Super creepy. Tomorrow I am meeting a rescue transport that is bringing dogs from the animal shelter Wasco, I will try to remember to ask the driver what she knows about it.
On the one hand, it’s obviously a prank, and the costumes/makeup seem chosen specifically to be on the creepier end of the creepyclownometer. The Northampton guy seems to be in a more general clown outfit.
On the other hand, I have to wonder how many scares I may have inadvertently given over the years. I routinely participate in events that have me hanging out in public parks in various costumes. (I haven’t been cast as a clown yet, but it’s probably just a matter of time.) I know for a fact that I once scared two young women (and a squirrel) into panicked flight–I was in a monster costume that blended well with the foliage and keeping still to try to hear where the players were, and they didn’t notice me until they were a few feet away and I turned my head. How many times has someone on a casual stroll through the park seen me in costume, been a little freaked out, and gone the other way without my notice?
I’m not suggesting there’s a Creepy Clown Club in Wasco, and that people are just happening to see them as they go about their private clown club business. I’m just saying that people are easily spooked–maybe too easily spooked–by things that are a little out of the ordinary.