Clowns are known for their entertainment, but nobody is laughing about their latest stunts. Scary clowns have been causing chaos throughout the United States as they have been frightening and sometimes threatening children and adults. Some people believe these acts are just pranks with no one actually being harmed. However, there have been reports of people facing danger when encountering these clowns. For example, a 16-year-old was recently stabbed to death in Pennsylvania by one of these scary clowns. This has made it difficult on police to know whether the clown activity means people are joking around or citizens are actually in real danger.
Many of the clown threats have caused schools to go on lockdown and even cancel classes for the day. A school in Missouri had to go on lockdown after a clown’s Twitter page threatened to kidnap students and even kill teachers. In some states like Georgia, clowns have chased people throughout neighborhoods. Some clowns have been arrested, such as one in Kentucky, after it was caught hiding in trees by an apartment. Another clown in a car pulled up to a mother and daughter at an intersection in Virginia.
This clown activity has gotten out of hand and caused police to take immediate action. They have increased their patrol to make sure they stop the clowns from acting violently.
Brian Buseck, the senior editor-in-chief of The Rambler, had a demonstrative take on the subject. “The clowns scare the heebie-jeebies out of me,” he said. “I don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing, but they should stop.”
People have been dressing up as clowns and scaring people since the 1980s, but it has never happened this rapidly in such a short amount of time. Experts throughout the country are speculating as to why there has been a spike in clown scares. Some people think it is due to Halloween coming up and people wanting to scare anyone they can. Others think it is because of social media and that once one person does something, everyone wants to join in on the fun.
Prep senior Roman Zegarelli shared his thoughts. “I think these people are dressing up as clowns simply because it’s fun,” he said. “I think that the recent clown activity, like all things, stems from one sick individual. It will come to an end just like bell bottom jeans and space pinball because all ideas must come and pass, often overturned by better or more up to date ideas.” Whatever the reasoning for these clown antics, most people agree with Roman and expect that they will subside in the next month.
It is important that parents keep an eye on their children during these times. There were recently clowns sighted on West 26th St. in Erie, causing a lot of parents to feel cautious about the possibility of their children trick-or-treating in less than a month. However, residents should not be threatened as the police awareness has increased while the clown activity will begin to decrease.
The people most upset about these attacks are legitimate professional clowns. They feel like they are getting a bad reputation due to these creepy clowns. A clown business in Pennsylvania has plummeted since they are having a hard time convincing children and their parents that they will not harm them. This has caused some clowns to take action by protesting in a “Clown Lives Matter” march in Tucson, Arizona, to show how not all clowns are harmful people. They look to display how normal clowns are cheerful people whose job is to entertain their customers in a myriad of ways.
It is unfortunate that these lunatics are ruining some of the real clowns’ livelihoods. It is time for them to stop clowning around.