Clown Sighting? Red Balloon Tied To Sewer 'Terrifies' Police

Police in a Pennsylvania town took to Facebook Tuesday after a prankster tied a red balloon to a sewer grate. The joke was likely an ode to Stephen King’s “It,” the horror film about a killer who poses as a clown named Pennywise to hunt down children. The film is slated to premiere in theaters nationwide Friday.

“A certain movie is coming to theaters in two days, and a local prankster took it upon themselves to promote the movie,” the Lititz Borough Police Department wrote. “We give points for creativity, however we want the local prankster to know that we were completely terrified as we removed these balloons from the grates and we respectfully request they do not do that again. If you're not sure what we're talking about, search ‘It’ and watch the preview, but we suggest watching the preview with a friend or coworker with all the lights on and the sound down low.” They finished the post with a nod to the movie: “You'll float too.”

The post garnered more than 3,000 reactions and hundreds of comments.

Since “It” doesn’t portray clowns in the best way, local clowns in Ohio were afraid it would negatively impact their business. “I wish they could use some other character to do a horror movie instead of a clown,” Diamonds the Magical Clown told WJW-TV Monday. “A clown is supposed to be a symbol of happiness.”

Diamonds, who didn’t want to reveal her true identity, said the killer clown in “It” could make things worse for people who already fear clowns. She even changed how she did her makeup.

“I've had to change the way that I put on my makeup,” Diamonds said. “I've heard from children and adults that the mouth is the scariest. So I don't wear makeup around my mouth. I wear light makeup so if anyone is afraid, I can just take of the glasses and they can see I'm a regular person.”

The potential backlash was enough for Pam Moody, the president of the World Clown Association, to weigh in on the controversy.

“We understand that some people enjoy the ‘horror genre’ of entertainment, but we find that many people are confronted by images of horror characters (impersonating clowns) and are startled by them...which is obviously the goal of these horror characters. In my opinion, these horror characters are not clowns. Even the character in the movie ‘It’ should be understood to be a fantasy character — not a true clown. People dressed as horror clowns are not ‘real clowns,’” a statement issued last week read. “They are taking something innocent and wholesome and perverting it to create fear in their audience.”

While professional clowns might not be pleased with the negative attention, “bad clowns” are nothing new. “There’s an incorrect notion that clowns were once always happy and jolly and that the evil clown is a new turn on that,” author Benjamin Radford told Santa Fe New Mexican last year. “In fact, clowns have always been fairly ambiguous characters. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re bad. Sometimes they’re trickster figures. … Sometimes they’re making people laugh, sometimes they’re scaring the hell out of people.”

Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella