Our worst nightmare has finally come true: Creepy clowns attempting to lure children into the woods and chasing after adults with weapons have spread through the United States. The clown sightings started back up again this year in Greenville, South Carolina when a resident of a nearby apartment complex reported a clown attempting to lure her child into the woods with money.

Although these clown sightings may not sound at all familiar to the younger generations, for some they are a repeat of mysterious clown sightings that began in Boston in 1981 in the months leading up to Halloween. These clown sightings have spread far and wide from South Carolina and have reached plenty of different cities and college campuses in the United States.

So far the clowns have not caused any serious injuries or death, but there was an alleged clown-related killing. In eastern Pennsylvania a 16 year old was stabbed to death when a fight broke out after a person showed up wearing a clown mask. This story has not gotten much attention in the media to avoid national outcry of murderous clowns on the loose in the country.

These mysterious creepy clowns have inspired many other people to dress up as clowns to spook passersby for the fun of it. Many of the clowns that have been spotted appear to be harmless and just looking for a good laugh from the fear of other people. If you haven't seen pictures of the clowns that are found lurking around at night, they definitely do not look like our favorite childhood clown character Jojo or Ronald McDonald.

If you’re like me, then hearing about all these clown sightings was possibly the worst thing to happen in recent months. Almost everyone’s childhood fear was the clown at the fair, but now we have lots more to fear when we see a clown lurking near a dark wooded area. In the last month that the clowns have been appearing, college students have taken it upon themselves to go clown hunting and attack the clowns that they find. This can be a curse and a blessing; many of the clowns aren’t actual threats and people who are in the clown costumes are just getting hurt for making stupid decisions. Other times, the clowns can be very dangerous and college students get themselves into a big mess when they attack one.

These creepy clowns have also inspired people to go looking for clowns and post videos of them on various social media outlets. And of course, like any other trend that becomes popular in American culture, memes are made and seen literally everywhere. The whole clown sighting thing has gotten way out of hand and needs to stop.

To be honest, no one benefits from having clowns lurking around the woods or cornfields. The videos of the sightings aren’t that funny and this fear of going out late at night has reached its expiration date. This is for you, clowns: GO HOME!