With Halloween less than a month away, it seems some people have already gotten into the holiday spirit. For the past few weeks, clowns have filled social media. Now, I’m not talking about our presidential candidates, but actual clowns. These aren’t the clowns you see at kids’ parties or in circuses; these clowns are absolutely terrifying and look like they’re cousins or at least friends with Stephen King’s “It.”
These creepy clown sightings have been coming from all across the United States. Supposedly, these creepy clowns are being seen on roadsides, trails in the woods and people’s front porches.
Of course, the last place you want to see a demonic looking man with a big nose, painted face and pink afro is in one of these places.
Here in good old Olean, we have Jingles the Clown, who operates under the Twitter handle @jinglesthereal1. He’s tweeted once, saying “Who’s excited for Halloween this year?” This weekend, a local business spotted Jingles on what looks like its security cameras and posted a picture of him to its Facebook page.
Some of these sightings are more than just glimpses of clowns. There’s been police reports of clowns trying to lure kids into the woods with money, chasing people and threatening others with knives.
Last Friday, a Reading, Ohio school district cancelled school for the day after a woman reported a clown grabbing her by the throat and making threats towards students and teachers at the middle and high schools.
There’s two possibilities for what could be going on here. Either there’s some freaky cult making its way to the surface of society, or people are just trying to scare other people for a potential 15 minutes of fame.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this craze is just people thinking they’re funny and dressing up as clowns to get a scare out of people. While stalking, chasing and attacking should all be taken seriously, a random clown under a bridge with balloons should not be. That’s why I advise those who spot a clown to not be afraid. But for those who are dressing up as creepy clowns for the fun of it — consider your actions.
Monday night, 6,000 Pennsylvania State University students went on a manhunt after a clown was reported to be seen near campus. Something like this is possibly a much greater threat and issue to society than a few people trying to scare others.
What happens when a clown who does kids’ birthday parties is beaten to a pulp by 6,000 people? Or what happens when someone trying to pull a seemingly harmless prank is killed by someone trying to be a hero? Angry mobs of college kids wielding weapons should be taken more seriously than a few people with nothing better to do than be menaces.
To the people freaking out about clowns, chill for a minute and realize it’s probably just bored people messing around. And to those people dressing up as clowns and legitimately terrorizing people, you chill too, and find a job while you’re at it. And to the Olean townie that’s more than likely behind Jingles the Clown, I’ll probably see you in Walmart.
Christian Gravius is a contributing writer for the Bona Venture. His email is
graviucc15@bonaventure.edu
