Clown craze is frightful for my industry
Boss of scariest attraction speaks out as it launches Halloween show Pitch-dark date with psycho-dolls
THE director of the UK’s scariest attraction says the “killer clown” craze is giving his industry a bad name.
James Kislingbury is co-owner of the London Bridge Experience, which has won the Screamie award for most frightening venue eight years in a row and invites visitors to “become part of London’s gruesome history”.
He spoke as the attraction launched what is billed as its most terrifying experience yet — an adult-only live horror show with crazed puppets, evil clowns and twisted dolls, dubbed The Ventriloquist Nightmare.
Mr Kislingbury said: “We have some real wonderful characters here and we do use clowns in the attraction.
“One of our staff decided to dress up on his way into work as he was running late and was actually stopped and questioned by the police because he had his mask over his back. He had his clown suit on — very innocently.
“For our guys it’s part of their uniform. But some people have taken it in a different direction which is very dangerous. With some of these people being very threatening, the way they are behaving on the streets is not appropriate and unfortunately does give a bad name to the industry.
“People need to understand within the confines of an attraction like this it’s fine because people pay to be scared and want to be terrified.”
The clown craze has led to dozens of arrests and a deluge of calls to Childline. A 10-year-old boy in Plymouth was threatened by a clown with a hammer who jumped out of a bush, while in Cumbria, one brandishing an axe chased a girl aged 11.
Last week armed officers from Scotland Yard’s aviation unit arrested a man wearing a clown mask and carrying a fake gun in Hillingdon, about five miles from Heathrow. This year’s Halloween spectacular at the London Bridge Experience, in Tooley Street, is its most expensive yet, costing £200,000.
As well as actors it features props sourced from a “mannequin graveyard” in Lincolnshire. It lasts 30 minutes and opens with a mad doctor who wants to bring puppets and ventriloquist’s dolls to life.
Mr Kislingbury said the aim was to scare the “bejesus” out of customers: “The reaction of everyone so far is pretty good. We’ve had a couple bail out before they even go through — that’s quite normal.” About 15,000 visitors braved last year’s show and that figure is expected to be passed this time, he added. “We are expected to push the boundaries further and further. We have to come up with new ideas. We’ve got more projections and more technology in the show.
“The horror industry has been growing year on year. London has a very dark history — on London Bridge we had heads on spikes. London is the place to be scared.”
Phobophobia: The Ventriloquist Nightmare, October 22 to 31, tickets £26.95, HEAD-BUTTING dangling limbs while fleeing crazed psycho-puppets is not how I would normally choose to spend a night out in south London.
But I took a deep breath and latched myself onto the strapping stranger in front of me to battle through this year’s London Bridge Halloween experience.
First, I followed a jittery conga line into
The Ventriloquist Nightmare. We were greeted by a Frankenstein-like doctor at bloodied operating table.
From then on we blundered around pitch-dark vaults as we were scared, stalked and chased by his deranged experiments, a blood-spattered orgy of monsters and ventriloquist’s dolls.
It was absolutely terrifying night filled with adrenaline and fun — but definitely not for the faint-hearted.