What's the latest in the great clown panic of 2016?
Kemper County, Mississippi has banned clown costumes outright until the day after Halloween.
Clown fear has reached Germany.
According to German police, a man disguised as a "horror clown" beat up a 19-year-old man with a baseball bat Thursday night in the northern German city of Rostock. The victim sustained injuries on his head and arm.
Earlier that day, a 15-year-old boy was threatened with a knife by a 'creepy clown' in the same town. The teenager was able to run away unharmed.
A Vox poll reveals that some Americans are really, seriously spooked by clowns:
More from the German story:
Also on Thursday, across the country in the western Germany of Wesel, a 48-year-old woman was walking her dog when a person in a clown mask suddenly appeared from the bushes on the side of the road wielding a chainsaw. He tried several times to start the chainsaw but failed. The woman escaped unharmed.
On Wednesday, an assailant dressed as 'creepy clown' scared five children aged seven to 13 in Bochum, western Germany. He approached the children in a dimly lit subway without saying anything while holding a "shiny object," likely a knife, the police reported.
In the neighboring town of Gelsenkirchen, a deaf man was attacked by two men dressed up as clowns on Wednesday. The clowns charged at the 33-year-old with a knife and left him with light injuries, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. The attackers then fled on a scooter.
On Monday, a 14-year-old teenager was injured when he fled from a 'creepy clown' carrying a baseball bat, also in Gelsenkirchen. It turned out, however, that the clown was a friend of the teenager who wanted to scare him, the police said.
Clown panic: now America's leading export!
(thanks to Steven Kaye and Tim Pendry)
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