Although I have none of my own, I'm pretty sure that one of the most difficult things about raising a child is knowing, or rather not knowing, how to discipline them. It's especially difficult in the 21st century. I mean, parents are constantly being judged for the way they raise their children.

So, what do you do if, through no fault of your own, you have a spoilt brat on your hands? Well, it goes without saying that beating them is out of the question. So, if you can't resolve it by taking physical action, what are your other options?

Well, according to some parents, the only other option would be to hire someone in a clown outfit to terrify your children.

Wrinkles the Clown, who recently featured in a documentary about the said clown, can be hired by pretty much anyone to scare pretty much anyone.

Watch the trailer for the Wrinkles the Clown documentary here:

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Wrinkles never reveal his true identity and even in interviews will opt to stay in character.

Speaking to The Washington Post, he recounted the time a mother hired him to scare her 12-year-old son.

"He was scared of clowns and I showed up across the street from him at the bus stop and he just started crying in front of his friends and ran home," Wrinkles recalled. "His mother called back a few days later and said ‘Thank you!’ Now when he acts bad, she just has to ask him: ‘Do you want Wrinkles to come back?’"

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In any case, while it is normal for parents to be concerned about how to discipline an unruly child, the very last thing you'd think they'd want to do is intentionally terrify them and potentially subject them to a traumatic experience.

Welcoming a new partner into your family home and introducing them to your children must be a nerve-wracking and scary part of being a single parent. However, while the majority of these meetings will pass by with little-to-no incident, one woman had the scare of her life after introducing her new partner to her kids.

LA Times reporter Libby Hill took to her Twitter account to share a post from a Reddit user, in which they were extremely anxious about the intention of their new partner. In the post, the woman said that she was worried her boyfriend was plotting to "do something terrible" to [her] family. Here's what it said:

"I’ve raised my 7 year old son as a single mother. But last year, I started dating and met my current boyfriend. He’s perfect and is great with kids and we’ve even been flirting with the possibility of marriage recently."

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All sounds good, right? Well, it all seemed a little too perfect and the woman in question quickly realised something freaky was going on.

"That was until last week, I discovered some disturbing writing by his desk. I don’t know what it means and I’m getting really paranoid.

"I stole it from his desk. It says: 'Kill the KID d4 Nf6 g6 Nc3 Bg7 e4 d6 Nf3 0-0 Be2 e5' I have no idea what these numbers/letters mean and I’m really worried about the title that says “Kill the KID”.

"I’ve got a really overactive imagination, but I’m wondering if those numbers/letters are co-ordinates of previous children he’s killed or something sick like that. I don’t know. Please just tell me I’m paranoid.

"I really like him and don’t know why he would write this. tl;dr boyfriend has weird writing about killing what I assume is my kid."

However, while you may think that the Redditor's worries were understandable, it turns out the drams was a complete anti-climax and her boyfriend was, in fact, a massive nerd.

A wise Redditor responded to the post and explained what the suspicious note means:

"Kill the KID is a chess book. KID stands for the King’s Indian Defense. The “co-ordinates” are chess notation. The dude isn’t planning on killing your kids lmao”

Given the comedic nature of Hill's tweet, the story quickly went viral, with plenty of people laughing at the punchline. However, one person struggled to believe that the story was real.

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And, as the below tweeter pointed out, "playing chess" may be a cover-up for something else.

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Hasufin/status/1026895228618174464]]

"Miss, I'm sorry to tell you. Your boyfriend... "plays chess". Based on the evidence we've found, he's a serious "chess player". This isn't a casual thing. We don't know for sure, but odds are he meets with other "players" in a "chess club" where they seek to "checkmate.""

While the woman's fears turned out to have no substance to them, she did find out something else about her partner: he is a nerd.

A suburban Illinois community was left in shock after a 15-year-old boy was arrested following a fatal stabbing shortly after being caught on camera prowling local homes dressed as a creepy killer clown.

Tragically, an elderly local was killed, and the teenager was taken into custody by Illinois State Police following the attack in East St. Louis.

On Monday evening, August 3, residents spotted a person roaming through the neighborhood in a clown costume.

Eerie CCTV footage captured the masked teenager approaching a resident's front porch around 9:11PM, leaning toward the Ring doorbell camera before he left a chilling audio message, saying: “I've been looking for you.”

The teen wore a creepy costume when he scared neighbours. Credit: Lora Palmer/Facebook

The teen dressed as a clown had been roaming the neighborhood for hours

According to resident Lee Palmer, who shared the footage, the masked person lingered on the property for several minutes before creeping around to the back of the house.

He told a local news outlet: "I couldn't believe it. He was dressed in the clown outfit."

He also added that the encounter was deeply alarming for his elderly mother who was home alone at the time.

Other neighbors reported seeing the teenager going door to door throughout the area and terrifyingly glaring into windows while carrying a large knife.

Less than an hour after the terrifying doorbell interaction, local police responded around 10:00PM to reports of a body lying in the road, just blocks away from where the clown was spotted.

Credit: Jeremy Hogan/Getty

An elderly man died from his injuries

St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. later identified the victim as 78-year-old John Wesley Allen Sr., of St. Louis. Coroner reports confirmed that Allen died from multiple stab wounds sustained during the violent incident.

Following an intensive investigation into the surrounding neighborhood and the surveillance video circulating on social media, Illinois State Police announced the arrest of the 15-year-old suspect on Tuesday.

Investigators believe the teenager in custody is the same individual seen in the Ring footage wearing the clown outfit and carrying the weapon.

Authorities have not yet released the identity of the minor due to his age.

Cops have not disclosed a clear motive for the attack, what brought the teenager to the neighborhood, or whether he had any prior connection to the victim.

The investigation remains active as state and local police work to determine the full circumstances behind the deadly incident.

Featured image credit: Lora Palmer/Facebook

At some point, most women have been scared while walking home alone in the dark. There is a whole industry dedicated to creating pink pepper spray and lipstick that doubles as a flashlight just for them. But while most keep their guard up when they're solo, no one expects to be attacked by a gimp.

After one anonymous woman came forward to describe her terrifying experience with a man in a rubber gimp suit, Claverham police reveal they have received calls from several other area residents who have been bothered by the man jumping out at them.

Police responded to a call from Somerset Village at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday from a woman in her twenties. She told them the gimp charged at her as she walked through the street. He left her alone after she repeatedly screamed and pushed him.

Though authorities showed up at the scene with dogs and a helicopter, they couldn't find the perpetrator. The woman told the BBC about her terrifying experience:

"I was walking along with my torch and looked up to see someone charging at me in a full black rubbery suit and managed to take a picture. He kept coming towards me and was touching his groin, grunting and breathing heavy."

"As I tried to take a step back, he was right in front of my face, and he put his leg forward. I was just trying to assess the situation in my head quickly. Everything was running through my head. I thought: 'This is it, I’m going to get attacked.'"

The woman reported the incident so that no one else would be terrorised in the way that she was, especially since she is now afraid to leave her house: "It's not just a man jumping out at me going 'boo.' Every time I close my eyes, I just see that face."

Avon and Somerset Police are trying everything they can to prevent the situation from occurring again, with increased patrolling in the area. They told the BBC in a statement:

"We’re aware of concerns relating to a man acting suspiciously in the Claverham/Yatton area. While we’re keeping an open mind about the motive for these incidents, it’s clear the individual responsible is deliberately attempting to cause alarm to the men and women he’s approaching. While no-one has been hurt during the incidents, we fully appreciate the distress these actions have caused victims."

Next time you're out and about, expect the unexpected. You never know what might happen, so keep your eye out for anything and everything... including gimps.