Clowns are meant to be funny but for me they have never been, they’ve always been annoying and unsettling. However, recently they have increased to a level of absolute fright and terror. Why, you might ask? In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months there have been sightings, clown sightings. While that might not seem like much on paper these sightings are truly terrifying and sometimes lead to the police being involved. Let’s dive into a little bit of backstory and madness this new trend has been stirring up!
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
This trend started late summer in Greenville, South Carolina , when reports of a clown (or 2) near apartment buildings had come in. They were apparently attempting to lure children into a house in the woods… within a mere 5 days another report of a clown attempting to lure a child into the woods was filed in North Carolina. This sparked a new trend across America as more and more clowns started to appear. This new trend spread to other countries across the world, including Canada, the UK, Australia and Sweden among others. This trend has escalated to some saying that some clowns have been arrested, chased some with weapons or even murdered! There have been many hoaxes claiming that clowns have murdered entire groups of people. To recap this trend is worldwide and there have been well over a dozen sightings, hoaxes, while more just seem to be arising.
BACKLASH
Ever since this trend started the police have been working harder to deal with the incoming calls of sightings. Some clowns have been fined, charged and even arrested in different parts of the world for various reasons. There have been some schools who have had to go into a lock down due to a sighting in the area, while other schools have banned clown costumes for Halloween celebrations. Some large companies that manufacture Halloween costumes have gone on to stop making clown costumes this year. This trend has even caused some to take their own security into their own hands- some people have even suggested purchasing paintball guns to defend themselves! Others suggest a more lethal approach like a pistol or other life-threatening weapons. While this may seem extreme it isn’t even the most outrageous thing people have done so far against these clowns! There have been mobs, yes mobs, of people that have chased clowns after sightings. These mobs have ranged from 30 to 500 people, consisting of students and strangers among other people. (DO NOT try this, if you see a clown call the police, they could be armed and hostile.)
CONCLUSION
That’s all you need to know about this trend so far and what’s been going on. I am hopeful that this trend of clowns dies down after October and the passing of Halloween, for, if it lasts any longer it could really spiral out of control.