Come Out and Play

Creepy Clown Sightings All Over the Country

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Naeirika Neev

2016 has been crazy and we all know that, but creepy clowns taking over was not expected.

Yet it is true; creepy clown sightings have been occurring all over the country. Mostly they are videos of clown being spotted and they start to run toward the camera as the car drives away.

However, they have also been making threats on social media, and on some accounts, even luring children into the woods.

The question so far has been whether these clowns are a serious threat or if it is just a hoax. For the most part, they haven’t done too much damage, however, there have been related crimes and even some arrests in some states.

Though they might be entertained beneath the masks, the police certainly don’t think this is a laughing matter. Especially after a 16 year old in Reading, Pennsylvania was stabbed to death by someone they believed to be wearing a clown mask.

The victim was 16 year old Christian Torres, a 10th grader at Reading High School. The police have arrested Avery Valentin-Bair for the murder of Christian Torres, but it is in question whether it was the victim or the assailant who was wearing the clown mask.

But some people have had enough. Earlier this week, thousands of students in Pennsylvania State University swarmed the streets to carry out a massive clown hunt.

There are social media accounts dedicated to posting videos of these sightings. However, some believe that these sightings are not real, and are just set up to get the attention of the people and the police force.

The issue has even been brought up in the White House. However, there is a lack of evidence for the claimed sightings.

On the other hand, a Clown Lives Matter page was created by a professional clown to show that clowns are not psychotic killers. However, the organized march was canceled because of death threats and online harassment.

This issue, being nothing more than a prank gone too far, adopted a way of protest meant for a far more serious problem concerning police brutality and corruption in the justice system, and that was a bit too much.

Furthermore, because this has gone so viral, it is believed that it might just be viral marketing. AJ Willingham from CNN has brought up in a report that since these clowns have gone so viral and we are all talking about them, someone must be capitalizing on the attention.

In either case, for the most part the sightings have not resulted in much harm other than causing panic. But one things is for sure, clowns sure are a strange problem for a country to have.