For years, clown suits have been used as popular Halloween costumes, but this year the so-called funny costume has been taken to a new level of creepiness. Since the end of August, people dressed in clown costumes have been sighted in different states tormenting children, students and even adults.
According to Time Magazine, “seven people face felony charges of making a terrorist threat, connected to clown-related activity.” Some of these clowns in different states have been known to chase, lure, and even stab people in the communities that they are terrorizing. Along with chasing people throughout the communities, clowns have also been threatening and showing up at different schools across the United States. Schools throughout Georgia, Alabama, Ohio and more have been put on lockdown due to clown threats. Schools in Cincinnati have even been closed due to threats of “killing students and faculty,” according to Fox News.
There have also been many social media pages devoted to clowns threatening schools and different communities. Along with accounts made by clowns, there are also social media accounts devoted to warning people about clowns. Some clowns in different areas have even gotten students phone numbers and have started reaching out to them and threatening.
There have even been clown sightings at Norcross High School, which has caused many students from both schools to develop different opinions. Sophomore Patterson Beaman said, “The clowns are fools and if I saw them I would take a selfie with [them], possibly with a nice sepia tone or grayscale filter for an extra spook.”
Sophomore Will Rainwater said, “I have always hated clowns in general, you don’t know who the person is and they put on an act for you. They try to make you think that they are playful, but then they like freak out on you and it is really scary.” While Rainwater has always had this fear of clowns, freshman Josh Aspinwall said that he has “never been scared of clowns until all of the recent stuff going on with them. I think what scares me is that you can`t tell their facial expressions and that freaks me, and if a clown came up to me I would turn and run away scream.”
While Aspinwall is afraid of the clowns, sophomore Ellie French is the opposite. “We will dress up too and get a group and we will come after these clowns! They should be afraid of us too, THE WESLEYAN STUDENT BODY!”
There are many theories on these clown hoaxes, but one of the more realistic theories is that clowns are an “expression of human anxiety.” Children see clowns as fun but at the same time scary, and many people see life in that same way.
“These sorts of panics tend to surface when there’s underlying social anxiety,” Radford from CNN said. “This is an election year, there’s lots of political and ideological divisions, there’s also of course school shootings and terrorist attacks. That last part explains the concern from parents and law enforcement. Even IF most of these sightings and incidents are overblown, we do not want to take our chances.”
Although people ran in fear from clowns when they first started popping up, now people are starting to turn on the clowns. The question is, will this hoax end after Halloween or are the clowns here for good?
