Parents Hire Wrinkles the Clown to Terrorise Misbehaving Children

He was scared of clowns and I showed up across the street from him at the bus stop, and he just started crying in front of his friends and ran home, Wrinkles the Clown told The Washington Post.

Parents in Naples, Florida, can pay a terrifying figure to terrorize misbehaving children into compliance, news.com.au reported. The unusual disciplinary service started in 2015 when stickers began appearing around the city advertising Wrinkles and his haunting, black-eyed mask. Exasperated parents soon began calling to hire the performer for ready cash.

The Viral Bedroom Video

The business gained widespread public attention in 2015 when an online video surfaced showing what appeared to be security footage from a child’s bedroom. In the clip, a little girl sleeps while a large drawer underneath her bed slides open and Wrinkles emerges. He places a soft toy next to the child before noticing the camera and cutting out. The clip garnered more than 1.3 million views.

Media outlets including The Washington Post, NPR, BuzzFeed, GQ, NBC, and Jimmy Fallon soon covered the enterprise. Wrinkles reported receiving hundreds of texts, voicemails, and calls every day. Throughout the initial media attention, his identity remained completely secret. He described himself only as a 65-year-old military veteran and retiree from Rhode Island who moved to Florida for warm weather.

The Man Behind the Mask

A Tubi documentary titled Wrinkles the Clown explores the man beneath the sinister costume. The film introduces a white-haired, bearded man living in a van who declined to show his face to director Michael Beach Nichols. I don’t wanna be hassled… I don’t need kids recognising me on the street, he explained in the film. The whole viral thing for me is a pain in the arse.

The documentary reveals his daily routine of eating microwaved frozen dinners, barbecuing hot dogs near a swamp, drinking beer, and visiting strip clubs. The performer explained that he moved to Florida as a swamp with houses and decided to work as a part-time clown for extra cash when golf failed to interest him. Regular clown work brought no hires, so he added an edge and purchased a mask on eBay after his makeup melted in the heat.

Discipline and Public Reaction

Requests ranged from adults pranking friends to parents seeking behavioral services. His technique involved showing up outside in the backyard, knocking on windows, and waving before leaving a refrigerator sticker as a permanent reminder. One mother utilized the service after her 12-year-old son ran home crying, afterwards controlling his behavior simply by asking if she should call Wrinkles back.

Another father, Antoine, left a voicemail for Wrinkles in front of his young daughter to scare her into behaving during a shopping trip. I don’t see that that’s child abuse, Antoine told the documentary cameras, describing Wrinkles as a contributor to society. Wrinkles stated that he was simply doing his job and found the work rewarding.

Streaming and Current Availability

The documentary features a major plot twist midway through its runtime regarding the protagonist’s true identity. Wrinkles continues working, and his website remains online for customers seeking holiday purchases.