Guy In Pennywise The Clown Costume Stalks Northampton, England

If ever there was a book and miniseries to celebrate the creepiness of clowns, it's Stephen King's It. In the scary New England-set novel, a clown named Pennywise was lurking around the sewers, occasionally snatching children and brutally murdering them. If such a thing as clown fear really exists (see: coulrophobia), it may be fair to blame at least some of the condition on Stephen King, and a little bit on Tim Curry, who did such a brilliant job playing the character in the TV miniseries adaptation of King's book. And then there's the guy in Northampton, England who's been spotted in neighborhoods creeping it up for the locals and looking a lot like Pennywise in the process.

Pennywise

The Daily Mail reports that there've been multiple sightings of a man dressed in a clown costume and make-up spooking Northhampton residents. One woman reportedly claimed he knocked on her front door and offered to paint her window sills. Apparently, he didn't have any painting equipment with him.

Creepy!

The mysterious clown has started a Facebook page, which includes photos and messages, one of which assures people that he's not carrying a knife:

Too much hate not enough love . No, i don't have a knife on me!, thats just stupid rumours spread by stupid people. I'm also 'not' on twitter as it confuses the heck out of me. However, i might go for a jog around that pond in Abington park later as i'm really unfit... See you around! Beep Beep!

The "Beep, beep" is a nod to one of Pennywise's creepy catchphrases. So it seems this is all in good fun, and he's developed a following over over 80,000 Facebook users.

Just for reference, here's a snippet of It featuring Pennywise the clown:

All signs point toward the Northampton Pennywise stunt being harmless, creepy fun, and as a fan of It, I approve. Clowns are creepy. Pennywise is downright scary. ("They all float down here...") I wouldn't want to see him wandering around my neighborhood. Ok, maybe I would a little.

In related news, I actually saw a great bit of Pennywise cosplay at Comic-Con this year:

Pennywise

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site.