Here at PJ Media we like to keep you up to date on all the trending news that’s fit to print, and right now clowns are trending big time. For going on two months, the United States has seen a rash of clown sightings that started on the East Coast and slowly spread west. The chilling incidents have been described as a Clownpocolypse, Clownageddon, Clown-epidemic,and Great Clown Panic of 2016.
Whether the sightings turn out to be hoaxes, pranks, or something more menacing, police departments across the country are being deluged with complaints about people dressed in clown costumes scaring the daylights out of others in public. According to the New York Times, the clowning has led to twelve arrests so far in multiple states. Police have arrested individuals for making false reports, false threats, and chasing people around in clown outfits. So far, there has been one fatality.
Since there’s no end to the clown craze in sight, I—your intrepid clown reporter for PJM—will try to keep you abreast of all the latest developments in a new feature we’re calling “Your Weekly Clown-Round-Up.”
There were some important developments in the ongoing clown phenomenon this week:
FBI and Homeland Security get involved as clown incidents turn violent:
“A teenager in Pennsylvania was fatally stabbed Sunday in an incident involving a person wearing a clown mask,” said Megan Buell, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. “We’ve had incidences in Tennessee where people dressed up as scary clowns have been arrested for misconduct. The overall message is: if you see something out of the ordinary, we want you to report it to your local authority.”
Gallatin County Schools stepped up security Tuesday after receiving a “vague threat of violence” on Facebook the day before, and the sheriff’s staff collaborated with the FBI and Homeland Security to search for the culprit. The names used in the Gallatin County messages have been used in other, similar threats across the country, according to Sheriff Josh Neale.
Female Clowns are scary, too:
A Gadsden woman reported waking up to a noise and finding a woman made up to look like a clown in her Ivy Place residence about 2:45 a.m. Tuesday, in just one of many clown-related calls Gadsden police have fielded recently.
The woman said she discovered a white female, with white face paint and black makeup around her eyes, was in her living room. She grabbed the woman, scuffled with her and hit her several times, she told police, calling her nephew to help her before the woman eventually was able to get away.
The clowns are engaging in very risky behavior:
Ohio Sheriff joins Tchula, Mississippi Police Chief Kenneth Hampton in being very concerned for the clowns:
Next page: Don’t look out your window. Just don’t.
Clowns are tapping on people’s windows:
Police have charged an 18-year-old man with harassing, threatening and prowling around his neighbors’ home while wearing a clown mask and holding an Airsoft toy pistol, also on Sunday night.
Police say the masked suspect acknowledged rapping on the neighbors’ door and windows.
Police in Henrico were called to investigate after neighbors on Knight Drive reported seeing clowns tapping on windows.
Witnesses said three people dressed as clowns were spotted along the 200 block of Knight Drive, off Nine Mile Road not far from Fairfield Middle School.
Bucyrus resident Kaylee Hoy was sitting on the couch in her living room when she heard a knock on her window.
“I looked up and all I saw was red hair with a huge painted smile. Then he did that creepy clown laugh,” said Hoy of the clown staring back at her.
The police departments in Galion and Bucyrus have received numerous sightings of people dressed as clowns walking down city streets or hanging out in public places.
“We arrested two people yesterday that were dressed as clowns, for disorderly conduct,” said Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke.
Clowns continue to chase people:
A 14-year-old girl in Largo, Florida, reported being chased by a clown Thursday morning:
A woman in Franklin, Ohio, also reported being chased by a clown, this week.
She called Franklin police after she got home to her apartment, police said Wednesday.
“I just got home from work and got out of my car — I have heard so much about this, I didn’t know this was actually true — but I just got chased by a clown up to the door of my apartment,” the caller told police.
Clown backlash:
Shriners back out of parade amid creepy clown reports:
Some members of a Shriners clown group are backing out of a Maryland parade appearance amid a rash of creepy clown reports in several states.
Tom Holland of the Cumberland-based Ali Ghan Shriners club said Wednesday that some members of his clown unit won’t march in the Oct. 29 Alsatia Mummers’ Parade in Hagerstown.
He says the unit has about 15 active members, and some, including Holland, feel uncomfortable about participating. He says they’re not out to scare people — they just want to make children smile and raise money for Shriners hospitals.
Next page: The Clown Motel is having a really bad month. (Yes, there really is a creepy Clown Motel!)
Clown Motel in Nevada gets lots of bad press:
KPUG: Sweet Dreams, spend a night in Nevada’s Creepy Clown Hotel:
It may sound like the setup of a freaky book by Stephen King or R.L. Stine, but the Clown Motel is very real. Nestled in the former mining town of Tonopah, Nevada, this not-so-amusing inn caters to bikers, truckers, and other long-haul drivers—but isn’t exactly the place to spend the night if you suffer from coulrophobia.
Its lighted sign of a grinning, juggling clown gives you plenty of warning as to what you can expect. If that doesn’t do it, then walking into the lobby and meeting a life-size clown slumped in a chair with smaller clown dolls clustered in his lap should do the trick.
Scribol: There’s A Clown Motel Deep In The Nevada Desert, And You’d Need Nerves Of Steel To Stay The Night:
Drive some 211 miles north from Las Vegas on Interstate 95 and you’ll come to Tonopah, a small desert community of 2,627 souls. It’s an unremarkable destination but for one thing: the Clown Motel. And while some folks find clowns sinister enough by themselves, even the bravest may feel their neck hairs bristle as they realize that right next to the motel is an eerie cemetery, abandoned over a century ago.
Ridiculously: This CREEPY Clown Motel In Nevada Actually Exists….Would You Stay Here??:
The whole motel is clown themed of course. Inside, you can find scary clown figurines and pictures of famous clowns hanging up on the walls.
https://youtu.be/m0I1ryW8qG0
Clown Craze spreads to Western states:
PJ Media has previously reported that clowns have been spotted in at least eleven states — South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, and Georgia — alarming residents and frustrating law enforcement.
Now, we can add New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada to the list for a total of 20 states as the clown menace continues to make its way westward.
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