A person dressed up as a clown holding an inflatable chainsaw has sparked fears that the killer clown craze could return for Halloween.
The clown is said to have frightened villagers in Somerset following several social media reports of them being scared by a clown hiding by an underpass.
People living close to the underpass on the A370 in Worle said the armed clown jumps out at passers-by in a bid to scare them.
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They have issued a warning following their scary encounters which reportedly took place over the weekend (October 22/23).
It is understood that in one of the incidents the clown jumped out in front of a man and a six-year-old child, leaving them shaken, reports Somerset Live.
The frightening incident caused concerns over the Killer Clown trend which first started in 2017 after a man in a clown mask jumped out at a child.
The prank, which sees people dress up as scary clowns and then deliberately frighten people in the street, started in the USA before it rapidly spread to the UK where dozens of sightings were reported.
It is believed to have its origins in the 1986 Stephen King horror novel It which sees an evil entity take the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to terrorise children.
The book was adapted for television in 1990 then again in 2017 – when the Killer Clown prank first began. The first report in 2017 was of clowns near woods whispering, and frightening children – with claims they tried to lure kids into the woods.
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Reports then started to crop up from other locations of clowns armed with knives and chainsaws. It quickly gained traction in the UK, Australia and New Zealand with reports of clowns jumping out in front of cars and opening their doors.
Schools became a target for the attacks with police forces across the UK issuing condemnations. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the trend vanished.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Constabulary confirmed there had been no reports of clown incidents in the area.
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