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Are scary clowns in public trying to close haunted houses?

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  • Are scary clowns in public trying to close haunted houses?

    Are any other haunts experiencing repercussions from the clowns scaring children in public? I just got a call from a school that a few weeks ago had scheduled a night out at our haunt for 400+ teens. The school board got word of the event and they cancelled the outing. They said the reason was because of the clown sightings (they’ve actually closed a few schools in our town last week) because scary clowns were spotted across from the schools.

    Why are these idiots doing this? I’ve heard a rumor they are doing it to promote a movie about clowns taking over a town???

    We’ve been telling our actors for years not to scare people in public. They pay us to scare them in the haunt, but they don’t want to be frightened when out in public. This year we’ve instructed our clowns to wash off their makeup and change before leaving the haunt.

    I don’t know if these clowns have impacted our nightly sales, but they just cost us over $6000 in a group sale. Are they trying to shut down haunts?

    Saturday night a black ratty looking hearse with a couple scary clowns drove slowly past our haunt. I didn’t think about it at the time, but you were probably some of the same clowns trying to scare people at the schools. If it happens again, I’ll have our police officers stop them and we’ll find out who you are.

    If you are one of the people doing this, please explain, I’d really like to know why you are trying to scare people in public places??? Definitely not cool.

    Kelly Collins
    The ScareAtorium

  • #2
    I don't even fully understand what the uproar is about.

    What in the hell is a "clown sighting"?

    Clowns are real things (people dressing up as clowns)...what is now so suddenly ominous about seeing dressed up as damn clown?
    Who cares? It's an effing person dressed up like a clown? What is the security concern here?

    If it were, instead, a rumor (or truth, who knows) about a dude in a Mickey Mouse mask trying to lure a kid into the woods, and a bunch of copycats started wearing Mickey Mouse masks and walking around town, would there be an outrage against Mickey Mouse costumes, and registration, and cancellations? I don't know.

    What a stupid thing for a country to get wrapped up about.
    Fright In Falcon Haunted Maze
    http://frightinfalcon.com

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    • #3
      When this started I assumed it was some type of viral marketing blitz for the new Rob Zombie movie "31" which features evil clowns abducting people and forcing them to play a death-game of some type. However it's gone well beyond that now.

      A friend suggested it must be the "planking craze of 2016" but between the idiots doing it and then gangs of anti-clown vigilantes going after them it seems like its lost any humour it had - and absolutely not good for haunts as its messing with one of our industry tropes in a pretty negative way.

      Here in Australia i just read a newspaper article saying "Police warn people found to be possessing clown masks in order to disguise themselves and intimidate others can face up to two years in jail." - it's all getting a bit out of hand!

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      • #4
        Here in the USA, from a legal perspective, the only law being broken by walking or driving around as a clown is if you are wearing a mask. Most states have laws against wearing a mask with the intent to hide your identity with only a few exceptions. Trying to intimidate/prank people would not be a valid exception. But if they aren't wearing a mask, there is no law being broken by driving or walking public walkways as a clown. If I had cancellations like this you better believe I would broadcast it as loudly as I could in every marketing channel I had. Instead of it being a problem I would turn it into a marketing attention getter. I would contact all the local newpapers/outlets and give them the story of how the "evil clown craze" was threatening to ruin my community positive event. This clown stuff is not negative attention. I welcome it.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by mrfoos View Post
          Here in the USA, from a legal perspective, the only law being broken by walking or driving around as a clown is if you are wearing a mask. Most states have laws against wearing a mask with the intent to hide your identity with only a few exceptions. Trying to intimidate/prank people would not be a valid exception. But if they aren't wearing a mask, there is no law being broken by driving or walking public walkways as a clown. If I had cancellations like this you better believe I would broadcast it as loudly as I could in every marketing channel I had. Instead of it being a problem I would turn it into a marketing attention getter. I would contact all the local newpapers/outlets and give them the story of how the "evil clown craze" was threatening to ruin my community positive event. This clown stuff is not negative attention. I welcome it.
          Excellent approach.
          Fright In Falcon Haunted Maze
          http://frightinfalcon.com

          Comment


          • #6
            I did an interview today on the local Fox news channel. They came out to our haunt and did about 6 live segments from 7:00 am to 10:00 am. We talked about the issue and the reporter said he didn’t understand why everyone was making a big deal about it. We painted him up as a clown and he did his last 5 segments as a scary clown. We invited everyone to come see our clowns in the Funhouse, a safe place to experience clowns. I said I didn’t think it was right for people to dress as scary clowns in public and run around trying to scare people. That’s what haunted houses are for.

            http://myfox28columbus.com/good-day-...n-scareatorium It’s the 9:20 am segment where we talked about clowns.

            Comment


            • #7
              We had several people warn us against using clowns this year, but all we did was insist they stay inside (for their own protection). The moment you start letting others tell you what you can and can't use in a haunt, that's the moment you have lost your way. Just think about it: Why would anyone avoid using something in their haunt because it is too scary? I mean, maybe a fake fire, or something super dangerous, but characters that are too scary? That's what we DO. That's what we're SUPPOSED to do.

              So we actually had MORE and never apologized for it. If they want kiddie scares, Disney is right on down the road. The best way to get us to use to include something in the show is telling us it's too scary.

              (Just my two cents.)
              www.TerrorOfTallahassee.com

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              • #8
                There were a few instances in our town where someone dressed as a clown was offering children candy if they followed them into the woods. They were doing this to small children at an apartment complex. Another person dressed as a clown assaulted a teenage girl walking home from school. Then a couple people dressed as clowns were spotted behind schools in the area and that started the panic.

                I wanted to respond to the school that cancelled our event by asking them what should we do about the thousands of children molested by teachers each year? Should we stop sending our children to school? (((The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the nation’s K-12 schools lack a systemic approach to preventing and reporting educator sexual abuse of students, despite a problem that the report said affects an estimated 9.6 percent of students – nearly one in 10 – who are subjected to sexual misconduct by teachers, coaches, principals, bus drivers and other personnel during their K-12 career))).

                I decided not to do anything and dropped it. The person driving the hearse stopped by again and I spoke with him about what happened with the school. He apologized and didn’t come back again.

                As I mentioned in my first post, people go to haunted houses to get scared. They are paying us to frighten them. People out in public with their family and friends are not expecting to deal with fright and horror. Unfortunately a few clown characters have taken advantage of this opportunity to frighten people out in public. Not cool.

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                • #9
                  I got called by CNN yeah CNN about this issue and every other network. I blew it off as harmless just people trying to have fun or be scary or whatever. No clown actually hurt anyone so I don't know what the huff is all about.

                  Target pulled clown masks over this shows you how PC our World has become.

                  Larry
                  Larry Kirchner
                  President
                  www.HalloweenProductions.com
                  www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                  www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                  www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

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