A creepy and anonymous clown has been terrifying residents of Northampton England by standing around on street corners and staring at passers-by. The clown, who bears a striking resemblance to Pennywise from the Stephen King-inspired 1990 horror film, IT, first appeared on Friday 13th and was spotted again over the weekend. According to the Northampton Herald and Post the red haired, white faced clown has appeared in several locations in the Abington and Kingsley areas of the town. He is also sometimes seen carrying a clown teddy.The newspaper also reports that the clown knocked on someone’s door and offered to paint their window sills despite having no painting equipment.The newspaper reported: “He doesn’t juggle. He doesn’t twist balloons into animal shapes. He just stares.”The creepy jester even has his own Facebook page featuring a picture of the murderous clown Pennywise. The sightings of the clown have prompted the Twitter hashtag #northamptonclown which is being used to speculate on reasons for the clown’s appearance - with some suggesting it could be part of publicity stunt.An irrational fear of clowns has come to be known as as coulrophobia. The prefix “coulro” comes from the ancient Greek word for “one who walks on stilts.”Symptoms include feelings of dread, increased heartbeat, sweating, nausea and anger.A University of Sheffield study from 2008 found that out of 250 children aged four to 16 images of a clown were widely disliked. The researchers said clowns were “universally disliked by children” and that “some found them quite frightening and unknowable.”
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 17:24:40 +0000