Clowns come in all kinds. There's the Insane Clown Posse, who have marched on Washington and are apparently woker than we could ever hope to be. There's actual working clowns, who hate the 'killer clown' shtick cause its actually killing their wages. Clowns of the world, unite! There are supernatural spiders from IT pretending to be clowns, and then, of course, you have your standard fare killer clowns. The Miami Herald's "crime of the year" in 1990 was committed by one such clown. In a dazzling story of murder, love, and unmasking, one woman was exposed as a killer clown - and for marrying her victim's husband. Yeah. Does it get any crueler than that? On May 26th, 1990, Marlene Warren was killed. She lived in Florida, Palm Beach County. She answered her door innocently on that day, only to find a clown staring back at her. The clown had a white face, a big orange wig, and the typical red nose. A full clown costume completed the get-up, presumably with big goofy shoes. This seems less like IT, and more like a standard kid's party clown. The visitor also held a bouquet of flowers, all carnations, and came bearing two perfectly inflated balloons. How thoughtful... The clown handed Marlene Warren all these gifts. One of the balloons was themed with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Just when all seemed fine, the clown pulled out a revolver pistol and shot Warren in the head. The clown left the scene peacefully and got into a car, where she drove away. Two days later, Warren was dead in the hospital from the bullet wound. Now, 27 years later, the clown has been arrested. Sheila Keen-Warren was 54 years old, and picked up by police on charges of first degree murder. Of course, you may have noticed that the killer has the same last name as the person she killed. That's from her victim's husband. Apparently, the balloons were purchased from a Public grocery store, and someone with Sheila's appearance was noted by a civilian before the murder, with a clown costume recently purchased. "We have two suspects, and they are Sheila Keen and Michael Warren," said Lt. Steve Newell way back in 1991. Did this clown have a behind-the-scenes affair with this woman's husband, and dress up to kill her and take her spot? The pair were married in 2002, so it would have to be a longstanding affair. In 2014, the cold case was brought back to life by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. How? Well, a vehicle matching the car used as a getaway in the murder was found with the classic orange clown's wig inside it. DNA evidence from some hair fibers indicted Sheila Keen-Warren easily. So, to recap: a man and a woman had an affair. The woman wanted to kill this man's wife so they could marry. To do so, she dressed up as a clown, of all things, and shot her on her porch. Then, years later, the discovery of the clown wig had her arrested, dead to rights. What a strange, sad tale.

Last year, a bizarre craze that saw people dressing as "Killer Clowns" made headlines as it swept across the globe. The trend, which began in North Carolina after a woman saw “clowns in the woods whispering and making strange noises,” quickly spread to other places such as the UK, where reports of pranksters in masks and costumes came flooding in. Many stories at the time were accused of being false or exaggerated, and - according to reports - nobody was seriously hurt by anyone wearing a costume. Despite this, there were still confirmed instances of clowns terrorising people, and the hype really affected some individuals - especially those with coulrophobia (a fear of clowns). Now, police are warning people that the trend might re-surge due to the release of 'It'. The film, which is based on the iconic book by Stephen King, comes out in theatres this month, and is expected to spark another wave of people dressing in costumes. As part of a community awareness bulletin, The Pennsylvania State Police released a statement saying that, "It is anticipated that "creepy clown" sightings could be reported starting as soon as September, in part due to the fact that the movie IT will be released in theatres." So, should we be worried? Last year, there were several worrying incidents which certainly went beyond what could be described as a "prank". In the UK, 17-year-old Michael March was jailed after terrorising a pregnant woman. The teenager had chased the woman and her partner down the road while brandishing a foot-long axe. Despite claiming that he wasn't going to hurt them, March was still charged with possession of a weapon. In another instance, a 13-year-old boy was arrested for scaring people in the street. One witness, a 17-year-old girl, spoke of her terror when she said that, "As I saw the full clown costume, I noticed the mask and I just turned round and ran back up to the top of the street and every time I was looking over my shoulder it was still chasing me." The boy was in possession of a knife at the time, and was given a warning about his behaviour but eventually released. However, with regards to the most recent fears, there have been no real causes for concern just yet. Sgt. Jeff Flynn of the New Jersey State Police reassured people that there was nothing to be worried about, and that "back to school safety" should be the primary concern around this time of year. In a statement, he said: "Since we can't foresee the clowns coming back, we recommend kids walk to and from school in groups, don't talk to strangers and know what to do if they're grabbed. These are the tips we've given out for decades and they're what people should be familiarised with now." So, there you have it. For now, the worry that "killer clowns" could be returning seems mostly to be the result of fear-mongering, and there's nothing to actually back up the concerns. Hopefully, the only scary clowns we'll see this year will be at Halloween - and we still have a while to prepare for that.  

Thankfully for both me and children alike, I am not a parent. Firstly, I would not be able to deal with having a kid, I just wouldn't know where to start. I would place the child on the table and just stare at it, waiting for something to happen. Secondly, I am one of those people who tuts when a child misbehaves on public transport, but in reality, I would have no idea what to do when that child misbehaves. However, one thing I definitely wouldn't do, is the following. Vernon Barrett Jr. is a father, he is also a complete and utter idiot. Rather than disciplining his child in a sensible way, Barrett Jr. has instead ensured that his 6-year-old daughter is going to need years of therapy in order to try and get over her fear of clowns, after his absolutely insane prank ended up with him getting shot at. The father, from Youngstown, Ohio, tried to discipline his child by chasing her around their neighbourhood in a clown mask. Unsurprisingly, his daughter was completely terrified and ran into a neighbours apartment, that neighbour happened to have a fear of clowns as well, and decided to fire a gun into the air in order to warn Barrett off. According to the police reports, when the little girl initially ran out of her home, she saw a nearby female driver and decided to jump in her car in order to seek safety. She apparently told the woman that a clown was chasing her, but before the woman could do anything to help the child, the clown appeared and pulled her out of the car. Not aware that the clown in question was the little girl's father, the woman called 911 to report the incident. However, the child escaped the grasp of her father again and ran into the apartment of 48-year-old Dion Santiago. The police said that Santiago was afraid of the clowns himself, saying: “Santiago turned off the lights and looked out his apartment window. He observed Barrett standing outside of the building with a clown mask on. [Santiago] grabbed his firearm and fired a shot out of his window.” When officers arrived at the scene, Santiago and Barrett were involved in a heated argument, with the former still inside his apartment and the latter still wearing his clown mask, and the girl was too afraid to come out of the apartment. She eventually emerged after a woman inside the apartment escorted her out. Police then reportedly had to separate Barrett and Santiago and ended up calling for backup after they got into a heated argument, with Barrett saying that Santiago had fired his gun at him, rather than in the air. The wayward father said that he had used to clown mask as a prank to discipline his daughter as she was misbehaving at both school and at home, and that he joke had got out of hand unintentionally. It's also emerged that the little girl's mother has been put into prison for stepping her daughter and breaking her ribs. Barrett was charged with child endangerment and inducing panic, while Santiago was charged with using a weapon while intoxicated. Both men have been released and are now scheduled to appear in court shortly. It's a pretty shoddy display of parenting, and definitely isn't a responsible way to discipline your child for their misbehavior. Although, with the popularity of "It", don't be surprised to see more scary clown incidents happening soon.

I like to think of myself as a stable, unflappable person, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that I might be a coward. Owls, moths, bears, commitment; the list goes on, but I spend a lot more time being afraid than the average guy. As much as a yellow-belly as I am, there is one thing, however, that gets my amygdala riled up more than most.

Ever since John Wayne Gacy was sentenced to death in 1980 for the murder of 12 people (with plenty more alleged), clowns have become less a symbol for whimsy than a harbinger of gory oblivion, and the likes of the Joker, Pennywise or Ronald McDonald - shudder - have done little to change that public perception.

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But as we all know, reality is scarier than any piece of pop culture. So that's why it was so terrifying when people in Killer Clown costumes started showing up around this time last year. And the year before that. We thought that this dumb prank was done, but I regret to inform you that the Killer Clown craze is back in 2018 for round three.

Yay. Aren't you excited?

The first reported sighting of the 2018 flavour of the Killer Clowns occurred out in Dartford, Kent, where a pair of young boys were cycling in Joyden's Wood in a scenario eerily similar to Stephen King's IT, where experts suspect the Killer Clown craze originated. They claimed they saw a clown, holding something "which looked like a knife".

The boys claimed that the clown shouted "run or die", so they decided to go for option A. Running home, the boys' parents decided to call the police, who went out in their cars to investigate the clown sighting. In a development that won't surprise you, the cops found nothing, as they revealed in a statement.

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"We were called at 6.46pm on September 14 to a report of a person dressed as a clown in Tile Kiln Lane," explained a Kent Police spokesperson. "Patrols in the area were advised of the incident but no person matching the description was seen."

Meanwhile, Gloucestershire, where a ton of sightings were reported back in 2016, has been on red alert for the heavily made-up costumers this time around. "We are not aware of any clown incidents this year," said a spokesperson for the Gloucestershire police, but the "yet" only barely needed to be implied.

"Dressing up as a clown in public isn’t illegal but there is a public order offence of being threatening or abusive in a way which is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress so we could potentially take action dependent on the circumstances of the incident. If a knife is carried then there are also potential possession offences."

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It seemingly comes like clockwork in autumn, doesn't it? Pumpkin Spice Lattes, sweater weather, and now people in terrifying clown costumes designed to scare the pants off you. Stay safe out there, folks. No clownin' around.

Two years ago, in 2016, a strange and disturbing trend emerged. "Killer clowns", as they were known, began appearing in public spaces: on streets, near schools, in forests - first of all just in the USA, but later in Europe, South America, and Australia/New Zealand.

At the time, many people brushed the incidents off as mere nuisances, but there were actually a few violent altercations at the time. Several clowns - many of them teenagers - in multiple countries were arrested because of attacks and/or threats of violence against others, and dozens were reported to have been carrying weapons such as bats and axes in the middle of the day.

Eventually, the weird fad slipped away about as subtly as it arrived... but not for long.

Now, the face-painted freaks are back, and they're threatening to terrorise the streets of Australia during Halloween next week.

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On Facebook, a group called "Clown Purge Sydney" recently posted a rather menacing status asking "Who's going trick or treating?"

It is believed that the group may be planning to dress as clowns much like those that were seen in 2016 in order to spook people while they're out celebrating Halloween - but no clear plans have been set out on the Facebook page. An earlier post saw them discussing potential locations for their antics, but, again, it doesn't appear as if anything was confirmed (at least, not on the public forum).

Some people obviously took the group as a joke, and posted funny comments on the status - but others weren't so happy about the message.

"I don't even know why you clowns are doing this, what are you trying to do, scare us?" wrote one person. "Well, it's stupid. Get a job."

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Hopefully, if anything does actually happen, it won't be anywhere near as bad as the episodes that happened in the past.

Four out of every five US states had at least one report of clown activity in 2016, and Great Britain also saw some particularly worrying incidents.

In the UK, a 17-year-old was jailed after terrorising a pregnant woman. The teenager had chased the woman and her partner down the road while brandishing a foot-long axe. Luckily, he was caught and charged with brandishing a lethal weapon.

In another instance, a 13-year-old boy was arrested for scaring people in the street. One witness, a 17-year-old girl, spoke of her terror when she said that, "As I saw the full clown costume, I noticed the mask and I just turned round and ran back up to the top of the street and every time I was looking over my shoulder it was still chasing me." The boy was in possession of a knife at the time, and was given a warning about his behaviour but eventually released.

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If the clowns do make a resurgence, make sure to be vigilant. Some of the people in costume are just being pranksters, but others could pose a serious danger to you, and so it's important to make police aware if you think somebody could be in trouble.