A New Jersey woman recently dealt with an unsettling plush Pennywise the clown doll that mysteriously appeared in her backyard most sensibly and practically possible — by setting his creepy little butt on fire. Renee Jensen posted her story in the “We Live In Bergen County,” local community Facebook group, detailing how she had a harrowing encounter with a stuffed toy.
She and her boyfriend, Alex, were just sitting in their backyard mining their own business when they noticed something fly “out of the sky” and land on the ground.
“It didn’t fall,” she wrote in the Facebook post. “It like flew out of the sky without hitting any of the bazillion trees on our property.”
The mysterious object was a toy plush doll of Pennywise the Clown, the iconic supernatural monster from Stephen King’s It. The clown doll had its face covered in fake blood, and it had strange symbols written across its forehead in permanent marker.
The character is known for his infamous creepy line, “We all float down here” in the book, TV, and film adaption.
“Is there a prank going around to promote the new It movie?” she wondered in the post. “Pretty scary … Thank God my kids aren’t home.”
She also added that it “definitely” did not come from the one neighbor who lives in the house next door to hers. IT: Chapter Two premieres in theaters in September.
Initially, she didn’t want to involve law enforcement, convinced that they would not take her seriously. Other members of “We Live In Bergen County” tried to goad her into calling the police after her posts gained some traction. The two Harrington Park police officers who showed up to her house assured her that reporting the incident was the right thing to do.
“They were hysterical,” she told NJ.com. “They wouldn’t touch it. They were totally creeped out too. It was so funny.”
They didn’t even want to take the toy in for evidence but did suggest that she get rid of it. So, being a modern woman of science, she did the most logical thing and burned Pennywise to a crisp in her yard.
But at first, the demonic-looking clown doll seemed like it didn’t want to catch fire — as NJ.com notes, it’s probably because toys of these nature tend to be flame retardant, not because of any supernatural spells or protection. Jensen tried to soak it in olive oil and get it to ignite, but that didn’t work either. Eventually, she managed to create a beautiful cozy Pennywise fire with assistance from some newspaper kindling.
However, Jensen still didn’t feel entirely safe. So just in case, she made sure to take some spiritual precautions as well.
“I had a stick of sage and I lit that thing,” she told NJ.com. “I was walking around our whole entire property.”
The owner of a Reiki and Intuitive healing business located nearby, Jensen was also concerned about the strange symbols written on the clown doll’s forehead. She and her boyfriend were unable to find any information about the peculiar symbols online.
“It looked like weirdo occult satanic shit,” she said. “Am I getting cursed or something?”
For a while after the incident, she sensibly kept a few weapons nearby her bed. In a Facebook message to Mashable, she said she started feeling safe enough in her home to stop.
“I’m not sleeping with a knife anymore,” she said, adding a laughing emoji.
What did you think of this her story? Was burning the doll the right thing to do or overkill? Let us know in the comments and be sure to share this creepy tale with your friends and family.