Halloween's Tokyo Joker Attack

A man, 24, dressed as Batman's Joker, attacked passengers on a Tokyo train line on Sunday evening, October 31, 2021, injuring 17, as many party-goers headed into the city center for Halloween. The suspected attacker was arrested on the spot.

According to Reuters, the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire.

A video on Twitter showed a bespectacled man dressed in a purple suit and bright green shirt, as worn by the Joker, seated in an empty train puffing on a cigarette, his legs crossed and looking calm. He can be seen through the window being surrounded by law enforcement in a subsequent clip.

Origins

As David Charles Plate observes, "Alan Moore's The Killing Joke was the first instance of The Dark Knight rendition of Batman along with The Man Who Laughs rendition of The Joker. The Thelema connections are numerous."

It is apparent that the alleged attacker's outfit was copycatted from Heath Ledger's Joker in the "Dark Knight" costuming (which, of course, has a long history before modern cinema). However, the Tokyo individual's costume was a bit off; he was wearing a green shirt, different tie, and a purple vest, as opposed to Ledger's outfit.

The attack occurred on the Keio express line bound for Shinjuku, the world's busiest rail station, at around 8 p.m. (1100 GMT).

Phantom Clowns and Jokers

In March of 1982, in Fate magazine, and then in 1983, in my book Mysterious America, I first used the term "Phantom Clowns" to talk of May 1981's Boston, Massachusetts accounts of individuals wearing multicolored clothes who reportedly were trying to entice school children into coming along with them. The eyewitness accounts of clowns in vans bothering children were discussed for the first time comprehensively in a work of Fortean wonders.

The ultimate modern "Killer Clown" was the Joker, which evolved into the killer Dark Knight, appearing in full form at Aurora on July 20, 2012 (see here at "red dawn," with many links therein).

The copycat effect continues....

On October 27, 2021, a Joker character with a knife ~ in Boise, Idaho, was seen but no suspect was apprehended. That would case be a classic Phantom Clown sighting (as per my Fortean clown classification system). The Japanese incident on Halloween 2021 is a physical manifestation of the Killer Clown.

Family Trees

Created in 1998 by artist Jeffrey Vallance.

Phantom Clowns, Killer Clowns, Jokers, and Dark Knights issue forth from the same, sometimes deadly, "Trickster"/"Clown" tree. 

Created in 2008 by artist Jeffrey Vallance.

With the change of season, we may see the appearance of members of the "Wildman"/"Santa Claus" family tree, as captured above a decade after Vallance's "Trickster" family tree.

See also here, here, and here.

h/t AProdigiosus, Chris Farnsworth, Tim Binnall, Jeffrey Vallance

#Cryptokubrology, #Batman, #Joker.

Footnote: My wife, Jenny appeared to be picking up on this Joker energy on Halloween, and said several things about Batman throughout Sunday. Humm...

Da Vinci and Violence Activate 2019

2019 begins...

Tokyo 

Tokyo

Nine people were hurt, one seriously, when a man deliberately rammed his van (shown above) into crowds celebrating New Year’s Eve along a famous Tokyo street, just after midnight, Tuesday, January 1, 2019.

With an “intent to murder,” 21-year-old Kazuhiro Kusakabe from Osaka (250 miles sw of Tokyo) drove a small vehicle into Takeshita Street in Tokyo’s fashion district of Harajuku at 10 minutes past midnight, a police spokesman said. About 20 liters of kerosene were found in the vehicle. Kusakabe told police he was acting in “retribution for the death penalty,” without giving more precise details.

Bottrop

Essen

Meanwhile, a 50-year-old German man plowed a car into a crowd in Bottrop, Germany, injuring four, then drove to Essen and hit four others in a similar fashion. The second incident occurred near the Museum Folkwang in North Rhine-Westphalia, Essen. He appeared to be targeting people from Syria and Afghanistan. One Syrian woman victim had life-threatening injuries.

Manchester

Within about the same timeframe (across time zones), on Monday, December 31, 2018, at the Manchester, U.K.'s Victoria Train Station, a stabbing of three, including a police officer, took place as people were heading to New Year's Eve celebrations. The man was heard shouting “Allah” at Victoria station.

And how will it end?

h/t MP

Sagamihara Knife Attack Leaves 19 Dead

Japanese news agencies are reporting that 19 people are dead and 20 injured following a knife attack in Sagamihara, Kanazawa Prefecture, outside Tokyo.

A knife-wielding man attacked a residential care facility for the disabled at 2:30 am local time (July 26, 2016).  A former staff member escaped, then returned, and turned himself into police.

Reports indicate that over 45 people have been injured.

Mass violence such as this is rare in Japan, and an incident like this has not occurred for decades.

An ancient city, Sagamihara was home to the Yokoyama clan, one of the seven warrior clans of the Musashi region during the early Kamakura period. The city has a population of over 700,000 people.

Thanks for the alert from Mike Playfair.