bats. A police source said the group of teens were arrested in the parking lot of a high school in the port town of Agde, as several other complaints poured in over "armed clowns" in the region over the weekend. In the Mediterranean city of Montpellier a man disguised as a clown was arrested after beating up a pedestrian with an iron bar, while three motorists in different towns complained about "scary clowns" threatening them. The phenomenon of dressing up as an evil clown and terrifying passers-by - a trend which has also been seen in the United States and Britain - cropped up in the north of France in early October. In the northern French town of Bethune, a fake clown last week received a six-month suspended jail term for threatening passers-by while in full circus garb. Using fake weapons these "clowns" have been "mostly spotted outside schools, but also on public roads, in bushes, in a square. Their targets are often young children or teenagers, but also adults," a police source in northern France said. Theories abound as to the origin of the trend in a country where American fear-fest Halloween has yet to take hold. These include a challenge launched on social networks, a video published on YouTube showing a terrifying clown pranking people - which has had some 31 million views - or even a recent episode of popular series American Horror Story featuring Twisty the killer clown. After a rumour a clown was stalking the eastern town of Mulhouse, five teenagers on Wednesday armed themselves with a baseball bat, a teargas canister, a hammer and a truncheon to mete out vigilante justice to the not-so-funny pranksters. They were arrested and later released, but the incident prompted the national police to step in to quell the hysteria. "Since mid-October, a rumour inspired by videos published on the internet, is worrying the population about the presence of threatening and aggressive clowns in France," the national police said in a statement this week. The statement cautioned that "despite numerous reports made to police, there have been only a few sightings of people dressed as clowns having fun scaring passers-by." "Symptomatic of the impact of the internet, this phenomenon can lead to damaging individual acts and disturbances to public order." Whether brandishing a rubber chicken at a children's party or starring as the evil protagonist in a horror film, clowns have long had both the ability to both entertain and terrify. Infamous creepy clowns include notorious American serial killer and rapist John Wayne Gacy - who would dress up as Pogo the clown - to the fictitious Pennywise in Stephen King's movie It. The fear of clowns is known as coulrophobia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 I'm still afraid of clowns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexi Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 I would think the life expectancy of threatening clowns in the US would be extremely limited esp. in those areas where most people seem to carry a gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Where do you think evil clown sightings started? https://roadtrippers...f-an-evil-clown http://www.google.co...dBCiSCamb3bUavg http://www.hollywood...lifornia-740196 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Some red flags to be aware of... - men over 40, still living at home with Mom - Clowns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Munchmaster Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 I would think the life expectancy of threatening clowns in the US would be extremely limited esp. in those areas where most people seem to carry a gun But this thread is about clowns in France, not the good old US of A. Of course plenty of clowns in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 The clowns in the USA are running the country, have been for decades. "A 'scary clown' craze that has caused panic across France in recent weeks has arrived in the northern Spanish city of Gijón, local media are reporting." http://www.thelocal.es/20141030/scary-clown-panic-hits-spanish-town-gijon-spain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 Bates wasn't a clown, Gacy however............ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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