Creepy Clowns Return!
In my book Bad Clowns, along with a survey of fictional evil clowns, I devote a chapter to real-life scary clowns. Among them are creeper clowns—people who dress as clowns and walk around, usually at night.
Social media plays an important role in these cases; a clown standing on an empty street corner is a pointless and pathetic sight. Clowns are performers by nature and need an audience; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter provide cheap and viral-friendly platforms for their pranks and performance art.
Earlier this month there were two new reports, one in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and another in Quebec. Both are almost certainly copycats of earlier creepy clown reports from years past, including in two California towns in 2014 and in a Chicago cemetery one year ago last month.
Bad clowns in popular entertainment may have also inspired the incidents. Last month publicity photos from the upcoming remake of Stephen King's classic horror novel "It" were released, with actor Bill Skarsgard playing the evil Pennywise the Clown—a character first portrayed by Tim Curry in the 1990 television miniseries. The new film Suicide Squad features the evil clown-like character Harley Quinn, part-time squeeze of the world's most famous bad clown The Joker (played in the film by Jared Leto). Though the reviews have been mixed the Harley Quinn character struck a chord among fans, with Vanity Fair calling her "the most divisive character in comic-book history."
Though scary clowns have always been with us, the phenomenon of people dressing up as clowns to scare people, usually at night, is fairly new. Usually it's done as a prank or a publicity stunt for a film or product. Many are copycats, inspired by online videos and news stories, and some are acting out scenes in scary movies in a process folklorists call ostension. Also called legend tripping, it’s basically a form of playacting in which people act out a legend, often involving ghostly or supernatural elements. The common “Bloody Mary” ritual is one example, and scary clowns are another.
Social media plays an important role in these cases; a clown standing on an empty street corner is a pointless and pathetic sight. Clowns are performers by nature and need an audience; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter provide cheap and viral-friendly platforms for their pranks and performance art.
Earlier this month there were two new reports, one in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and another in Quebec. Both are almost certainly copycats of earlier creepy clown reports from years past, including in two California towns in 2014 and in a Chicago cemetery one year ago last month.
Bad clowns in popular entertainment may have also inspired the incidents. Last month publicity photos from the upcoming remake of Stephen King's classic horror novel "It" were released, with actor Bill Skarsgard playing the evil Pennywise the Clown—a character first portrayed by Tim Curry in the 1990 television miniseries. The new film Suicide Squad features the evil clown-like character Harley Quinn, part-time squeeze of the world's most famous bad clown The Joker (played in the film by Jared Leto). Though the reviews have been mixed the Harley Quinn character struck a chord among fans, with Vanity Fair calling her "the most divisive character in comic-book history."
Though scary clowns have always been with us, the phenomenon of people dressing up as clowns to scare people, usually at night, is fairly new. Usually it's done as a prank or a publicity stunt for a film or product. Many are copycats, inspired by online videos and news stories, and some are acting out scenes in scary movies in a process folklorists call ostension. Also called legend tripping, it’s basically a form of playacting in which people act out a legend, often involving ghostly or supernatural elements. The common “Bloody Mary” ritual is one example, and scary clowns are another.
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Ben Radford's Blog of Booky Things
Hi there, and welcome to my GoodReads Blog of Booky Things. I have other blogs where I pontificate on various topics ranging from critical thinking to urban legends, ghosts to chupacabras, films to bo
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