A creepy clown walking around a college campus is no longer an odd sight. Students have been reported dressing up as clowns at most universities across the nation, and it has even spread to England. While the problem is most prevalent on college campuses, nowhere is safe from the clown pranks.
It all started in August when six people in Greenville, South Carolina, reported a clown trying to lure children into the woods. As of September 30, 39 states had reported clowns, in the areas depicted on the interactive map here. As of October 1, only 12 arrests had been made linked to the clown problem, but reports ending in arrest are the minority. Police are having trouble finding these reported clowns, and campuses are told to stay calm and not worry about them.
The clowns are becoming much more violent as time goes on. In London at Brunel University, a student chased people with a chainsaw as a prank, claiming that he was only chasing his friends. Students have been reported going to school with knives both as clowns or in self defense, and one death has even been linked to a possible clown hoax in Pennsylvania.
The clown community is very upset about the clown sightings and is said to be holding a “Clown Lives Matter” march on October 15 in Tuscon, Arizona. They are claiming that the creepy clowns are ruining the reputation of innocent performance clowns. Some are claiming that the whole movement is fake and a promotion for the remake of Stephen King’s IT coming out soon. Even if the movement is fake, it has caused a social media uproar and has given plenty of college students a good scare.