Clowns make a comeback

October of last year is repeating itself once more

Photo+courtesy+of+Wikimedia+Commons+via+Creative+Commons

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons

Clowns, a trend that started nearly a year ago in October of 2016, may make a comeback even bigger and better. Last year, a clown epidemic started in the woods of South Carolina, and quickly made its way throughout other states and even other continents. This has created fear and drama for everyone of all ages. Now, in October of 2017, clowns are slowly making a comeback since the prequel of Stephen King’s IT was released. But, will the clown epidemic blow up like last year?.

Rumors of dressed up people luring kids into the woods of South Carolina, slowly made its way to social media. This soon became a huge trend common to teenagers and then it blew way out of proportion. Arrests began and schools became involved by sending out letters to parents. Lock downs soon became common in the areas of clown threats. Fake twitter and instagram accounts were made by groups of clowns targeting specific schools and areas. Clown clan, a twitter account for clowns tweeted, “Hey Lawrenceburg did you like your lockdown drill today? We will be out tonight keep your eyes open.” Cops investigated the situation as a serious threat, and began shutting down these accounts. The police also started trying to contain and eliminate the problem.

Slowly as the months dragged on, the problem soon diffused and it was not talked about anymore. Now, because of the release of one of the most talked about horror movies of the year, IT, clown scares have started to spread once more.“This volatile mix of intense feeling and contagion via social media spreads the idea of participating in an emotionally charged behaviour to such a large population  that even if a tiny percentage of its viewers wish to mimic it, we are bound to see instances of it far and wide”, said CNN reporter, Alex Pentland. More videos have been released on instagram and snapchat of kids and teenagers hiding out in sewers and putting red balloons on people’s mailboxes etc, just like the clown, Pennywise, did in IT. They are mainly doing it as a joke to scare kids, unfortunately it is working. Children have stayed home from school, begging to not walk to the bus stop because of fear. Police have been aware of the peculiar increase of people dressing up like clowns and some arrests have begun again.

But, many also have the question, who is to blame for the clown phenomenon, the people dressing  up like the clowns or the person who created it all? Many have blamed Stephen King for creating Pennywise and starting all of the clown drama again in 2017. He posted on twitter saying, “The clowns are pissed at me. Sorry, most are great. BUT… kids have always been scared of clowns. Do not kill the messengers for the message.” However, IT,  along with the fake clowns have put the real clowns out of business. No one wants them for birthday parties or for comedy anymore.

The clown chaos is starting again, whether people like it or not. But, is it going to spiral out of control once again? Freshman, Sophia Caron says, “ I hope that the clown thing does not come back. I mean, it was a funny joke and all at first, but after some lock-down drills relating to clowns I just wanted them gone.”   Hopefully, because of police threats and the craziness that went down last year, the clowns will not be so confident about scaring people this year.