PLEASE DON'T SEND IN THE CLOWNS - by Songbird

The fear of clowns is called, coulrophobia and if you don't have it, you might by the time you finish reading this story. In recent weeks, some not so funny stories involving clowns have figured prominently in the news here in the southeast. In Greenville, South Carolina there have been several reports of men dressed in clown costumes and full makeup allegedly trying to lure kids into the woods with candy and cash. The sightings initially happened at apartment complexes and other areas of Greenville and Spartanburg Counties

The first incident happened in mid-August when a woman told police her son had seen several clowns in the woods with lasers, whispering and making strange noises. The woman said she later personally witnessed three clowns in the woods flashing green laser lights. They then disappeared into the woods. Another woman reported encountering a clown with a blinking nose leaning up against a light post near a dumpster. He waved at her so she waved back and kept on walking. The reports continued to pour in of clowns lurking near basketball courts, loitering under street lights and rattling chains and knocking on people’s doors in the middle of the night

Just today there was a report of a mysterious clown trying to lure kids into the woods with treats in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The kids described him as having red, bushy hair, a red nose, a white face and wearing white overalls, white gloves and red shoes. The clown encounter happened about 8:30 pm Sunday, August 4. It was reportedly seen by two children and was heard but not seen by an adult. The creepy clown fled just as police arrived. About four hours later, another call came into the Winston-Salem police about a clown sighting about two miles away.

Clowns have always seemed rather creepy to me. I could never understand why some kids seemed to be drawn to them. I never wanted a clown doll when I was a child. There are no clown figurines in my house today and I wouldn’t let a painting of a clown in the door much less hang it on my wall. Maybe my apprehensive feelings about clowns have some basis in fact because menacing clowns have actually been making appearances down through the years, and I don’t just mean John Wayne Gace.

It all might seem like a scene out of Stephen King’s novel, “It” but this next series of scary events happened several years before the book was published in 1986. In late April, 1981, reports began coming into the Boston, Ma. police department that men dressed like clowns were bothering children as they walked to and from school. The police hurriedly issued a memo to elementary and middle school principals urging them to warn children to be extra cautious and to avoid contact with all strangers, especially costumed ones. Then, on May 5, 1981. In the town of Brookline, Massachusetts police received a call that two men dressed as clowns tried to lure children into their van with candy near an elementary school. The next day in Boston, complaints started coming in again of men in clown suits accosting children. One of the men was said to be dressed as a clown from the waist up only and naked from the waist down. He was first sighted in the area of a park and later near an elementary school.

By May 8, 1981, numerous reports of menacing clowns had been received in Boston and several nearby towns. Most of the sightings seemed to be by young children, 5-7 years of age. Apparently, there had been no physical attacks, but parents and kids were understandably alarmed. Police detained and questioned area clowns delivering flowers and candygrams, but there were no suspects and no arrests were ever made.

The clown sightings in Boston finally came to a halt as quickly as they had started, but the madness was far from over. Fifty miles away in Providence, Rhode Island several sinister clown sightings were reported. Then, over 1,000 miles away in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, numerous frantic reports of a knife wielding clown driving a yellow van started coming in to the police department. The clown had reportedly tried to threaten children and force them into his van near six area elementary schools. One of the kids said the clown was wielding a sword instead of a knife. Police were out in force trying to nab the culprit but were never able to make an arrest. Parents and kids were terrified and some parents kept their children out of school for several days.

The madness seemed to be spreading and evolving. Accounts of clowns bothering children were reported in Omaha, Nebraska. In Pennsylvania, not only were menacing clowns being reported, but somebody dressed in a rabbit suit was spotted. If that wasn’t weird enough, three men dressed as Spiderman, a gorilla and a clown tried to lure a little boy into a van . No arrests were ever made in any of these instances, but the witnesses insisted the costumed fiends they had seen were real.

In October, 2014 in Bakersfield, California, there were several reports of people dressed as clowns roaming the streets at night. One of the clowns was said to be carrying a firearm.

In the summer of 2015, what might have been a clown ghost was spotted at Ravenswood Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois. According to a couple driving by, the mysterious clown waited by the gate until it was fully illuminated by the car’s headlights, then nimbly climbed the 7 foot fence and disappeared into the darkness. There have been no further reports of this clown being sighted.

Mystery clown sightings are not confined to the US alone. In 2013 in Northhampton, UK several sightings of mysterious clowns roaming the streets at night were reported. At first the clowns seemed harmless enough, although creepy. However, the sightings then escalated to clowns chasing children as they walked home from school, sightings of clowns armed with knives and clubs and clowns vandalizing buildings.

In the fall of 2015, teenagers in France dressed as clowns kept police busy as they chased passersby with knives, baseball bats, even chain saws. At least one man in Montpellier was seriously injured fending off an attack. Local residents formed bands of vigilante clown hunters to go after the perpetrators and put an end to the madness.

Back in the US - in early August, 2016, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, an especially creepy looking clown was spotted wandering the city in the early morning hours The clown was holding a handful of black or very dark colored balloons. Police said they had received several calls about the mysterious clown who was dubbed, Gags by the media, but could not charge him with anything since he had not broken any laws.

It seems suspicious that these latest clown sightings in the Carolinas and Green Bay, Wisconsin closely coincide with the release of the new movie version of Stephen King’s, “It.” However, would someone actually risk arrest and maybe even physical harm just to promote a movie? Not very likely.

Are these events a series of attempts by perverts to lure children? Are they pranks or tales told as a joke? Are they mass hysteria, kids imaginations, or, could this actually be something more sinister? Flaps of strange sightings and events have happened down through the ages, including sightings of UFO’s, aliens, monsters, lizard men and such high strangeness as Spring Heel Jack and the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. Some believe there are spiritual beings existing among us who have enjoyed playing pranks on humankind down through the ages. Whatever the explanation is, I for one suspect the clown sightings are not yet over and when they stop, they will leave behind no evidence, no arrests and a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Well, it didn't make me like clowns more...not even a little.

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