Scary clowns, WTF???

[pumpkinpi]

So I haven't really been paying much attention to this. But a couple days ago a couple teens in my state got arrested for making threats. And I just got this email from Buster's principal.


Dear Parents and Guardians,

We wanted to touch base with you before the weekend regarding the attention focused on rumors of scary clowns who are supposedly posting threats of violence to schools and students. We are well aware of this phenomenon and have been monitoring local and national media as well as social media to determine if this phenomenon has or may impact our students, staff, and community.

Our goal is not to add to the noise surrounding these rumors. Rather, we want to assure you that we have no substantiated reports of threats to our schools or our students. Any reports that have surfaced have been determined to be hoaxes. Most recently, two teenagers have been arrested for posting what authorities are calling “implied violence” using images of clowns.

If your child expresses any concerns about these threats, please reassure your child that the schools are aware of the situation and that students and staff are safe in our schools. Also, please take the opportunity to let them know that authorities are following up on social media threats and arresting those responsible.

As always, our primary concern is the safety of our students and staff. We will continue to monitor this situation in our community and provide you with additional information should it become necessary.

[SciFiFisher]

It seems to be a (bad) fad this year. My home town area in Washington State also posted a warning about the "scary clown" thing.

Apparently some people will do anything to get their 15 minutes of infamy.

[geonuc]

Arrested for implied violence? That may be scarier than the clowns.

[Rommie]

Yeah, pretty sure it's just people pranking/trolling. But that letter does reek of the "warn your kids about funny stickers from strangers as they're laced with LSD!" moral panic letters my mom got once or twice from my school in the 90s.

[SciFi Chick]

I have no proof, but I believe this whole thing started as a result of them remaking the book "It" into a movie. And with social media, this kind of thing spreads more quickly. Still a bit disturbing however.

[Parrothead]

Earlier in the week, Stephen King tweeted about the clown thing. Basically, telling media to cool it. For the most part clowns are good, make kiddies laugh. It's been more the media, schools, etc. pushing the story, about kids being frightened by older kids dressed as scary clowns. Started a couple of years ago, in small pockets of the US. Now that media started reporting about it, incidents are spreading across the US and Canada. Heck, the other night CBC had a segment that lasted between 5 and 10 minutes, during it's newscast.