There's no doubt that, out of all of Stephen King's terrifying creations - from Randall Flagg and Annie Wilkies to Cujo the Dog and Carrie White - none are as iconically creepy as Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
First freaking out readers of King's epic novel IT back in 1986, the boogeyman has continued to terrify audiences after being played by Tim Curry in the TV adaptation, and Bill Skarsgård in the latest movie.
A disturbing shapeshifter who haunts the fictional town of Derry, Maine, Pennywise emerges from the sewers every 23 years to murder and devour innocent children, forcing a band of outcasts (known as the Losers Club) to come together to defeat it.
Check out the trailer for IT Chapter Two below:Thankfully, as terrifying as the monster is, it remains very much fictional, and even though a spate of creepy clown sightings terrorised innocent bystanders back in 2016, Pennywise is a supernatural creature who does not exist in the real world.
However, that didn't stop one seriously freaked-out couple from taking precautions of their own this week, after a Pennywise doll mysteriously appeared in their back garden one day, prompting the pair to burn it immediately.
The spooky incident occurred when a 42-year-old divorced mother of two named Renee Jensen was relaxing with her boyfriend Alex Papazian outside their home in Harrington Park, New Jersey. At approximately 3pm on Saturday, August 17, the couple was startled when a cartoon, plush doll of Pennywise landed in their back yard.
The doll had a blood-soaked face and enigmatic, cultish symbols printed on its forehead. Shaken, the pair contacted the police, who couldn't find any clues as to the doll's origins. Alarmed by what was most likely a harmless prank, Papazian and Jensen decided to burn the toy on a bonfire, just to be on the safe side.
Commenting on the odd incident in a recent interview with British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail, Jensen stated: "All of a sudden we saw [the doll] come through the tree line across the yard without hitting one tree and clear the top of the gate at an angle … I turned it over and saw the face and let go of it immediately and yelled for Alex."
She added: "We asked [the police] if they wanted it. They said no. It wasn’t part of an actual crime so I guess they didn’t feel the need to take it. But they wouldn’t touch it. They were being half-serious/half-joking ... The best explanation we have is that it was possibly a drone. Nobody could have launched that thing into our yard from any angle around our property."
Take a look at this disturbing teaser scene from IT Chapter Two below:Of course, it won't be long before Pennywise is back on our cinema screens for the sequel, and the movie's director has now confirmed that the second instalment will be a whopping two hours and 45 minutes long. Yikes!
