Students in Kent (a county in southeast England) have been warned to go straight home from school after police received reports of several children being stalked by people wearing clown masks. Some of the children have reported being approached by people wearing clown or Halloween masks, who were deliberately trying to scare pupils walking to and from schools.
A boy reported that he was approached by two men in a van which stopped in Sandown Park, Tunbridge Wells. The boy ran away from the men, before telling his school about the encounter.
Head teacher Elaine Buchanan sent the following warning email to parents:
Dear parents, It has been brought to our attention that some of our students have been approached in the vicinity on separate occasions (one outside Sainsbury’s and another outside Olive’s) by two people wearing black outfits with white clown masks. We have reported this to the police with whom we are actively working.
We are advising students to go straight home after school today and not to loiter about anywhere.
Pam Mills, 51, whose 16-year-old daughter attends Hillview School said: "My daughter has a phobia of clowns and literally goes into a panic attack, so we talked about it and she walks part of the way home with someone else who understands her phobia. This is a sick prank if it is a joke as they obviously don't understand the extreme reactions clown phobia can result in."
Odds are this is a prank. I'm sure down the road there will be a video on youtube showcasing the pranks. All said, carry on and scare away.