An epidemic of creepy clowns scaring people in the night hours has recently hit the country by storm.

Clowns, something that was meant to bring joy and humor to people, has become a source of horror to many. There is even a phobia known as coulrophobia, which is the fear of clowns. Our culture is filled with scary clowns like Stephen King’s Pennywise, Rob Zombie’s Captain Spaulding, the psycho invaders from “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”, Batman’s nemesis known as The Joker, Spawn’s nemesis known as Violator, the terrifying clown doll from “Poltergeist”, Sweet Tooth from the “Twisted Metal” games, Twisty from “American Horror Story: Freak Show”, Sideshow Bob from “The Simpsons”, Crazy Joe Davola from “Seinfeld”, and many, many more. The list is never-ending.

Clown sightings have been occurring all over the country. Clowns have been sighted creeping in the woods with balloons. Clowns have been reported to have been jumping out at people. People have reported being chased by clowns. They’ve been sighted rapping on people’s doors and windows. Sightings of clowns with weapons, such as machetes, swords, and guns, have been reported. There have been reports of a car filled with armed clowns. It’s even been reported of clowns trying to lure children out of apartment complexes and into the woods. There are many photos of these clowns, but in some of these incidents, the officers were unable to find any evidence of the clowns in question.

What people may not know is that these sightings date all the way back to the 1980’s, and it hasn’t only occurred in America. There have been clown sightings for decades, and even in other parts of the world. In the 80’s and 90’s children have reported clowns that tried to lure them into vans and such. None of these clowns were spotted by anyone else. There have been actual sightings, and even photos, of The Northamption Clown in NORTHAMPTION, England. The sightings began on Friday the 13^th in 2013. There were even reports of two clowns showing up at a woman’s doorstep, asking to paint her window sills. These clowns had no painting equipment. It turned out that the Northampton Clown was student filmmaker, Alex Powell. Powell admitted to being the infamous clown, but denied having any connection to the painting incident.

In December of 2015, Now8News published an article about a two time convicted sex offender who had snuck into a 6 year old girl’s room and disguised himself as a clown doll in order to molest her. He was caught by the babysitter who was watching her over the weekend while the parents were out of town. She heard the young girl screaming for 30 minutes until she came into the room to find the culprit in the act. This particular incident is not true what-so-ever. Now8News is a clickbait site that publishes fake articles in order to draw in traffic to their advertisements. This story comes from an urban legend of killers and rapists disguising themselves as inanimate objects to hide inside houses. Luckily this particular story has been proven false.

Has our society’s fear of clowns affected our culture so much that they are not just scaring us on the screen or the page anymore, but are now taunting us in the flesh? How many of these clowns are just “jokesters”? How many of them actually mean us harm? Is this something that should worry us, or is it just a large ironic prank?