Menacing clown sightings form "harlequin triangle" in North Carolina

[matt cardin]

So this is happening. Not just in North Carolina. As reported by -- wait for it -- The Washington Post. (And also NBC News and The New York Times and more.)

Quote

Clown sightings have spread to North Carolina. Now police are concerned about creepy copycats. The Washington Post, September 7, 2016 ....The incident seems to follow a script that has repeated itself several times over in the area since late August: Witnesses phone local police to report a menacing clown or clowns, but officers cannot verify the sightings. A few weeks before the North Carolina sighting, a family in Greenville, S.C., told authorities a clown tried to lure their children into the forest near their apartment, as The Washington Post reported. Another witness told police he had spotted a clown near the dumpsters of the same complex. Since the late summer, there have been about a half-dozen reports of clown sightings. Mashable recently mapped the alleged sightings along the border between the Carolinas, forming a sort of harlequin triangle between Greenville, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, N.C.... Some speculators have put forth that the clowns may be a viral campaign — possibly for “31,” a new horror movie directed by Rob Zombie featuring homicidal carnival workers.... Greenville police announced Thursday that anyone dressed like a clown and terrorizing residents will face arrest. “It’s illegal. It’s dangerous. It’s inappropriate, and it’s creating community concern, so it needs to stop,” police chief Ken Miller said at a news conference, according to Greenville Online. * * * South Carolina community warned about reported group of scary clowns trying to lure children into woods The Washington Post, August 30, 2016 ...In the incident report, one woman said she saw “several clowns in the woods flashing green laser lights” on Aug. 19. The next night, she said her son could make out the sounds of “chains and banging” coming from outside their front door. A different person said a clown with a large, winking nose was hanging out near the dumpsters early one Saturday morning. Fleetwood Manor resident James Arnold told BuzzFeed News that his children, ages 10 and 13, described “clowns out there in the woods and they’re trying to get us to come out there,” he said. “Some had chains, some had knives, and some were holding out money, saying, ‘Come here, we’ve got candy for you,’ but they wouldn’t go.” His wife, Donna, said she filed the report and invoked the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s “It,” about a creature that takes the form of a clown to stalk children. ...The South Carolina incident is not the first time disturbing clowns have been reported by witnesses. Earlier in August, Wisconsin police fielded calls about a dirty clown wandering Green Bay carrying black balloons.

The second (but earlier-published) of the two articles features a brief summary of scary harlequins in history.

Oh, and there's this from The New York Times:

Quote

“It’s getting a little bit scary because people are starting to believe it a little bit more, and we’re starting to see some of those unsettling pictures on Facebook,” Mr. Guzan told a local ABC affiliate. “Not of the clown, but of people armed and preparing to defend themselves, saying, ‘I can’t go outside because I’m afraid of clowns,’ or whatever. That’s just a little too far.”

Behold the advent of the Slender Clown. Invisible walls are falling. The center does not hold.

First the bears come to eat our trash, now the clowns?

Oh shid.

I'll never be able to listen to Acid Bath again after this spookiness.

I feel there is sort of an artistry to the sinister clown. They shouldn't look like they're trying to be scary, as it dilutes the inherent sinister suggestion of the clown and becomes empty cliche.

Compare Tim Curry's Pennywise with the one from the upcoming remake:





Not that there is anything particularly good about the 90s It movie apart from Tim Curry's Pennywise.

[Auditor]

[ramonoski]

It's too early for the annual pilgrimage to Mirocaw, so who knows what's up with these clowns.

Quote Originally Posted by Prince James Zaleski

Compare Tim Curry's Pennywise with the one from the upcoming remake:

That's the impression I had when the image popped up in my facebook feed. By trying to make him look scary they inadvertedly made him less scary. Fail.

[njhorror]

.................................................. ..............................

[marioneta]

I submit that the sighting of menacing clowns is related to the candidacy of Trump and the possibility he might win. Then we will all be extras in a nation-wide Blair Witch Project.

[symbolique]

nil

[njhorror]

I must have watched 5 or 6 clown prank videos. Great fun, thanks!

[Gnosticangel]

Send In the Clowns

Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here, at last, on the ground
You in mid-air
Send in the clowns...

... Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late in my career
And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns

Don't bother
They're here



- Stephen Sondheim