By now I’m sure you’ve either seen a tweet from your friend from back home freaking out about seeing a clown on their college campus or you’ve turned on the news and seen an update that the clown situation is getting worse. For everyone who wants to know how this all started, here’s the rundown on the 2016 clown epidemic:
The first clown sighting was reported in the woods of South Carolina and has sparked an increase in clown sightings on the East Coast.
Clown sightings at colleges have caused videos of students chasing clowns to go viral. Photographed below are hundreds of Penn State University students running after a clown was spotted on their campus:
Most clowns are simply scaring people, and not actually becoming violent. There have been videos of clowns chasing cars, standing in parks and athletic fields and hanging out in the woods. If you want to see these clown videos in all their glory, check it out here.
As a precaution, the police have prohibited people from putting on clown masks just to scare people and have been arresting them. Police arrested Jonathon Martin in Kentucky on September 23 for wearing a mask in a public place as well as disorderly conduct.
While most clown sightings have been considered pranks, there have been clowns that have grabbed people and have been holding weapons. On October 5, a woman fought off a clown that grabbed her one-year old by the arm in the San Francisco Bay Area.
While a majority of the clown sightings are believed to be pranks, we can all agree that the costumes should be reserved for Halloween.