A group of 'It' inspired clowns are getting ready to scare unsuspecting citizens

Nope, nope, nope.
 By 
Shannon Connellan
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

If watching the new adaptation of Stephen King's novel It surrounded by a room full of clowns, or finding creepy red balloons floating around your neighbourhood wasn't messed up enough, let's amp it up with a group of 'pranksters' dressing up as clowns to scare an unsuspecting public.

Yeah, don't.

Because some people want to watch the world burn (read: are braver than me). A group of dwelling humans have planned to dress up as clowns and scare the living daylights out of peaceful citizens across Australia's capital cities, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

A page called 'Clown Purge Australia' has settled itself into Facebook, alongside city-dedicated pages for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. They've announced their intention to send out ten clowns to several areas across the country before Halloween, starting in Sydney on Saturday, Sept. 15. It feels like the 2016 clown sightings all over again, but more organised — and not to mention detrimental to concerned professional clowns.

"We're not here to harm, only here for a laugh and a good time 🤡," says this frankly terrifying image post:

Each clown will be found after solving a clue attached to a red balloon:

For the record, these are the folks you'll find at the end of the treasure hunt:

SMH reported that Roadshow Films have no official connection to the happenings. 

It's not the first prank stemmed from the film — YouTuber Ashley Ortega pranked her roommate, pranksters scared police with red balloons in Lilitz, Pennsylvania — the culprits turned out to be a group of five teenage girls.

Look, if this is your bag, go find the balloons — there are thousands of likes on the Facebook pages, so you're not alone. Just take a sneaky look at these images of an all-clown It screening first to know what you're getting yourself into.

Topics Stephen King

A photo portrait of a journalist with blonde hair and a band t-shirt.
Shannon Connellan
UK Editor

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.

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