If you weren’t scared of clowns before, this may be a bad time to be.
A trend that started off as a minor annoyance over in the States last August seems to be catching on here in Ireland, as a number of people dressed as clowns have been spotted jumping out of bushes, or simply standing still on street corners, scaring unsuspecting passers-by out of their wits.
A few such incidents have been reported across Dublin over the last few nights, and with Halloween approaching fast, this sort of thing is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Balloon-wielding clowns have been detected around the Temple Bar and Drimnagh areas of Dublin so far, with copycat incidents possible elsewhere in the coming weeks.
If you’re out and about and see one of these clowns (pun intended), ignore and go about your business undeterred. Unless the balloons are leaning against the wind, in which case, you better run.