Creepy Clowns Meet Actual Batman in UK. We've Officially Lost Control of Humans

Clowns have seen a paradigm shift from delightfully silly to annoyingly creepy in pop culture. We've covered this in our list of the 5 Creepiest Clowns in Pop Culture. From the dreaded Penny Wise to the clown doll from Poltergeist, clowns have been given a bad rap.

Since August of this year, America has been plagued by an epidemic of creepy clown pranksters scaring people for a good laugh. Some have been caught on video while some sightings have just been reported. These have led to serious issues among children who are too afraid to go to school and with women who are often harrassed by mindless pranksters.

This is an actual 'map' of all the occurances or reporting of clown sightings in America since August 2016:

Image: AtlasObscura.com

The map was made by Erik Shilling and is constantly being updated. Since the pranks were so 'popular', the lovely folks in the United Kingdom thought it would be funny to try it there as well. Once again, multiple reports of clown sightings have emerged and again, the children are being affected.

That all may be turning around now that 'Batman' has come into town. We never thought we'd write this sentence in the entirety of our journalistic careers but hey, that's just the world we live in now. BATMAN showed up in Whitehaven, Cumbria, and in a photo on Facebook, is seen chasing down a clown and reassuring kids and adults (?) that the streets are safe with him there. A costume company named Cumbria Superheroes are taking credit for the masked crusaders' heroic interference and have gone around assuring kids that it's safe to walk the streets. There's even a Facebook video by Batman – in full Christian-Bale-with-a-sore-throat voice – comforting terrified kids: There is good in the world. He's not the hero we deserve, but the one we need right now. Now we're going to get our jet packs and leave this ridiculous world behind.