Clown prank scares West Bend teen into calling 911; homeowner cited

A big fear became a reality for one teen in West Bend as a person dressed in a clown costume made an appearance as a prank, scaring the teen into calling 911.

The West Bend Police Department said it reported to Decker Drive on Oct. 28, three days before Halloween, at about 6:53 p.m. following a frantic 911 call from a teen.

WISN obtained the 911 call. "There's a clown inside, like an actual clown, inside the house right now," the teen said to the dispatcher.

The dispatcher responds, "Do you know who it is?" The girl replies, "No."

The dispatcher asks the girl if anyone else is in the house and the girl says yes — her friend's parents.

West Bend police cited the 40-year-old homeowner with disorderly conduct. The homeowner spoke to a dispatcher, apologized saying he didn't know his daughter's friend called 911 and said it was a joke.

In a statement to WISN, West Bend police said, "(We recognize) this was intended to be a Halloween prank but the investigating officer believed it was carried too far when the parent involved didn't put an end to the joke before 911 became involved."

A recent survey from Chapman University in California found that about 5% of the U.S. population is "afraid" or "very afraid" of clowns. Fears of clowns is known as coulrophobia.

A recent study from the journal Frontiers is Psychology found that people with coulrophobia don't often cite a personal negative experience with a clown, but instead fear them for the following reasons:

• Unable to read the clown's facial expressions because of the paint.
• Clowns are unpredictable.
• A clown's exaggerated features, big red nose, egg head, neon-colored hair, are disturbing.
• Clowns are creepy and terrifying in horror films.