A clown amongst a crowd
A person dressed in a clown costume stands amongst attendees during the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 31, 2016. Reuters/Andrew Kelly

The killer clown craze has terrorised yet another helpless victim. The bizarre phenomenon that started out as a prank has now gone too far, having spread across the world and instigating both emotional and physical harm.

A clown sighting proved to be a nightmare for a woman from Robinhood Street, Gloucestershire, when a “killer clown” physically harmed her at her own home on Wednesday. It all started when the victim heard some kind of noise outside her window. When she went to open the door to check out what it was, she stumbled upon a man dressed in a killer clown costume standing right on her doorstep.

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The woman immediately shut the door but wasn’t able to prevent harm from happening as the assailant was able to insert a knife through the letterbox hole that ultimately pierced her leg. Local authorities are investigating the incident and have launched a manhunt.

“House to house and other inquiries have been taking place. Officers are continuing to work on identifying the motive behind this incident and who was responsible,” a representative of Gloucestershire Police said according to The Daily Express.

The UK police confirmed that they have received a number of reports in October involving trouble-causing clowns. The attack on the woman seems to be an isolated case locally, though, as no other attacks were reported by residents around the same area.

The UK has recently been plagued by the killer clown phenomenon. One clown incident occurred at a Cambridge University college where a costume-donning man crashed a fine dining event. In Bournemouth, a clown reportedly took down a man while the victim was walking towards home.

In Southampton, a boy of 13 wearing a clown mask was severely injured after he was hit by car, proving that not all pranks are essentially safe or fun. West Midlands authorities have reportedly arrested a boy of the same age after he supposedly attacked another teen while donning a clown disguise. An 18-year-old from South Wales was also taken into custody and received a £90 (AU$147) fine following a clown prank that involved scaring students as they were leaving school premises.

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