There have been reports of more clowns in more cities spotted lurking in the woods.
In the past month, police in the Carolinas have received multiple reports from people claiming clowns with white-painted faces were acting strangely in the area – at least once attempting to lure kids into the woods with money.
The reports have fueled speculation that the sightings could be a hoax, or possibly even morbid fans trying to promote the 2017 movie release of Stephen King's It, about an evil clown known as Pennywise that terrorized a group of young boys.
One local TV station wondered if Rob Zombie's upcoming film, about a group of kidnapped carnival workers, might be involved in guerrilla marketing – but the distributor said they were not.
"If this is a hoax or publicity stunt it is not funny," Greensboro police spokeswoman Susan Danielsen tells PEOPLE. "It is alarming to the public and a drain on police resources. We just don't know at this point, because we haven't had the chance to interview any clowns."
The latest sighting occurred on Tuesday, when a man brandishing a machete chased a clown into the woods near an apartment complex in Greensboro, North Carolina, police said.
The person, who was wearing a scary clown mask, red curly wig, yellow dotted shirt, blue clown pants and clown shoes, ran back into the woods and disappeared from view, according to police.
"We don't know why he was there or what he was doing there," Danielsen says. She says officers scoured the area, but couldn't find anyone.
While it's not illegal to dress as a clown in Greensboro, Danielsen says the city has an ordinance that prohibits people from wearing a mask within city limits.
The police department, she says, is also discouraging "copycat behavior."
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In August, several residents at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, reported seeing clowns lurking in the nearby woods.
According to a Greenville County Sheriff's Office incident report obtained by PEOPLE, a deputy spoke to a woman on Aug. 21 who claimed her son had seen clowns in the woods, whispering and making noises, and when she went over to check, she saw several clowns flashing green laser lights in the woods before they ran off.
Another resident told the deputy that she'd been walking home to her apartment hours before, at 2:30 a.m., and saw a "large-figured clown with a blinking nose, standing under a post light near the garbage dumpster area," according to the incident report.
According to the report, several children also told the deputy that clowns had approached them behind one of the apartment buildings and tried to lure them into the woods "by displaying large amounts of money."
"There has been a couple of people that have seen them," Master Deputy Drew Pinciaro of the Greenville County Sheriff's Office told PEOPLE in an earlier interview. "Mainly it has been children who have reported they have seen these clowns in the woods. Every time we have gone out there we have not seen any clowns."
The children said the clowns lived in a house near a pond at the end of a hiking trail, according to the report. The deputy found the house, but "there were no signs of suspicious activity or characters dressed in clown attire," according to the report.
Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller said last week that "the clowning around needs to stop."
"It's illegal, it's dangerous, it's inappropriate, it's creating community concern," he said.
Miller said the reported clown sightings have included various descriptions, with differences in both race and costume, and that at that point police had found no evidence supporting the sightings.
Days later, on Sept. 4, residents in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, reportedly saw a clown attempting to entice kids into the woods with treats, the Associated Press reports.
Police said two children saw the clown, and an adult heard the clown, according to the news agency.
Police responded to the area but found no signs of the creepy character, who was seen wearing white overalls, white gloves, red shoes with red bushy hair, a white face and a red nose, according to the AP.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
AKA John Wayne Gacy, who raped and murdered 33 teenaged boys and young men after luring them to his house. They were all found buried in the crawl space under his house. He made numerous appearances as Pogo at Chicago area charitable events and childrens' birthday parties.
i thought they were just wandering alcoholics (red noses)
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Jeudy is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Tillman is flanked out wide to the right. Judkins and Ford are split in the backfield as Flacco takes the snap ... Here we go."
13-year-old girl arrested after contacting clown account to kill teacher POSTED 2:14 PM, OCTOBER 3, 2016, BY WEB STAFF, UPDATED AT 02:22PM, OCTOBER 3, 2016
Piqua police had to respond today to a clown in the middle of a roadway.
Police were called around 12:43 p.m. to the 400 block of East Ash Street, where an officer found a mannequin dressed as a clown in the street, said Piqua police Lt. Marcos Rodriquez.
The mannequin’s owner was nearby, and he told the officer he was a professional clown and thought it would be funny to put the clown mannequin in the street. The officer ordered him to move it off the roadway, the lieutenant said.
A viewer posted a photo of the clown-dressed mannequin to the WHIO-TV Facebook page. It shows the clown with three balloons and holding a sign that reads: “Clown Lives Matter.” The clown had been moved to a sidewalk by the time the photo was taken.
Rodriguez said there were no other clown-related incidents reported Saturday, but in recent days there have been reports of creepy clowns in the area. A 15-year-old Fairborn High School student was arrested Friday after police said he used a clown persona online to threaten to kill students.
If a person, whether dressed as a clown or not, is seen and causes concern, area police said they will respond.
Professional clown Doug Griffin of Miami County, also known as Feel N. Lucky the Happy Hobo Clown, said it’s sad people are using clowns to scare people. “Clowns should be happy,” he said earlier this week.
Since it is not an old phobia, but one that increased in recent decades, little is known about coulrophobia.
Scientists and doctors now agree that it is a result of not knowing who lies behind the excessive makeup, red nose and hair color.
The clown wears a colorful makeup to deconstruct the facial features to create a new identity.
And clowns can also break social norms, their mask makes them able to do things that others can’t do socially, like interacting with unknown people at ease.
Some researchers believe that coulrophobia cases increased after the 90’s, when Steven Spielberg classic horror film “IT” depicting a murderous clown was released and the portrayal of Joker as an evil character in Batman movies did not help the matter either.
Social implications
The phobia can cause a state of panic, difficulty in breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea and feelings of fear.
The coulrphobia may seem absurd for some, however, many people suffer so much, that it prevents them to eat a hamburger in a famous fast food chain. It is not a trivial matter either and coulrophobia shouldn’t be treated lightly.
Some hospitals use clowns as mural decorations which may make some coulrophobic children feel unease during their stay at the hospital.
Although the fear of clowns develops most of the time during childhood, it is prevalent among adult population too, even if a big number of adults would deny it.
It is said that the phobia develops in early years, when children are very sensible to an unfamiliar face in a familiar body.
There isn’t any official data about how many people suffer from coulrophobia, although it is believed that it is much more prevalent in western society (where exposure to clowns is more prevalent since a younger age). Some estimate that around 12% of adults in the US suffer from it.
At the end of the day, any phobia is an irrational fear and clowns exist to entertain us.
I can't believe people are this worked up over other people dressing up like clowns. Obviously we want to protect children but this is almost the perfect example of mass hysteria.
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