Phantom Clowns Part II

On May 5th, 1981, in the adjoining city of Brookline, two clown men reportedly had tried to lure children into their van with offers of candy. The Brookline police had a good description of the van: older model, black, with ladders on the side, broken front headlight; and, no hubcaps. By May 8th, 1981 reports of clown men in vans harassing children had come in from East Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge, Canton, Randolph; and, other cities near Boston. Police were stopping pick up trucks and vans with clowns delivering birthday greetings; and, "clown-a-grams" but no child molesters were ever arrested. The headline in the May 9th, 1981 issue of The Boston Globe told the story: Police Discount Reports of Clowns Bothering Kids. Fifty miles south in Providence, Rhode Island similiar reports were coming to the attention of psychiatric social workers counseling the city's youth. The focus of activity shifted a thousand miles west to Kansas City, Kansas AND Missouri. On May 22nd, 1981 a yellow van on the Missouri side stopped by two girls, wh ran screaming from the knife-wielding clown inside. Dozens of other similiar reports came in, involving six different elementary schools and by that afternoon police cruisers were trailing yellow vans across town. The previous week in Kansas, schoolchildren said a clown had chased them home from school; and, threatened them if they didn't get into his van! Some reports claimed the clown brandished a sword instead of a knife. Phantom clowns in at least six major cities had spanned over 1,000 miles in America. Were the clowns in vans being seen elsewhere in the U.S.? Are they still being seen? The denizens of the netherworld have apparently dreamed up a new nightmare to shock us. The cosmic joker is alive and well and living in a clown suit! PLEASE, HELP KEEP "OUR" CHILDREN SAFE!