The story of the Sandown Clown, or as many often call it, the tale of Sam the Sandown Clown, takes place near Lake Common, Sandown, Isle of Wight, UK on a typical afternoon in May 1973.
Two children, known only as Fay and an unnamed boy, were playing near the river when a peculiar wailing sound, said to resemble an ambulance siren, piqued their curiosity. This sound led them to a surreal encounter with a seven-foot-tall humanoid figure wearing distinctive, clown-like attire, whom people later named Sam the Sandown Clown.
Sam the Sandown Clown had a “black-knobbed microphone with a white flex attached” with him. Speaking into it stopped the weird wailing noise. Initially, he used the microphone to communicate with the children. However, it was found later that he could also speak without it, though his speech was somewhat unclear, and his lips barely moved.
Triangular eyes, square nose and yellow lips
With triangular markings for eyes, a square brown nose, and yellow lips on a face that sat directly on his shoulders without any discernible neck, Sam’s unusual appearance also included limbs that looked like wooden slats. He wore a green tunic, white trousers, and a pointy yellow hat.
Near a wooden footbridge is where the children’s interaction with Sam took place. He appeared carrying a book, and as their encounter progressed, Sam communicated in a non-sequential manner, revealing a name that he described as “all colours, Sam.”
An unusual abode
Sam invited the children into his metallic, self-made hut where he spent about 30 minutes engaging with them. Inside the quaint, two-floor hut, the children noticed aspects reflecting Sam’s unconventional life, like his strange way of eating berries—first inserting them into his ear, then transferring them to his mouth via his eye.
This brief dialogue left the children with more questions than answers about who or what Sam truly was.
Never seen again
The encounter with Sam the Sandown Clown was the only documented appearance of this mysterious figure. The primary preservation of this narrative is through a 1978 BUFORA (British UFO Research Association) report, making it a tale that teeters on the edge of earthly and extraterrestrial, suggesting endless possibilities in the unknown.
The report to BUFORA came from “Mr. Y,” the father of one of the children, who wished to remain anonymous. “Target Fay,” as the report referred to the child, told her father about the encounter, leading him to report it to BUFORA.
The tale of Sam the Sandown Clown, who disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared, lives on in local folklore and beyond, immortalised with each retelling and continuing to captivate with its whimsical narrative intertwined with the timeless allure of the unexplained.
Buy your own Sam
You can purchase your 3D printed Sam the Sandown Clown on Etsy from A RandomShoppe, and we’d like to extend our thanks to the owner for the use of their image.
Watch the hunt
Alternatively, consider watching Marek Larword’s video, which chronicles a three-mile walk around the public footpaths alongside Sandown Airport and Lake Common on the Isle of Wight. The video visits the sites of the alleged alien sighting of 1973 – The Sandown Clown.
An in-depth video
Part of an irregular series of articles about strange phenomena on the Isle of Wight.
