Reports surfaced in England shortly before Halloween 2015 of people dressed as clowns stalking and trying to abduct—or at the very least scaring— children. According to the October 16, 2015, Daily Mirror:
Pupils have been warned to “go straight home after school today and not to loiter” as reports continue of schoolchildren being stalked by clowns. Kent Police have issued the caution after a number of “suspicious incidents” in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, in Kent. . . . Since then, there have been reports of people wearing clown masks being spotted in a van on St. John’s Road in Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday and Wednesday. Schools in the town issued their own advice after a boy was approached by two men in a van on Wednesday morning. Luckily he ran away and told his school what had happened. (see http://tinyurl.com/pzzzavh)