Revealed: Police called 101 times in three weeks over Black Country 'killer clowns'
More than 100 calls were made from the Black Country to police over clowns in less than three weeks, shock figures reveal.
From the bizarre to the serious – all kinds of 999 calls relating to clowns were made to West Midlands Police from Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall.
The force responded in most of the cases, but no immediate arrests were made from any of the calls.
The calls ranged from a 'clowning sighting in a park' to 'people on a bus wearing clown masks' to 'threatened by clowns'.
They took place from October 1 to 19. There were no reported incidents in September.
In Walsall, 30 incidents were reported, in Sandwell there were 29, Dudley there were 23 and Wolverhampton there were 19.
A spokesman for the force said: "I don't have any further figures but have checked and we're not aware of any other recent incidents."
The figures reflect the hysteria caused by the 'killer clown' craze.
It also saw Childline Birmingham contacted 73 times by children afraid of clowns in October.
Nationally, the service was contacted 462 times, with 84 clown-related counselling sessions on one day alone.
The trend, which originally took hold in America, has recently crossed the Atlantic and seen dozens of people across the UK dress as clowns to scare people.
Staffordshire Police issued advice warning social media users not to like or share pages about the craze.
It hit its peak in the Black Country when footage was released of a 'killer clown' frightening a 22-year-old woman in Bloxwich High Street.
Shaniece Price was driving when she videoed the man in mask and long red hair running towards her car.
Miss Price, who works in a betting shop, said she fled into a nearby pub but the clown followed her and stood in the doorway. The clown stared at her before finally deciding to leave her alone.
In another incident a boy, dressed with a clown mask, approached a 14-year-old in Swan Lane, West Bromwich, grabbing his arm.
A photograph of clown reportedly lurking outside McDonald's in Kidderminster was posted on Facebook page Clown Sightings In The UK.
The craze turned so serious it started impacting professional children's entertainers who dressed as clowns.
Bridgnorth-based Flip the clown, who launched his act Flip, Dippy & Co more than 20 years ago, said: "All this is negative publicity that is not beneficial to those of us who earn a living working as clowns."
