Woman burns 'It' clown doll after it floats into her backyard
A New Jersey woman dealt with an unsettling plush clown appearing in her backyard in the most sensible way possible — by destroying it with fire.
Renee Jensen posted in "We Live In Bergen County," a local community Facebook group, about her harrowing encounter with a stuffed version of Pennywise. She and her boyfriend, Alex, were sitting in their backyard when they noticed something fly "out of the sky" and land on the ground.
"It didn't fall," she wrote in the Facebook post. "It like flew out of the sky without hitting any of the bazillion trees on our property."
The mystery object was a toy of Pennywise the Clown, the iconic supernatural villain from Stephen King's It. This version, albeit less terrifying than the depictions in the 1990 miniseries and the 2017 film, had a face covered in fake blood. It also had symbols written across its forehead in permanent marker.
The character is known for saying "We all float down here" in the book, the mini series, and the movie.
"Is there a prank going around to promote the new It movie?" she wondered in the post. "Pretty scary ... Thank God my kids aren't home."
She added that it "definitely" didn't come from the one neighbor who lives in the house next to hers. IT Chapter Two premieres in September.
She originally didn't want to contact law enforcement, convinced they wouldn't take her seriously. Other members of "We Live In Bergen County" goaded her into calling the police after her post gained traction. The two Harrington Park police officers who showed up assured her that reporting the incident was a good idea.
"They were hysterical," she told NJ.com. "They wouldn't touch it. They were totally creeped out too. It was so funny."
They didn't take the toy for evidence, but did suggest getting rid of it. So she took the most logical precautions and burned Pennywise.
At first, the demonic clown wouldn't catch fire — though as NJ.com notes, it's probably because toys tend to be flame retardant, not because of any supernatural protection. Jensen tried to soak it in olive oil to ignite, but that didn't work either. Eventually, she managed to finally set Pennywise ablaze with the help of newspaper kindling.
Jensen still didn't feel safe though — just in case, she made sure to take some spiritual measures, too.
"I had a stick of sage and I lit that thing," she told NJ.com. "I was walking around our whole entire property."
The owner of a Reiki and intuitive healing business nearby, Jensen was also concerned about the symbols written on the clown's forehead. She and her boyfriend couldn't find any information about the lettering online.
"It looked like weirdo occult satanic shit," she said. "Am I getting cursed or something?"
For a while after the incident, she kept weapons nearby her bed. In a Facebook message to Mashable, she said she felt safe enough in her home to stop.
"I'm not sleeping with a knife anymore," she said, adding a laughing emoji.
