--- description: The scary clowns are no Halloween treat for the French title: Just In Time For Halloween, Fake Clowns Terrorize French Cities image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea44551527615de3/698763c9524fc09176dea2c6/2609069.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Fake Clowns Terrorize France by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 31, 2014 6:30 PM CUT  Consumers Prepare For Halloween Consumers Prepare For HalloweenGetty Images by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 31, 2014 6:30 PM CUT Creepy clowns are freaking out the French. A rash of scary pranks carried out at night by the costumed characters have put police officers on alert. Teenagers dressed as clowns and carrying weapons have spooked many French citizens. The frightening characters have even led one town to ban the costume altogether for anyone over the age of 13. Southern California, New York City, and England have all experienced a creepy clown craze like the one in France in recent years. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3551471/fake-clowns-terrorize-france/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3551471/fake-clowns-terrorize-france/"},"headline":"Fake Clowns Terrorize France","datePublished":"2014-10-31T18:30:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:09:31.165Z","description":"The scary clowns are no Halloween treat for the French","url":"https://time.com/3551471/fake-clowns-terrorize-france/","keywords":["France","Crime","halloween"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea44551527615de3/698763c9524fc09176dea2c6/2609069.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea44551527615de3/698763c9524fc09176dea2c6/2609069.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Consumers Prepare For Halloween","caption":"Consumers Prepare For Halloween","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3551471/fake-clowns-terrorize-france/","name":"Fake Clowns Terrorize France"}}]}] ```