Join Tristram Clayton as he takes a closer look at the global creepy clown phenomenon. He speaks to the world-renowned expert in mass hysteria, Sociologist Robert Bartholomew to find out more.
The World Clown Association president says he is totally against the current worldwide craze of people dressing up as clowns to terrorise people.
Randy Christensen said the craze was being propelled by social media and the association did not consider people participating in it as clowns.
"We're full of people that love children, bring smiles and want to help people laugh and bring comic relief," he said.
"The people dressing up are trying to scare people, no professional clown would ever take part in anything like that."
Christensen said clowns who were members of the association had had job cancellations and felt the incidents were having a negative impact on how society viewed them.
The first incidents were reported this month of clowns trying to lure children into woods in South Carolina in the US.
World Clown Association president Randy Christensen. Photo / Supplied
The trend has spread globally, including to New Zealand and Australia.
A 22-year-old Hamilton woman was attacked by two clowns in the early hours of Saturday morning and, last week, there were reports of a clown scaring children at a Porirua school.
A day before the Hamilton attack, Waikato District Police posted on its Facebook page that people were "getting freaked out by kids/trolls creating fake Facebook profiles with stupid names and a clown profile picture".
"To date we haven't locked up any murderous clowns purging towns as they have promised."
It instead encouraged people to block and report the profile on Facebook and for people to calm down if they did see a clown in public.
The post also told people to call police if they felt threatened or "maybe ask them to juggle or tie a balloon animal to see if they're legit".
Along with NZ-originated Facebook pages such as Clown Watch and New Zealand Clown Spotting suddenly appearing, pages for clowns have also been set up in the past week with the so-called clowns telling people when and which city they are heading to.
In Australia, a 19-year-old man dressed as a clown was accused of chasing a group of teenage girls to a Western Australia police station on Saturday night.
He was charged with disorderly behaviour and possessing a disguise, which is unlawful if used to conceal one's identity while committing an offence.
A woman reported hitting a pedestrian dressed as a clown in Perth about 12.30am on Sunday, but the person could not be found after they ran into nearby bushland.
Victorian, Queensland and South Australian police have warned people they do not tolerate any anti-social behaviour.
A Facebook group called Perth Clown Purge began last week, telling followers "we are coming".
