'Killer' clowns

Some of these comments made me

Visions of grannies being arrested for assaulting these 'clowns' ... looks like any injuries are going to be to the clowns themselves.

grannies on the warpath

Chasing Poke Mon is one thing, but I ask you, this clown thing,is getting out of hand, lets hope it stops after Halloween, before anyone is fatally injured.

We have always had a carved pumpkin in our porch which signified to local children that Halloween is OK by us and they could knock on our door for a sweet. I live in a heavily built up area in a major city and numbers were becoming faintly ridiculous, families coming to our road from local estates and as many as 70 children in one evening. I began removing the pumpkin by 7 pm by which time I expected the younger children to be back home for bedtime. Nevertheless, last year the doorbell rang at 9pm and when I opened the front door three older teenagers (I imagine still teenagers) stood outside the glassed in porch in terrifying masks but holding silly little plastic pumpkin baskets. I opened the glass porch door and told them how inappropriate it was and to get lost. Later I thought how easy it would have been for them to barge past me, alone in the house. This year I intend to ignore Halloween completely, pull the curtain across the door and disable the bell. It is beyond a joke and I especially worry that collecting my 2 year old grandson from his childminder after dark means that we could have a frightening encounter with these brainless, masked youngsters.

Yorkshiregel you're wrong about Halloween not being British Ginny52 is spot on. As a child I remember celebrating Halloween - not "Trick or Treat" which is imported from US as is "killer clown" craze.

Police have said they will prosecute any-one displaying threatening behavior, one boy has already been charged. Shame this is going to stretch our Police Force even more

We walk along a public footpath, through a wood to get to our local pub. I must confess I was apprehensive last night at the thought of a "clown" popping out in front of us. It's the thought of being startled rather than the image of a clown appearing out of nowhere. It's a silly craze but can understand why people are scared.

One in six of us does apparently celebrate Thanksiving in this country, including many who have absolutely no connections with the US.

Bikergran - I like your post about Blackburn McDonalds

But shouldn't McDonalds be found guilty of misrepresentation? They call their fast food shops 'restaurants', and they don't do waiter/waitress service.

Surely they are 'cafeterias'? Even the old Woolworths cafeteria in Blackpool was a more efficient service, and they actually served food we were - some of still are - familiar with!

Rats! Showing my age now!

I agree with you Ginny42 about "duck apple night" - fairly harmless stuff at home. I'm not so keen on children and grandchildren trailing around knocking on doors and effectively demanding free sweets, and some have been reported as looking for money too!

The "Americanisation" thing is getting really annoying now - what with "Proms", "Babyshowers", "Father's Day", and similar claptrap, we are - or maybe have lost our identity.

Next thing we'll be having a "Thanksgiving"!!

I think the "incident" to which the local policeman referred would be more than just hiding one's face and wearing frightening clothing. It would, I think, involve jumping at and scaring people.

This recent spate of frightening clowns is wasting police time, but people are genuinely very frightened by them so it is as well to treat them seriously, and those caught should be punished. If some of them are adults, it seems to me they have some kind of mental disorder.

Halloween isn't from the US. It originated in these islands in ancient times. The Celts celebrated Halloween as Samhain the 'Feast of the Dead'. During the eighth century the Catholic Church designated the first day of November as 'All Saints Day' ('All Hallows') - The night before was known as 'All Hallows Eve' which, over time, became known as Halloween.

What we are experiencing now is the massive commercialisation of that celebration coming from the US. As a child we did the duck apple games (ancient Roman game)etc which was all innocent fun and that's what my grandson will be doing.

My granddaughters have heard all about the 'Killer Clowns' mainly thanks to a boy (E) we walk to school and back with who has (so he claims) seen one locally. His Granddad has tried several times to stop him talking about it (he thinks E has seen it on Facebook somewhere, probably thanks to E's older brothers) as he knows my granddaughters are scared. Walking home on Thursday there was a white glove discarded on the hedge which looked to have come from a clown fancy dress outfit - this set E off again with his tales. I have reassured my granddaughters that it is just a silly game and that we haven't heard of anyone being jumped out at locally in any case. Yes, it did all start in the USA (most of these crazes do) but thanks to social media and the news it has spread across the UK too.

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Loopyloo I echo your feelings too. Halloween is a tradition that is not British, it is American. Why do we need to bring it over here? I got pilloried at first because I refused to open the door. In the end I had to put up a notice saying I did not want trick or treat people at my door. I am a Christian and I do not worship devils or witches/wizards. I think it is disgusting to menace people by saying give me a treat or I will throw eggs/scratch your car etc etc. It goes against everything we teach our children to be. If people want to celebrate Halloween..witches and all that rubbish they can do it in their own houses. Throw dressing up parties if you want but do not teach your children to go around menacing your neighbours.

If a 'scary clown' attempts to frighten me I shall beat him to a bloody pulp!
I am tired of these idiots thinking they can do as they please with no consequence, they need a good 'hand bagging'!

bikergran you made me laugh! I agree entirely. Give them the fright and pain of their lives see how they like it.

Being serious, I think these people should be arrested. It would only take a few arrests to stop this stupid craze in its tracks. Who knows for example who is behind the mask? It could be a paedophile, mugger, gangster, or a serial killer. It is not fun, it is frightening especially for children, women and old folk. Not a joke, just idiots behaving like morons. Grow up for God's sake.

Why are we so prepared to be told who and what to be afraid of? So much media coverage of morons misbehaving. They's get a bloody whack if they tried to scare my grand children......however, I do think adults need to use derision more and fear less, kids in suits is what they are and perhaps we are caring ourselves.

The thing that scares me is, we don't know who's under the mask and what their motives are?

Unfortunately it seems adults or older teens Bluecat and can not only be frightening but very threatening as some ( in US I think) have been found carrying weapons knives etc that's where it can get very nasty as they are anonymous hiding behind a costume how long before a real villain jumps on the bandwagon and murders a victim which could really muddy the waters in solving the crime if he/she seems to be part of a kids craze
People have been known to die of fright ( a generalisation not in this situation)

I've always found clowns sinister, they make me feel sick.
Should I meet one of these idiots I'm pretty certain I would tell them exactly what I think of them.
Bloody American traditions, that goes for Halloween too- how one earth anyone thinks it's appropriate to say 'Give me something or else' beats me.

I wonder how old most of them are? Kids dressing up to scare other kids, I can understand - nasty, of course, but not that bizarre. If they're adults, though, then they should know better and it serves them right if an irate parent (or granny!) decides to give them a clout.

I don't think my grandchildren in the US are bothered about the phenomenon, and the two little ones in this country are too young to be out by themselves, so it doesn't seem to affect us at the moment...I suspect that any clown who tried to terrorise any of them would seriously regret tangling with their dads.

I don't think any have been reported up here in Scotland yet but from what I saw in the news someone is going to be really hurt before it all stops. Clowns running about with hammers and axes and knives . Throwing themselves on top of people's car where children are sitting in the back seat. Chasing children to school is really not on as a child will eventually run in front of a car. I don't know why police gave not arrested them yet.

There have been reports of some of these clowns wielding knives and axes jumping out at people in Oz. DD1 said she saw via social media that she just missed seeing one on her way home. She was relieved as my GDs who were in the car would have been terrified.

It's a horrible craze and news travels fast these days so it didn't take long for it to take off.

Our local beat bobby says he will treat any clown "incident" as a public order offence and issue a fixed penalty notice, but so far he hasn't come across any clowns.

Yes it certainly is the right call given the circumstances. But annoying that the genuine g=fun has been curtailed by mindless idiots.

Pen - how very sensible of them.