I was reminded of this by a Facebook conversation with my Sister:
Since then,
I’ve thought about it and tried to find things online about it.
I found about 2 mentions of it on the entire internet and they were pretty useless.
Here’s how I remember it…
Sometime around 1991 when I would have been 9,
There were rumours of men going around Glasgow & Lanarkshire (Where I lived) in transit vans dressed as clowns.
Royal Blue Transit Vans.
The story goes that these guys were escaped psychopaths from Carstairs Hospital hell bent on disfiguring and murdering children in the area.
Myth? Rumour? It probably was but friends of mine who are the same age as me and from different parts of Scotland have told me that the story was around in their schools at the same time too.
I think that there must have been something in it.
Just enough truth to build on y’know?
Because I remember an assembly being held in my School.
All the children were told to go straight home at the end of the day and “If you even see a Royal Blue Transit Van children, Run!”
…Like all Holy Hell all the way home.
That was always at the front of our minds when we walked home everyday.
We’d talk about it on the way and the stories (Probably invented by our imagination) grew and grew.
I grew up in Mossend which is a wee part of Bellshill.
I know for a fact that the Bellshill clown story got mixed up with another local story.
In Mossend when I was really young, there was a gypsy camp a stones throw from my house.
Apparently, there was a gypsy called Tommy who would cut both sides of your mouth open then pin you down and tickle you whilst jig-sawing your face with a blade.
In Bellshill at the time, that wasn’t that far fetched.
Ha ha!
I’m laughing like a looney tune as I’m typing this!
It’s funny now but see when you’re 7?
It’s fucking far from funny my friends!
Far from it.
OH!
I don’t mean to go off on tangents but I need to tell you this:
Later when I was 12, I made friends with a gypsy girl whose name I’ve long forgotten.
She stayed in a caravan at the camp near my house and one day she invited me to her home and her Dad goes:
“Who’s this then?”
She said: “Oh this is just Alan from School”.
Then her Dad goes: “Well nice to meet you Alan. My name’s Tommy”.
I instantly thought to myself: “It’s Tommy The Gypsy!”
I nearly had a massive stroke right there and then folks!
Anyways back to 1991:
That ‘Tommy The Gypsy’ story got lumped in with the clown Story and it became:
‘Psychopathic men dressed as Clowns going around knifing and kidnapping and jig-sawing children’s faces in a Royal Blue Transit Van’.
I’m almost positive that it made the papers at the time but I haven’t found anything yet.
One time when me and my pal Stephen were walking through a lane,
A Transit Van pulled up slowly blocking the bottom of the lane.
Royal Blue.
That lane was our only way home.
We fucking rocketed right down passed that van and Stephen gave the back doors of it a boot and shouted something imaginative like “FUCK YOU! YOU CLOWN FUCKS!”
(Even as kids we knew how to swear!)
…But I couldn’t give the van a kick.
I was too scared.
Stephen wasn’t.
But then again,
Most kids’ experience of clowns in 1991 was Ronald McDonald.
My folks let me see and read whatever I liked.
My experience of clowns in 1991 was Pennywise!
Folks!
If any of this even rings a slight bell with you, please post your stories here on this blog ‘cause I’d love to hear them.
Especially if you grew up in Lanarkshire or Glasgow.
Even if you’re from anywhere else actually!
If you have a similar story involving Clowns, post it here and we’ll try and get to the bottom of this.
I’m not scared of Clowns.
No really!
I’m 28 Years Old.
I’m not.
But all the same,
I’m still really wary of Royal Blue Transit Vans.
I remember that killer clowns stuff like it was yesterday, every 2 minutes it was “killer clowns this transit vans that” it got to the point where weans actually developed phobias of transit vans rather than psychopathic clowns. You are totally right about the papers, I remember reading it in the paper too and we all got a letter home from school about it. What you need to do is try to speak to someone who was teaching around 91-92 and they’ll probably have a clearer memory of it all.
A propos your gypsy Tommy story, well, a similar story was proposed to me also – but it had nothing to do with gypsies. I was told that it was hysteric ravers in hysteric raver gangs, out their faces on E, that would give each other this “Chelsea Smile” as it was known to us at the time. Freaked me right out. Google chelsea smile see if you get anything.
You see we had the clown in vans story but I’m almost certain it pre-dates 1991… I started secondary in 1992 and it was well before that. I’m sure I was a tot – maybe Primary 3 or 4 which would make it nearer 1987-1989ish
Also, just found this although it may be one of the two things you already found!
http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=280&sid=3e7e51f337e7d66da58c9a8e9364a68c
Yeah I remember these clown guys.
I was just at Bellshill academy in first year when the stories were about.
We actually got a mob together and hung about up the bing looking for them.
We would have shit a brick and built an outhouse if we did see them but I think deep down we kinda knew we wouldn’t see them, I mean if they were real and the police with their modern technology at that time couldn’t catch them then how the flying fuck sticks is a bunch of 11 year old boys gonna catch them with a crow bar?
The stories i heard were as Al said, they kidnapped kids, gave them smilers and all other sorts of evil shit.
Our schools did in fact tell us all to go straight home and avoid any blue transit vans, so if a pink one with balloons hanging out of it with “Corky the clown” painted on the side of it pulled up then we wouldn’t have thought twice.
Thing is, if they were real and everyone knew about the blue transit vans then I think they would have maybe changed their mode of transport or got a spray job.
To think about it now makes me laugh, even at the fact that adults thought it was true…so many holes in the myth that i now see, but it was kinda fun to make believe there were crazy killer clowns running about.
Happy days.
I grew up in East Kilbride, and I can clearly remember being warned of ‘killer clowns’ in a blue van. I was around seven at the time, so this would have been 1993 or so. I’ve discussed this with many of my friends, of varying ages, from different towns in Lanarkshire, and all of them remember hearing the same story at around the same time.
This is all great folks.
I’m still digging about trying to find more on it so I’ll let yous all know if I find anything interesting.
Thanks for all the great replies so far!
i remember these clowns i grew up in milton glasgow i’m 30 now but remember being 8 maybe 9 (we’r talking 1987-9). we were told there was a transit van but they had some sort of play school graphics on the side to entice the children and they held the kids down put a blade in they’r mouth giving them a chelsea smile (made famous by the chelsea head hunters & casual’s). You’s are correct in saying it was in the papers cause my dad read the papers from cover to cover and i remember him showing me the paper to show me it was real. I came across this site as i was telling my 10 year old son and his mates ghost and horror tales, when i told them this 1 they nearly s**t themselves, so i decided to see if there was anything on the net bout it and voila.
who knows but it did make me & my mates walk in groups and run faster than usain bolt
I remember the Killer Clowns! East Kilbride in the late eighties, it was all people talked about at my primary school. The stories got more out there and the trepidation built until the day it culminated in mass hysteria when someone parked a blue transit van across the road from the playground. Good times!
It’s a total thrill to read these comments folks.
Cheers!
hehe what A laff ive had at this the night, lennon told me bout it , i said il google it its a myth , n found yer blog , n he was like a told u it was true ,hehe, obviously it was when their where the travellers in the area, jeso im ma day we only had to hide fae gerry lipstick lol bit he wis real!!!!
Karen, Do I know you?
Who’s Lennon?
I know a few Lennon’s.
Anyways,
Glad it gave you a laugh.
I’m glad people remember all this.
I thought I was imagining it all.
Cheers for the comment!
your friendly neighbourhood barmaid mr , karen fae saints infact not seen u in a while mr ?
Holyrood Secondary school. Across the public address system they had in every class:
“This is your headmaster speaking. Any further mention of “Killer Clowns” will result in suspension.”
Ha ha!
Ahahahaha!
I believe you all the way Ian.
That’s the best!
Cheers for chipping in.
I totally remember this! I was in primary 1 so it would be 1991 when it was going about Rutherglen. I remember sitting in the music room when someone said they seen the clown at the window and everyone in the room (including the teachers) went mental! We had a big grassy hill with a fence and some trees at the top and everyone was scared to go right up to the top in case the clowns were there. This along with watching Nightmare on Elm Street at the age of 7 has scarred me for life!
Did you go to Saint Columbkilles by any chance. When I was in p2 there in 90/91 I remember them vividly. I remember it was September, because I had just been off for a week on holiday with the rents, and came home to school to a hysteria about killer clowns. I can remember being in the playground and the blue van came up. I also remember getting a letter sent home about it. The hill the the school sat on, there was a man who had a blue transit van, and everyone said he was the killer clowns, he wasn’t just unfortunate to have a blue van.
I also remember to the year 94, and I met a girl who was a year younger than me from Bishopbriggs I think. And she too had heard the same stories
i remember this i grew up in bishopbriggs and me and all my friends walked home together because of the killer clown, they would cut you to form a smile then rub pepper in the wounds. we were all so scared and one time me and my friends were in th eplayground on a saturday at woodhill primary and a blue transit van pulled up at the gates we absolutly s**t ourselves and two me got out we just ran for it luckily my house was near.
I grew up in East Kilbride and there was also the myth, but it was mid 90s as i started primary in 92! We would always take turns to watch at the wall for the killer clowns to warn everyone of them coming, cept we thought they lived in the forest, god knows what was going on, i actually just googled it coz i meant to read up on it to see if it was true! Loads of my friends remember it and i think it was all a big conspiracy to make us go home straight away or something.
I went to Johnstone High, just outside of Paisley, and we had the same story too. Bunch of mentalists dressed as clowns running around giving wee kids Chelsea Smiles with sharpened credit cards! This would have been somewhere between 91-94, I really can’t be sure exactly when.
We were told the guys had escaped from Dykebar Mental Hospital and were hiding out in a local ruined castle! I got so scary that I faked a sickie and stayed in my room for 2 days!
No idea if there is any real substance to this story, but it’s brilliant to here it again after all these years! Interesting to see that this went across the whole of West-Central Scotland!
i remember the killer clowns in the transit vans… i remember getting sent home with a letter from my primary school and making my mum or dad pick me up every day. i also remember never go out to play on my own and one day when i was told to go out n get frash air i was playing with my dolls pram when a blue transit van parked right beside me i remember vividly to this day screamin n shoutin n crying please dont kill me whilst runnin up my front path!!!
to this day am petrified of clowns i cant even look at a cartoon clown without feelin paniced! i am still extreamly scared of blue transit vans and always pick up speed while walkin if one is driving toward me or parked in the street
scary shit!!! me no likey x
Hi Chrissie,
Thanks for that comment.
That is very creepy.
We had something like this in massachusetts in the states when I was young id say 93 to 96. I remember bringing home flyers about it same exact idea clowns of tourment in a van. But I can find anython about it
omg!
Im 14 at the moment, and this was a story that floated around my school when i was younger aswell!
i was born in 1996, and since then i have terrifying childhood memorys of being out and about, when someone see’s a blue van and yells that the clowns were coming!
probably the scariest experiance of my life, looking back i find it silly,
but the fear of running and knowing that all your friends were ahead of you , was really frightening!
in my experiance the story is still going on today!
Thats funny, I do remember hearing about some clowns but its all mixed up in my mind, the transit van was linked with another story about old men in a van parking at the shops near our primary offering kids sweets. The killer clowns thing I didnt really pay much attention to as i allways thaught i could outrun them lol. at the time i was watching movies like IT, Killer clowns, Childs play so killer clowns didnt seem that scary for some reason.
My childhood memory is so bad to be honest, Tomo will be able to remember it better im sure!
Hi Alan,
I’m 22 and also an East Kilbrodian.
Was really, really chuffed to find this. Just writing an urban legend up on the creepypasta forums about this (as well as the fabled Witch’s Eyes and Nose if anybody remembers going down the burn) and decided to type it into google and see what happens.
The stories are the same. I think I was in primary 3 at Canberra PS when I first heard the tale, it came from those in the primaries well above us and I always assumed they’d made it up. Apparently the clowns lived in Mosseneuk woods and drove a blue transit van. They would park up near schools and shops then kidnap kids and take them back to the woods to kill them.
There was ONE incident when I was at school, again I was probably P3-P4, where a blue van appeared at the very bottom of the hill beyond the football pitch at school. It was just on Westwood Hill Road and parked on the grass. The playgrounds were segregated then and P3′s were kept in a small area close to the building. P6′s and P7′s appeared en masse and started telling us the clowns were here and we all edged out of the playground to get a look.
Sure enough, Royal Blue transit parked right down on the road with nobody inside it or walking around it. We were all panicking, telling tales and worrying. It was harder for us as the younger kids but even the P6′s and 7′s seemed scared.
Eventually Mr Mitchell, who I think was an assistant head at the time, went down to check it out and it turned out it was a couple of workies with a flat tyre or something like that. I can’t remember exactly. I do remember standing on the plaground at the top of the hill, staring down with the other kids and being very stricken about the whole thing.
Neil
It’s amazing to hear hall of these tales.
Keep ‘em coming folks!
I remember this well im 25, it would have been 1989 when i was in p1 and the stories where going around about the killer clowns in a transit van, I grew up in Easterhouse and I seem to remember they had names and each had a prefered way of gutting small children, I remember someone in my school saw them doing doughnuts on the red ash pitches behind my school, we went to check it out and sure enough there where tracks on the ash but whether it was the clowns in a transit van or some joyrider will probably never be know, I was that scared I wouldnt stay out past 5 lol
Hi Alan
I,m 25 and I grew up in Easterhouse and I remember this well when I was in p1/p2 so around 89/90. We where all told by the school that we where to go straight home after school and not to hang around because of the killer clowns. I remember one day I was terrified because I had to stay out and go to the opticians with my mum and I begged her to get a taxi home incase the clowns got us on the walk home. Another story was that there was red ash football parks behind the school and someone saw the transit van on the pitch doing doughnuts and sure enough when we checked it out there where the tyre marks. I’d love to know if the rumours are still floating about 20 years later lol.
Me and my mate where telling both our wifes about this in which they thought we where talking shite! ! My memory of “THE CLOWNS” was that if you saw a blue transit you ran like fuck unless you wanted a new smile! ! A few of my friends and i thought we saw these “clowns” but cant be 100% as you had more chance of the pope becoming a protestant than catching us when we saw the van and about 4 guys in bright colors getting out!!!! Scary??? no FUCKING TERRIFYING ! ! ! My mate however remembers that in Coatbridge North Lanarkshire about the same time 1991 these guys where going about taking weans off the street and doing unspeakable things to them!! Always outside Tommy Tangos they would get you!!! Cant believe that other people remember this !!!
would be good to know how this all started, was so scary. i was born in 1987 and can remember bein about 3 livin in castlemilk and older cousins n other kids talkin about this, fuckin terrified me and wouldn’t walk more than about 3 feet from the door of the flats. Went to school in pollok and in Primary 5 so 1997 the rumours all started up again, just the same shit killer clowns goin about in blue transit vans givin people a glasgow smile. A girl in ma class came in one day and said a blue transit van had followed her home n everyone totally freaked. Can’t remember if the teachers sent a letter home or if they knew it was all bullshit. Think there would be much more real news stories about fuckin killer clowns chasin school weans about for ten years if it was real :-p
I can confirm Ian’s account of headmaster Finbarr Moynihan threatening suspension of anyone spreading this urban myth at Holyrood, caused much laughter in the classroom…!
i was not born till 1996 and dont even live in Nj and i tell you someone brought this up in class and everyone started freaking out so i decided to look it up. And I will never look at a van the same way again.
I am 33 and remember being fully informed of the threat of killer clowns and to be wary of blue transit vans by a girl in our class. This was at St Joseph’s Primary, North Woodside, Glasgow. It was between 87-89 definitely but I do remember quite clearly the story recurring in the early 90′s as the younger kids began to recycle the story. I was told of a boy who was caught by the clowns in the west end and subjected to a terrible ordeal. It is amazing the consistency of this story. Always the blue transit which were so common back then and I think I do remember the chealsea smile bit too. No letters home that I remember but I will need to check with my maw on that but we certainly ran like fuck from blue transits for the best part of 2 years.
I lived in viewpark, uddibgston and I remember it exactly as you have said it, nut jobs escaped from carstairs taking kids in a blue transit and slicing there face open! Scary stuff! I’m almost positive we had an assembly about it too! And no mater who you spoke to about it, they had all ” seen” the blue van!
I’m from motherwell and this story was rife in the late 80s, we were all warned about the blue transit and killer clowns whos sole mission was to catch kids, give them a Chelsea smile and tickle them till it got wider!! If u saw a blue van and didn’t want a new smile u had to run like f**k!!
It was in the paper if i remember correctly and adults seemed as freaked as the kids so there must have been some hype about it!
They came to our school- I was in p2 (1992)! There were about 6 of them came hurtling out of th back of th van at lunch time! It was terrifying and I still remember it!x
Ahhhh the memories reading these posts!
I was about in P2 when the Killer Clowns stories were going around so would have been about 1991/1992 and I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Im from Maryhill in Glasgow and the stories are the same the Chelsea smiles and the blue transit vans – im sure someone said that the windows were covered in tin foul and there was balloons tied to the wing mirrors.
Like Dave McG I was also told of that story about the young boy in the West End. The stories were rife at the time and I remember my Mum telling me when she was young in the late 1960′s early 70′s that there was a gang called The Mummies – who also may have had a Transit van also – who dressed up in bandages, had nine inch nails and more or less done the same things. This was also in Maryhill and surrounding areas.
I wonder if there really is an element of truth in these stories!!
Right, I have really had a good think about this and I can now recall being given a talk by our P7 teacher meaning it was 87/89. All of us, from that point onwards, were to walk straight home from school. We were not to hang about chatting and if a blue transit pulled up, run all the way home and tell an adult. We were told that they may offer sweets to us but clowns were not mentioned. The girl in our school who seemed to know more about it did mention that they may be dressed as clowns.
it has been mentioned elsewhere and I will at some point get round to verifying this but in September 88 there were 40 or so reports to South Lanarkshire police concerning two men in a royal blue transit van and also a man dressed as a clown driving a mini in Hamilton who had approached children with sweets. Whether these two incidents were connected is not clear and the police never found the men with the van.
The later ‘Killer Clown stories that became so strong from 1991 onwards are very reminiscent of popular fiction. Firstly they only became known as the ‘Killer Clowns’ from 1991 onwards with the name directly inspired by the 1988 movie, ‘Killer Klowns from Outer Space’. Secondly the concept of these sickos, often thought of as Gypsies, who take pleasure in the mutilation of children is extremely close to the fictional Gypsy band of ‘Comprachicos’ from the Victor Hugo novel ‘The Man Who Laughs’. They buy children to mutilate. The central character Gwynplaine is mutilated by the Comprachicos and given a permanent smile by cutting his face. A very dark novel indeed and is the direct inspiration for the Batman character of ‘The Joker’.
Something very real did happen and I feel a few trips to the Mitchell Library coming on, there will be written evidence of the original incidents upon which these later glosses were added and I intend to return to this blog with a full and comprehensive report.
Im 14 and from Drumchapel . It was the 12 of Febuary 2011 and i went to get a game of football with my little brother and 3 friends but another friend was to come and the 1 that was to come came and he sayed to me he was on msn and the CHELSEA CLOWNS are suppose to be up up here tonight because last week some one got put in a blue transit van and so we didnt even play our game of cuppy we were frightend so much so i was so scared but little brother was so frightend he even holded my hand so obvisouley you would do anything for your brother and their we seen it a blue transit van i have never felt so frightend in my life and we jumped over backs and everything untill we reached my house because it was closest and my friend was scared he wanted to go home he stayed about 10 mins away so we started walking him home and these 2 guys in a car slowed down right in front of us and rolled down the window and just stared at us we ran again until car went again so we walked my friend home and thank god we seen one of my other friends grans and she drove us all home and we just stayed in mine for the rest of the night with a fifa tournament
We had the transit van full of clown child snatchers in Hamilton too. My memory is it came shortly after james bulger was killed. Everyone was terrified. It started as one clown with balloons that had kidnapped a child and grew to a gang that drove round in a transit van. They warned us about the dangers of walking to and from school and my mum got so scared that she phoned the polis to ask if it was true. and the woman she spoke to said that they were getting loads of phone calls from worried parents about the van full of killer clowns and that they had no idea where it had come from.
I thought this weird myth had sunk into oblivion – its good to see yous all remember it too.
new roumer about a red and white van kidnapping a girl from larkhall lol im from hamilton and i remeber every time there was a van as a child , we would assume it was the clowns who put credit cars in your mouth and made you smile so it would cut you and give u a permanant clown smile lmao!!
i remember the clown story a stayed in lanark and when a was at primary school and remember the blue transit, a think it was a big conspiracy made up by parents! i knw people at the same age and they remember the same story! lol i cnt find any newspaper articles from bk then either.
i remember it!!! i think your right about the years though as i was in primary mustve been 91, from larkhall!!
Larkhall?
I know it very well.
Those killer clowns sure did get around didn’t they?
I remembered the killer clowns!! I’m 28 and went to Cardonald primary and think i was about 8 at the time when the stories were going about! me and my pals were terrified! The thing i remember most was the chelsea smile and the runour that they would slit the corners of your mouth then put vinegar in them so your face would split. Oh just remembered this as i’m typing, they would ask you if you wanted a sad or happy smile, then either make the slits go up or down at the corners of ur mouth before putting vinegar on it! Wonder where it all came from! I remembered watching IT at the time (far too young!) and that was the clown i imagined!!
Ah yes.
The old ‘slash your face up then put vinegar in the wounds’ trick.
Classic!
Thanks for the comment Denise.
I’m glad that the killer clowns didn’t get you.
Stephen King’s “IT” is a fantastic book!
One of my favourites actually.
I read it it every year.
The clown thing definitely happened, at our school there was an emergency assembly and letters got sent home about it. This was St. Pat’s Primary in Coatbridge. But I think it was earlier than ’91 as I was heading to high school that year, so maybe ’89 or ’90.
Also, anyone remember the rumour about tattoo transfers with drugs in them? That was another school assembly/letters home situation that I vividly recall
Hi Ian, thanks for the comment.
As you know, Bellshill is right beside Coatbridge so I’m not surprised that you knew about this.
I’m 30 this year and that tattoo/drugs thing rings a wee tiny bell with me.
A wee tiny one but I remember…something about it.
Al, i’m sure we had this conversation in tge college bar months back. Me and Janet investigated it as well. The best i can come up with is William John Gacey (i think). He was an american serial killer in the 70s who raped and murdered like 30 young men and boys. He was a kids entertainer called Pogo the clown and thats how he became know as… THE KILLER CLOWN!!! I dont know if that story is related though. Maybe it was that, mixed in with the film IT, mixed in with a gang that was running around at the time in a blue transit van. Maybe they were robbers in clown masks that slashed someone and the story just evolved from there.
Hi Sean, good to hear from you.
John Wayne Gacy has nothing to do with this but yep, he was an American killer who dressed as a clown.
This was a Glasgow/Lanarkshire thing.
You should ask your Mum for more information.
Think to yourself: “What would Nancy from “A Nightmare On Elm Street” do?”
P.s. My mum just confirmed they were real and its all true. Thats all she’ll say. She’s being really cagey about it. Like she’s hiding something. Proper chill down my spine. What if its some consiracy like in nightmare on elm st and our parents are keeping it from us!
Ok i’ve been thinking about this and one particular memory came flooding back.
I was about 5 so we’re talking 1991. I was at St Teresa’s Chapel in Possilpark with my mum and big sister and loads of other people. Think it was a communion or confirmation or something like that.
We were all standing outside and suddenly some wee guy shouted that the clowns were here just because a blue transit van was creeping up the drive. Of course all the kids started running and freaking out, you’d expect that, but our parents were seriously panicked aswell. So even though i doubt that blue van was anything but genuine, the fact that the adults were terrified and ushered as back inside surely means there was defo something going on. Also, my pal said they chased her down by the forth and clyde canal in lambhill with a knife. Think she may have made that up though lol
P.s the guy i mentioned earlier was john wayne gacey**
Hi, I found this while looking up info of killer clowns online, I heard it was a pyscological experiement, rumour spread from one of the glasgow uni’s, wanting to see the difference in reaction to children and adults, but I cant find any proof on this.
glad i came across this site i stay in castlemilk and i can remember around 1990/92 always being warned about clowns in a blue van even my aunt who was an adult at the time can remember a warning from the school about it i have been trying to find out more about it because although it has obviously been exaggerated i think there must be some truth in it and the fact that there is no actual cases of it reported there was a quite a number of children who were goin missing in glasgow at that time and some never found i know this because i have been researching this for a while and there is so many storys that match up from the same time. i think it started when a group of clowns turned up at a primary in coatbridge i think and started painting the fence and trying to hand out sweets to the kids but bolted when a teacher showed up then after a spate of sightings the police warned all schools in the glasgow area to be vigilante. and another creepy fact is that 3 “dangerous patients” escaped from carstairs in 1989 and were never found. there have been loads of similar things happened in u.s.a so i have believed there was something in it.
I remember these stories all too well
When these stories were doing the rounds I was 8 years old (I’m 29 now) and living in Ballieston at the time, I honestly can’t remember when the stories began or who told me about the clowns for the first time but I remember it being mentioned all over the playground and even in sunday school.
.
There were stories going around about these evil clowns in their blue transit van which had the teenage mutant ninja turtles painted on the side (they were big at the time) and depending on who told you the story the fate suffered by unsuspecting children who fell victim to the clowns were varied, the usual stuff about the chelsea smile was there but there were variations too, for example the clowns gave you sweets which were poisned or they painted your face with poisoned face paint there were also some other variations on the myth such as when they put you in the back of the van they put you in a cage with big vicious dogs, I’m not sure if it was just in the Ballieston area were we had these variations on the myth or if we had a differn’t gang of killer clowns
i also remember at Caledonia primary school for some reason there was a specific day that the clowns were going to come (I vaguely remember it being a thursday) groups of us positioned ourselves around the playground to watch for the clowns to warn everybody when the clowns were coming, thursday came and guess what, nothing happened
8 year old me went along with the whole thing at the time of course despite reassurances from my mum that it was all nonsense (I don’t remember teachers ever mentioning it) but when nothing happened on the day that the clowns were definetly absulutely going to come to our school the story just died down after that (in my area anyway).
the whole killer clown thing is just an urban legend, it has all the perfect hallmarks of an urban legend, a story that came out of nowhere were nobody knows the origions of it it varied from area to area, and then of course there are the people who have claimed that schools had emergency assemblies and sent out letters about the killer clowns and of course even I knew people who claimed they saw the clowns blue transit van and only just manage to escape with their lives, I’d be curious to know if any of these letters about killer clowns have survived to this day (though thats highly unlikely) or if any teachers remember any such letters or assemblies because I’m a wee bit skeptical to put it politely
I remember the clown story too! I was in primary school on the southside, about p4-p6. so between 1990 – 1993. I only remember one day at interval or lunchtime everyone ran from one playground (on the main road) to the playground on the other side of the school, screaming and shouting about clowns. Im still in govanhill and theres probably more clowns here than there was then.
im 26 and grew up in EK. This story was terrifying . i still have a fear of clowns . I was told in the early 90s that there were a gang of men dressed as clowns driving about in a blue transit , bribing kids wae sweets that were poisned , theyd then kidnapp them n slit their faces in to joker esk smiles . Dunno if any of it was true but it scared the life out of me !!
I was just talking to my partner about this and we googled it, and I was really surprised to see so much stuff come up. I lived in Rutherglen during this time, and the clowns were apparently running around there. I can remember so many of these different stories – the chelsea smile, the poisoned facepaint, the transit van, and even the one day they were absolutely, definitely coming to pay us a visit to St Columbkille’s primary… Of course they never appeared. Awesome post, this has brought back so many memories…
Thanks for chipping in Garry!
I still can’t believe how many people remember this thing!
I can remember this so well and actually brings back some really bad memories there was all sorts of storys going round castlemilk for years about the escaped mental patients wearing clown masks.
Im sure that it started with the tragic murder of 10 year old christine lee in castlemilk early 1990 whos body was found not far from her home in an area known locally as the pond. witnesses say a suspicious blue van was in the area that day.
a 19 year old was eventually convicted of the murder although all forensic evedince against him failed. He claimed in his evidence to have seen a strange guy wearing a mask and “funny shoes like scuba diving flippers” when he passed the area around the time the young girl died of course adding more fuel to local rumours of psycho killers on the loose. He was convicted purely on the fact that he was walking his dog to the video shop at the time of the murder and would have passed the pond on his way and a statement from a friend whos house he visited before returning home saying he took a lot longer than he usually would have to make the journey. the forensic dna on the girls clothing failed to match the man convicted or any of the 300 local men tested at the time and the 3 different dog hairs found on the girl also never belonged to his dog.
obviously still a sore sublect locally but there is certainly some people who were never convinced with the conviction and the mention of the blue van and man wearing maskand flippers to my mind started the urban legend of the killer clowns in glasgow.
anyone else remember this or any other similar storys at the time ? it has always been seen as a very strange case to say the least. there was another in 1992 when a blue van supposodly full of people in clown masks was chased up castlemilk drive by police and the vans later found burned out up ballantay with parts of funny hats and wigs etc found at the scene.
very creepy.
I hv never laughed so much as I hv reading this…. I can remember these clowns n they hv scarred me 4 life – literally. My pal n I decided to walk home fae school 1 day n popped in 2 our local spar ( to spend wat was left of the lunch money ) I couldny decide between Ribena n Lucazade I ponder for wat felt like 5 mins, turned out it was 40 mins then we started our 10 minute journey home. Only to find our 2 frantic mothers storming up the Newmains Main Street screaming “Cheryl, Pamela” “yous 2 r gonna get yer arse rattled” and that we did friends. Scarred for life cos our mothers thought we were kidnapped by the clowns! Dunno wat their problems were we were only 45 minutes late! Cheryl has never forgiven me……. And I settled on Ribena!
I hv never laughed so much as I hv reading this…. I can remember these clowns n they hv scarred me 4 life – literally. My pal n I decided to walk home fae school 1 day n popped in 2 our local spar ( to spend wat was left of the lunch money ) I couldny decide between Ribena n Lucazade I ponder for wat felt like 5 mins, turned out it was 40 mins then we started our 10 minute journey home. Only to find our 2 frantic mothers storming up the street screaming “Cheryl, Pamela” “yous 2 r gonna get yer arse rattled” and that we did friends. Scarred for life cos our mothers thought we were kidnapped by the clowns! Dunno wat their problems were we were only 45 minutes late! Cheryl has never forgiven me……. And I settled on Ribena!
Hiya, found this blog whilst browsing Killer Clowns Blue Vans because I’m convinced I either ran away from (or imagined) running away from them. I went to Holy Family and when I was in primary five (I remember this cos my cousin was a ‘monitor’, i.e, watched younger kids in classes on breaks when weather was too bad to go out and they only did that in Primary seven and she’s two years older than me). This made me ten at the time so 1993, give or take.
Anyway, my mum worked in the precinct (that’s been tore down and is now houses), as did my aunt so me and my cousins would go over, have lunch there and go back. This day I was by myself, it was raining hard, street was empty, thought nothing out of the ordinary. I passed the ‘centre’, crossed the road so I was beside the school fence, yards from the gate and the blue van approaches as though driving round to the car park. I ran, if they chased I didn’t see because I didn’t look back but jesus did I run. I got into my class raving about what I’d seen to my cousin, I was upsetting the other kids so the headmistress took me away to properly question me. I don’t know if anyone checked but they could have been well gone by the time I’d convinced people I hadn’t intentionally made it all up.
Not long after that, all the kids were stopped from going out the gates at lunch. Not saying its because of me or what I saw, could have been change of policy, I have no idea but it’s been while since I recounted it step by step and I remember every detail.
I did not make it up but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the product of an over active imagination, again even I don’t know if it really happened or not but I remember it like I did so that’s my story.
I enjoyed reading that Nicola.
I went to Holy Family too y’know
Hiya,
Alan Cook? I’m twenty eight (coming up on twenty nine in March) and you should have been around my class at HF. Are you Hayley’s Bro? X
It’s not that I’m her Brother.
It’s more like, She’s my Sister.
Know what i mean?
But yep, that’s me.
Ah rite, lol, I’ve been Alison McDonald’s sister all my life, younger siblings dont get names. Oh and ask Hayley about the clown thing in P5…and I might have told her that they hid the victims under the big slabs that USED to be in the football park beside the old folks home as well :p
i remember the story from my childhood, but it was a white transit van, i lived in possilpark and my older brother told me the story, he said that they dressed as clowns cause they tried to gain little kids trust, he said that they would offer a lift home to children on their own saying that their parents sent them, they would drive off with the child and take them somewhere that no one could hear them scream. then they’d put a credit card in their mouths and ask if you were happy or sad, depending on your answer depended on if the slashed a smile or a frown onto your face. it terrified me when i was a kid. i know now as an adult that the stories aren’t true, but my sister still believes it to this day.
Hahaha lol Im from motherwell and i remember the clown story too! i must have only been in primay 1/2 when we got told the story! everytime me n my pals went to the shop and we seen a van we used to run like fuck! haha
We also got told a few years later that a woman n man were driving around wishaw and motherwell in a car trying to abduct children, im sure that was a true story as it was in the wishaw press and motherwell times!
There was also another Myth that went around in Motherwell when i was younger, the area i lived in had woods behind it (known as the gresham or doon the Clyde!) hehe \Down in that woods there are lots of stuff, dungeons, graveyards the lot! there is also this circle that is made out of wood with a littie wooden fence round it and scaryliy trees surrounding it in a perfect circle. and this was known as the witches circle. We were told that years before all the witches gathered there and did there spells. We were told that one of the witched known as the green lady still haunted the woods and if she found us in the woods that would be it for us! haha
Green Lady from Motherwell y’say?
I think I went out with her
Thanks for the input Charlie.
I was Mossend and you were Motherwell.
We were practically neighbours!
I can’t remember this becoz am only 19 but when I was younger I was told this story and even until this day parents and stuff tell it to there kids tae make them stay out a wee forrest area up it larkhall. Don’t know if anything happened up there but its always the same wee place people say don’t go in there coz the clowns will get ye and put ye in there transit van.
I was just talkin about this to my other half n sayin do u remember when we were at school…googled it and came across this! I went to primary school in east kilbride in the 90s n just like you we had an assembly and warned to go straight home for the same reason- it was terrifyin!!! My hubby was at school in strathaven and the same thing and yet when you look on the internet there doesnt seem to be much info!!
Thanks for the comment Natalie.
It’s now been over 2 years since I posted this article and we still don’t seem to be any closer to figuring out who was behind it all and why.
Ever see that film “A Nightmare On Elm Street”?
Remember how the parents killed Freddy and kept it secret from their kids?
I think the same thing is going on here with the clowns.
I grew up in cranhill and went to st modens primary I remember the clown story’s. I was 8 and one day a tea time a blue van sat outside the play ground everyone was saying there’s the clowns and we were all rushed into the school.
I went to Blacklaw primary in EK. I’m 29 and I remember the story of the killer clowns well. I think I was around 8 or 9 maybe and me and my wee pals used to play in the woods at the back of Benbeccy park, the ones that led to calderglen if you walked long enough and every time we saw an old tramp bed and discarded beer cans etc we would get ourselves into a state imagining we had found the clowns lair and kidding each other on that we had seen a shape moving in the trees. Once my pal and me saw a photographer takin a pic of a clowns mask outside the bookies at St Leonard’s Square and that freaked us out. like everyone else here I def remember it being a transit van and they would slash you. But I couldn’t remember if it was blue or white!! I googled this to see if I hadnt dreamt it or sumthin and it was so funny finding this blog!! Lmao. Thanks for the memories!! Def remember getting a note home from the head teacher too! I’d also love to know the origins of this story! My parents don’t even remember it!! Jen
Amazed to see so little about this on the internet but so many people have memories of it! I’m 15 so wasn’t at school during the time these stories were rife but the other day, my older sister mentioned this to me in a conversation and I thought I’d google it to see if I could get any more information. Basically what I’ve been told is what’s already been mentioned here but I think there’s surely got to be some truth behind these stories, though probably overexagerrated by kids, as they do. With the lack of information on this I almost want it to be true, well I’d atleast like to get a bit more information on it anyway. Funnily enough, the family at the end of my street own at least 4 vehicles and one of them IS a blue transit van! Honestly fucking shat myself when I remembered they had one after looking into this – it’s more of a kind of navy colour, but it’s definitely blue.. and the guy always has been quite weird, always out cleaning that van. I’d say he’s around 50. Not accusing him of being a killer clown or anything like that
But me and my best mate, who’s brother also has memories of the stories too, will be keeping a close eye on that fella’ guy. Definitely going to research this over the summer (yes, i have no life) and if I get any new information I’ll post it up. Cheers, Sean 
.
Ps: I’m from Castlemilk
I remember that but this happen in newark nj I was going to L.A. Spencer school I was in 5th grade it was a black van with tented windows and two small windows that had a diamond shape window and the other sidw was a spade or club it was the witch the clown raggedy ann and andy and a vampire it was crazy
I’m 10 and when I was 8 or 9 my friend liked to scare me by telling me about ghosts and stuff. One day she told me about these clowns and how they would staple your mouth up to your eyes and that’s called the Chelsea smile. And there was (and probably still is) a blue transit van round the corner from her house! But we never knew they were linked until I read this! I’ll need to tell her about this when she comes back from her dad’s. p.s. this was about 2010 to 2011 so they might still be going around.
i found this blog when i was looking for info on the killer clowns as we were discussing this today in work. I grew up in cranhill and i remember people talking about them. I remember my sister saying that a boy from her school who stayed at the top end of cranhill being attacked from them, apparently they took him in the back of the van and beat the hell out of him he must have been around 14. I also remember the police coming to my door in the middle of the night around 3am asking if i had saw a young girl around 7 years old who was playing outside my house that nigh apparently she never came home. The next thing i heard was the girl was found wandering the streets the following night at 11pm naked and crying. god knows if this was true or exaggerated
but i remember everyone saying it was the clowns that did it. I would luv to know if they were a myth or true.
lisa
Thanks for that Lisa. Terrifying stuff.
As you can see from the above comments, if it was only a myth, it sure did get around.
Thanks again for the comment and beware of Transit vans
HI, When i was around 14 yrs old 1991/2, dark nights, it was around 8.30pm and me and my friend were standing at a bus stop in Carntyne going home to Queenslie (Eastend of Glasgow). When a police car pulled up and a police officer got out asked us if we had seen a van with clowns in it.I thought it was white but they could’ve said blue am not sure. We laughed at them and said no we thought it was some sort of joke at first, then they told us that these clowns were trying to kidnap kids. we were terrified! they didn’t even offer to take us home they did wait for us to get on the bus tho. When i got off the bus i ran like the clappers until i was home Sooo scary!!
I’m 29, grew up in Newarthill and remember this so clearly!! killer clowns in a blue transit van abducting children, there was an assembly about it in my school too. this had to be true!! far too many people knew of this, it seems it was really demographicly spread too, which in the days before internet and mobiles is just bizarre for a rumour!
I grew up in East Kilbride and i started primary school in 1991/92. I remember hearing this story throughout primary school and others had heard it in my high school. interesting to see others had heard it! hope you’re all wrapped up warm tonight! :-\
This killer clown story circulated most schools in Castlemilk in the late 80′s (when I was at Castleton Primary). It was white transits though, not blue. Funnily enough I remember my mum berating other parents for being hysterical about idle, stupid rumour. There was a horror movie called Killer Clowns out at the time and I think that may have been part of it (I rented it from azad video ….remember that?…..).
Recently on Strathclyde Police’s Facebook page there has been similar parental mass hysteria about totally unsubstantiated nonsense about Asian men in a people carrier trying to abduct kids!! Literally thousands of comments and posts have been removed relating to these fake abduction claims were deleted off the Facebook as the police tried to ask people to stop spreading unnecessary panic. Mental.
I specifically remember that after Christine Lee was murdered the rumours stopped in our area….perhaps because suddenly there was a real boogie man to worry about. I actually found this blog while googling Christine lee as I figured her killer had probably been released by now?
Haha this was still around in the mid 90s when I was at primary school, Never helped there was an industrial estate near my school and every other bloody van was a blue transit, Safe to say a would have been in line with usain bolt for the gold medal back in they days
I am 31 I went to st monicas rc primary school in pollok glasgow in around 1991 something like that the janny came and took all the kids in at play time and said we were to be taken home by our parents and letters where given out. At the time my friends all said killer clowns were going about in a transit van giving kids ‘chelsey smiles’. I had watched the film ‘it’ and was sitting myself and to make matters worse my dad told me it was true!!! Lol
im 29 from motherwell and used to walk down from muir street past BnQ n everytime me or ma wee pals saw a blue van we were off lol bad times
I know that B&Q very well.
That’s probably where the killer clowns would go to buy supplies for all of their murdering.