Last week, there were reports in South Carolina of clowns — yes, clowns — trying to lure children into the woods:
This tale sounds like a mishmash of newspaper clippings and pages ripped from Stephen King novels, but these are actually details taken from a report filed by the sheriff’s office in Greenville County, S.C., last week, after several residents at an apartment complex there said that people in clown makeup had been terrorizing both children and adults.
Several children said that clowns were offering them money to follow them into the woods, close to the house by the pond. (The police say they have found no evidence of clown paraphernalia at the house.)
A woman walking home late one night said she had seen a “large-figured” clown waving at her from under a streetlight, the police said. (She waved back.) And another woman said her son had heard clanging chains and a banging noise at his front door. In these cases, people who reported clown sightings refused to give their names to the police.
The police don’t know whether the stories are coming from the imaginations of children or something sinister is afoot, but panicked residents seemed to be taking the law into their own hands: The Greenville sheriff’s office investigated reports that residents of the apartment complex may have fired shots in the direction of the wooded area.
Well, they hit closer to home. Yes, here in Winston-Salem:
Winston-Salem police received a second report of a someone dressed as a clown in the 1600 block of Hope Lane early Monday.
The caller, who refused to give his or her identity, made the call at 12:20 a.m. — about four hours after a previous reporting that a man dressed as a clown was trying to lure children into the woods in the 1200 block of East 29th Street.
In the first call, two children told police that a man dressed as a clown tried to lure them into the woods by offering them treats, according to police.
The man fled the area upon officers’ arrival shortly before 8:30 p.m., and the officers learned that the suspect was seen by two children and heard, but not seen, by an an adult, police said.
In the second report, a caller told police that someone in a clown costume was spotted in the 1600 Block of Hope Lane about 12:20 a.m. Officers could not find the person.
The children were not injured.
The clown costume was described as white overalls, white gloves and red shoes. The suspect had red bushy hair, a white face and a red nose.
The investigation remains active and the department said it is taking the matter seriously.
Halloween is coming, as are some scary movies (one of which features a clown), but this seems like an odd place for a movie promotion. The W-S clown could be a copycat though.
All the same, very creepy.
UPDATE: News now of a THIRD clown in the area:
Greensboro Police on Tuesday morning received a call about another clown sighting in the Piedmont Triad.
The sighting occurred at The Park at Oakridge apartments off Old Oak Ridge Road not far from Interstate 73. A man said he saw a clown near the wooded area behind the complex at about 10 a.m.
Chris Bass told FOX8 he lives at the complex with his wife and two children. He said he was on his balcony when he spotted a man in a white mask, red curly hair and blue pants in the wooded area. Bass tried to chase the clown but could not catch him. He called his actions his “fatherly instinct.”