Teens at North Vancouver high schools are being told that “creepy clowns” are no laughing matter.
Teachers and principals spoke with secondary students Tuesday after threats of creepy clowns appearing at local high schools began to surface.
North Vancouver RCMP were called out to Windsor secondary last week after word got out that someone was threatening to show up to the school dressed as an evil clown. That never happened, said Deneka Michaud, spokeswoman for the North Vancouver School District.
But the talk among teens about the creepy clown threats was enough to prompt a letter home to parents from Mark Pearmain, schools superintendent.
The recent “creepy clown” craze, fuelled by social media, involves people dressing up like frightening evil clowns, scaring people as a prank and posting photos and videos of that to social media. When people do show up dressed as creepy clowns, those events are sometimes announced ahead of time by social media posts. In some cases fake scenarios are posted as though they are real.
The craze began in the U.S., but has recently sparked copycat behaviour in Canada, especially in the run-up to Halloween.
“While we understand that students likely believe it is a harmless prank, it truly is terrifying for people and can spark violence,” Pearmain wrote in the letter to North Vancouver parents.
“The costumes can be quite terrifying,” said Michaud. Sometimes, people on the receiving end of the scare become so angry they retaliate, she added. “We want to get ahead of it and prevent it from happening.”
Corp. Richard DeJong with the North Vancouver RCMP said the incident at Windsor last week appeared to involve one teen making a veiled threat against another using a picture of a creepy clown to communicate that on social media.
DeJong said police received one report of an alleged creepy clown sighting in North Vancouver over the weekend – from a group of three teenaged boys who reported being stared at by a man in a creepy clown costume while they waited for a bus in Lynn Valley.
The teens were at the corner of Langworthy and Hoskins roads around 1 a.m. on Monday when they saw a man dressed as a clown staring at them, he said. The teens ran away and told their parents about the incident, who reported it to police.
DeJong said police officers patrolled the area but didn’t find anyone fitting the description – a man in a white clown suit and clown mask with red hair and clown shoes. “It’s an unusual report,” said DeJong.
DeJong said while it’s not illegal to stand around in a clown costume in public, anyone who appears to be trying to frighten people on purpose will be advised that their behaviour is inappropriate.
Anyone who accompanies that with threats, through words or gestures, can be arrested and face criminal charges.
So far, no creepy clown reports have been made to police or schools in West Vancouver.
Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesman for the West Vancouver Police Department, said he strongly suggests teens don’t take part in similar pranks. “There’s so many ways this can go wrong,” he said.
Not everybody hates creepy clowns.
“I have always loved clowns. I love happy clowns. I love evil clowns. It’s something I recommend as a costume to many of my customers,” said Laurie Sluchinski, owner of Boo La La costume shop in North Vancouver.
“Either you love them or you hate them. There aren’t a lot of neutral feelings about clowns,” she said.
Sluchinski admits the clown lovers are likely in the minority. “Most people don’t like clowns,” she said.
Sluchinski said she hasn’t been following the creepy clown phenomenon closely but likes the idea of evil clowns as characters for Halloween.
One day each year, the entire staff of Boo La La dress up as clowns, she added. This year, they’ll be donning the big noses and neon hair on Oct. 22. Sluchinski said the event is fun, but not particularly good for business. “There are a number of clients who will leave because they can’t handle it.”
