Towards the end of September, “creepy clowns” began to show up all around Ohio, making their appearance in the village of Delhi, Ohio around September 24-25. After the first encounters with the odd and scary phenomena, the clowns became more than just a joke. Threats became serious, schools closed, and criminal charges were filed. These “creepy clowns” became more than just “teenagers having fun”, they became dangerous.

After the clowns made their first appearances in Delhi, the Twitter account with the name “Clown Clan” began predicting the clowns’ next victims. Several of the tweets were directed at high schools, including this tweet from September 28th:

The severity of the clown threats continued to escalate.On the same day, September 28th, a woman in Franklin, Ohio was chased by a clown all the way to her apartment. After this woman reported her horrifying experience to 911, more and more people from the Cleveland and Columbus areas began reporting similar incidents. Such accounts included sightings of cars packed with clowns driving down streets to scare pedestrians.

The final straw was when threats were made towards a woman when she was outside on her porch in Reading, Ohio on September 29th. A clown allegedly grabbed her around the neck, and told her that “The teachers and students in Reading School District were going to be sorry that they were ever born.” The clown was startled by an alarm at a nearby house, so he fled. The woman then notified the police, and Reading School District and MND were closed the following day, September 30th.

Obviously, these clowns and their threats are very daunting. Here is what some SUA students said about the clowns and their threats. Emily Durbin ‘20 says “In the beginning it was scary and fun but seriously, now it’s just old because there’s Halloween coming up and parents are going to be too scared to let their kids trick or treat.”

Emma Helwig ‘20 states “I don’t like clowns to begin with, so them basically stalking people just makes them weirder, much scarier, and creepier.”

Christine Ludwig ‘20 shares the same feelings as Emma. She says, “I’m scared of them. I have always had a fear of clowns and now it has gotten worse. I mean, it’s scary that people do that kind of thing.”

Anna Pritchard ‘20 says, “I felt that the clowns could be a joke. What if it’s just a bunch of teens playing pranks. But now, we have clowns attacking people, which is scary.”

Kate Finn ‘20 has a very strong opinion on the clowns. She says, “I did not like that they had weapons and were scaring people. I think what these people are doing is wrong, and I hope they realize that it isn’t right to do that to people. I hope we find peace, but I hope that they are punished as well.”

It is clear that many people, including SUA students, are uncomfortable about the clowns. Be aware, and make sure you report sightings of “creepy clowns” to the police, so that this horrible trend can come to a definite end.