Canadian Tire pulls creepy clown decorations from shelves

Canadian Tire has pulled its Halloween clown decorations from stores in the wake of recent stories about creepy clowns across North America.

A spokesperson for Canadian Tire told CBC News the companydecided to remove the decorations from stores across Canada and online last week to be "sensitive to recent pranks."

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The chain stocked two clown products: a 60-centimetre hanging clown decoration and an "animated rotating clown." The latter is more than a metre tall,playscircus-themedmusicand spins 360 degrees for "super creepy effect," according to cached pages on Canadian Tire'swebsite.

The web pages for both decorations have been removed.

The spokesperson said she was not aware of any customer complaints that contributed to the decision. However, acustomer did address the issue in a post on the company's Facebook page last week.

"Canadian Tire...not sure what you're thinking?" the post reads. "With the spate of clown scares lately, I was surprised to be greeted by this creepy clown Halloween costume."

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The creepy clown phenomenon has swept through the continentover the last several weeks.Pranksters are dressingup in scary clown costumes,then goingout in public to scare total strangers.

Thesocial media-fuelled international frenzyhas led to reported clown sightings from Cape Breton to the American South, false clown-attack claims,warnings from police to calm down and even terror-related charges.