Hype with horror clowns "can get out of hand '

The past few days people have been identified in four different locations in the country dressed as clown threatened people or make them tried to scare.

Arnhem were three masked teenagers dressed as clowns in front of a woman in Almere was a clown with a 'bloody' face and knife behind children and in Oss was a clown with a hammer and a knife on the street. In Diemen concerned a set of "reasonable innocent 'teens, without weapons. "If you let this go ahead, and the chance that something goes wrong at some point," says forensic psychologist Ernst Ameling. "It is already very far. Clowns running up with a knife behind children. This is very serious and should be punished. "

The beginning of the hype

The clown hype started on August 21 this year in the US state of South Carolina. A boy told his mother that he had seen in the bushes a scary clown near their home. His older brother suggested that the clown had a chain with him. Since then, dozens of clowns spotted in nearly every US state. Subsequently, the clowns appeared in England, Canada, Australia, France and several other countries.

Often remains creating a scare among people, but there are already people attacked and robbed, clowns tried to break in and people are chased by clowns with knives, guns, machetes and other weapons. It therefore threatens to become a serious problem. So McDonald's has even announced that they meet the company and clown mascot Ronald McDonald as from the public, because of all the fuss about clowns.

COULROPHOBIA

That people are afraid of this kind of clowns will not surprise anyone, but the fear of ordinary clowns is rooted deeper. There is even such a thing as a clown phobia or COULROPHOBIA. Although some people find the pranksters great, there is widespread distrust and even hatred of clowns. There is even a website called www.ihateclowns.com and an eponymous Facebook group with nearly half a million followers. In addition, the Sheffield University published a study in 2008 which showed that many children do not like clowns or even fear the pranksters.

By Editors Metro News Photo: Reuters