Why Are Scary Clowns Stalking Around Britain and France?

If you find clowns terrifying, you might consider not visiting Britain or France in the near future. Both countries recently have been gripped by a wave of sinister clown-spottings, turning the year into one long Halloween. From city to city, people dressed up like circus escapees have been roaming the streets, getting into mischief, and generally scaring the bejeesus out of passers-by. Apart from young children and acute coulrophobics, the spooky-clown epidemic has been taken more or less in a spirit of fun.

Until last week, that is. On Monday, a judge in Northern France sentenced a 19-year-old clown imposter to a six-month suspended sentence for chasing some youngsters around a small town with what appeared to be a weapon. This being gun-controlled Europe, he was not mown down on sight. So terrified were his victims, however, that they ended up taking refuge inside the town’s french fry stand until the weapon was revealed to be a pepper spray.