Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Public Enemy Number One: Clowns

I heard some people talking yesterday about clowns.  One of the people mentioned their husband wanted to hand out candy this year dressed as an evil clown and she said 'YOU BETTER NOT!' on account of those "Clown Stories" we've all been hearing.

Truthfully, I've done little research into the phenomena and I have no idea how much of it is true.  I'm presuming some pranks happened and it got blown way out of proportion.  So my ignorance is the reason I'm going to say that I love that this is happening.

Something has become scary again.  Truly scary.  We saw an urban legend born.  An Evil Clown Legend.  People literally afraid to dress as them.  People would certainly panic if I walked down the street at night dressed as one.  Fear is back.  And I love it.

Click below for a public service announcement from my favorite clown...Hopsy.

https://hopsythebeerdrinkingclown.blogspot.com/2016/10/public-service-announcement-open-season.html
And here's some fact-checking from snopes.com



14 comments:

thecadaver said...

Even here in Australia, people have been using the craze as an excuse to be violent without being seen. There's been a few attacks in the city, and a guy with an axe was arrested a few minutes from my house after threatening people with it while dressed as one.

It's only funny until you realise it's just giving unhinged people ammunition. The local Park has a Halloween event and they've banned clown costumes because they're worried they're gunna get a bunch of idiots looking for a thrill at an event that's mostly families and children.

It makes Halloween frightening - but not in a fun way.

Rot said...

That is CRAZY.

Mark Faucett said...

Well said! Assuming no one is being hurt, I'm loving it as well. What a great year for a clown themed haunt.

Sean said...

It has gotten better since someone decided to dress as Batman and go out and beat a few clowns.

Anonymous said...

I knew that eventually that some dumbasses would start doing stupid things. I'm sorry, but if a clown steps in front of my truck holding a hatchet............THUMP! End of clown holding hatchet.

But I DO love the idea of the fear it is striking into clownaphobes. Just dislike the people who are abusing the idea.

Rowan said...

I love the urban legend. The problem will come when someone thinks it's a great idea to dress up as a clown and wander around late at night and then some gun nut shoots him. That's the only thing I'm worried about with this.

Rot said...

yeah...worried about folks getting hurt as well.

I'd imagine professional clowns for parties are taking a serious hit.
Meanwhile I'm praying for a work function where I can work in a professional clown.

Rowan said...

I've actually heard a few professional clowns are checking in with their local police before heading to and from gigs. That helps with the cops, but ordinary folks ... no easy way to keep people safe and still enjoy the scary.

*chuckle* You are evil!

Hopsy the beer drinking clown said...

First of all, Rot, you are too kind! Your favorite clown!!! That's awesome!

The insanity seems to continue, through various social media networks I have been informed of a clown rally on the weekend preceding Halloween, I'm not sure what to think of this, it is being promoted as a #Clownlivesmatter type of event. I fear true anarchy may ensue with people using it as an excuse to go harass some clowns while the clowns themselves may very well perpetrate their own mayhem. Let's hope it's peaceful.

It seems to me that social media has once again amplified a few isolated incidences and turned it into a national thing, maybe even global from what I've been hearing, kind of like when Fox "News" reports more on crime and violence even when the statistics are down in reality.

I took haven in a big, local haunted attraction this year as opposed to doing my own haunt for fear of anti-clown sentiments here. Each night I am asked by children and adults alike if I am one of those "bad clowns" they see on the news. I have to explain that even though I am there to scare the be-jesus out of them and chase them around the haunt that I am not some ne'er-do-well looking use a clown suit to commit crime. It gets frustrating as nobody asks Michael Myers, Jason or the other haunt characters if they are "bad men" doing bad things...

thecadaver said...

They actually interviewed a local Pro clown in a piece in the paper about the arrests (weirdest sentence ever), and he said he's stopped entering/leaving gigs in costume now, cause he's worried about getting jumped before he's had a chance to change. Apparently it's also been costing him gigs but well... He chose to make his living dressing as a clown, he should be happy anyone pays for that.

The whole creepy clown craze was good when they were just lurking on the streets to scare people, but there's always someone who's gotta ruin it for the rest of us.

K.O. said...

Of course, I too don't want anyone to actually suffer harm at the hands of clowns (or anything else)! But I agree that it's been remarkable to watch the clown concept turn into a collective phobia within our lifetime. Pretty much by the time we were teens, clowns were nothing BUT horrific anymore. And now the clown is such an iconic symbol that when we see articles about them, we don't even know if they're factual or just feeding the legend!
Also, you know what all this means, Rot. Someday you're gonna have to do a clown-themed haunt...

Ryan said...

"Fear is back."

Finally I have the words to describe what I've been feeling recently.

Unknown said...

It seems to be a mix of a few people doing inappropriate things dressed as creepy clowns, and a whole lot of other people just having fun being creepy. I think probably the best thing is to do creepy clowning in a way where the audience can easily avoid interacting if they decide to.

I don't think there's any way around this kind of thing nowadays. There are always people out there who choose to make something relatively harmless into something bad.

girl6 said...

we're doing the Halloween party for the kids at the Free Library again this year & we were told right off the bat...NO Clowns!!!!. : (

there will always always be weirdos out there twisting everything around. like when Manson's followers, left the blood written message Helter Skelter at the death scene. like was that the Beatles fault? so silly.

Hopsy your clown is straight up GORGEOUS!!! so much OLD OLD OLD School Love put into your creation. Just Perfect. a Classic is born.. : )