Creepy Clown Terrorizes Small Town and Now There’s a New Place We’ll Never Visit

dinsdag 17 september 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jenny Erikson 2 hours ago

Now in totally creepy news that makes me glad not to live in the small U.K. town of Northampton, there’s a loitering clown that likes to stand on street corners and stare at random passersby. The unidentified bozo first appeared on Friday the 13th and looks like he just walked off the set of Stephen King’s It.

The strange stranger has appeared in several areas of town, always with the same red wig, white face makeup, all-in-one jumpsuit, and oversized bowtie. Occasionally he carries a clown teddy. 

He doesn’t do any of the fun clown things like ride a tiny bicycle or juggle or make balloon sculptures. He just ... stares. One woman reported that he knocked on her door and offered to paint her windowsills, even though he had no paint or brushes. She reported the suspicious behavior to the police.

Although he first appeared less than a week ago, the Northampton Clown has over 77,000 ‘likes’ on his Facebook page, where he tries to dispel the rumors that he’s carrying a knife.

Word to the wise: If you have to dispel rumors that you’re a knife wielding maniac because of how you’re dressed ... you might want to change clothes.

Ok, so it’s probably not illegal to look like a sociopath about to go on a murdering rampage while laughing maniacally in a scary clown costume, but what kind of person gets off on making people uncomfortable at best, and frightening them at worst?

Heck, a random guy standing on street corners staring at people is creepy enough. Put him in a clown suit? Unbearable.

Are you creeped out by the Northampton Clown, or is it all in good fun?

Image via Spot Northampton's Clown/Facebook

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jenny Erikson

is a conservative chick living in Southern California with her two daughters. She loves politics and hates laundry.

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Rodeo Clown Wearing Obama Mask Didn’t Do Anything Illegal But Still Shamed America (VIDEO)

woensdag 14 augustus 2013

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Adriana Velez 1 hour ago

You've heard about the Missouri rodeo clown who wore an Obama mask, right? Over the weekend at the Missouri State Fair, a clown wore a rubber Obama mask with a broom for a tail as an announcer asked over the PA system who wanted to see the president "run down by a bull." Photos and video popped up all over the Internet. And the Obama mask-wearing rodeo clown got a lifetime ban from the Missouri State Fair. We could call this story: How a rodeo clown embarrassed the state of Missouri.

But let me play Devil's advocate for a minute here. What's the big deal? Rodeo clowns have impersonated sitting presidents before, and the nation didn't go up in flames as a result. And what about free speech? What, we're going to start censoring rodeo clowns now? CLOWNS? Well nation, it's not quite that simple. Here's why I think this rodeo incident is such a big, messy problem.

Let's get the free speech argument out of the way, first. Yes, of course people have the right to spout off like assholes so long as they're not threatening anyone and it doesn't veer into hate speech or incite a mob. But this isn't about rights. This is about responsibility. The officials who banned the clown are responsible for maintaining a certain level of respectability. They are also partly responsible for Missouri's image -- and that state's image was definitely damaged by this event. And they're responsible for the tone set at their state fair.

We're living in the age of social media, so whatever people got away with in the past isn't necessarily going to fly now. Maybe 10 years ago you could've done this, and there would have been some local outrage. Now the outrage is worldwide, and Missouri's humiliation is that much greater.

Just because it's happened in the past doesn't make it acceptable. As Missouri state representative Steve Webb said, “Since I’ve been in the legislature, we’ve seen a lot of things with a lot of racial undertones. But nothing’s ever done about it. There has to be consequences at some point.”

And that tone? Some witnesses said they felt like they were at a Klu Klux Klan rally. (That not EVERYONE felt that way doesn't invalidate the feelings of the people who did.) Things got ... creepy. Another rodeo clown reportedly bobbled the lips of the Obama clown, which is a pretty blatant racist gesture. I doubt there were any racist gestures or sentiments expressed when that same rodeo clown impersonated President George Bush nearly a decade ago. And that matters. It's one thing to mock a president. It's another thing to denigrate an entire group of people by mocking a president. Get the difference?

Basically, this rodeo clown brought out the worst in the crowd. Whatever racist feelings people were harboring were given free reign because it's not really the president, we're just joking around here, it's not real. You don't have to be the one wearing a mask to suddenly feel like all the normal rules of polite social behavior have been lifted.

So drop the free speech grand-standing for a moment. No one was arrested or otherwise penalized by the law. This is about ... decency. This is not about what we have the "right" to do. This is about what kind of environment we want to bring our children into, and the values we want to pass on.

Do you think Missouri State Fair officials were right to ban the rodeo clown?

Image via KansasCityStarVideo/YouTube

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adriana Velez

is a staff writer who dabbles in food, parenting, news, entertainment, molecular biology, and anything else that that pops into her head. She lives with her elementary school-aged son in Brooklyn, land of urban farms and artisan everything.  

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