Creepy Clown Hysteria Reaches Washington (State)

[icymist]

America has a waking nightmare on its hands. No, not the prospect of President Donald Trump or climate change killing us all—well, yes those things—but in addition, our nation is also being plagued by creepy clowns. Reported sightings began in South Carolina on August 21 and have since spread to at least 10 states.

Are we safe here in Washington? Nope. According to Tacoma paper The News Tribune, clowns have been spotted hanging out in the woods and hiding under bridges in Pierce County. You know, the usual places where clowns hang out.

In response to the reports of jesters, Pierce County spokesperson Ed Troyer told The News Tribune: "It's not illegal to be a clown."

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/10/03/24596551/creepy-clown-hysteria-reaches-washington?mc_cid=fa5e51fc7b&mc_eid=8915d78ecb

Threat closes 2 Puyallup schools; 'creepy clowns' disrupt Fed. Way

All classes were canceled Tuesday at two Puyallup public schools - Emerald Ridge High School and Glacier View Junior High - due to a threat of violence as other local school districts faced threats and disruption from the "creepy clown" mania sweeping the nation.

At Federal Way police and public school officials are investigating social media accounts of "creepy clowns" making death threats to specific students at Thomas Jefferson High School. That school remains open so far.

And a student at Tahoma High School is facing discipline after showing up for class wearing a clown mask.

Pierce County sheriff's investigators say the Puyallup threat was made specifically to Emerald Ridge High School, but Glacier View Junior High was closed as well because of its proximity to the high school.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Threat-closes-2-Puyallup-schools-creepy-clowns-9680486.php

WTF is going on with these clowns?

[randome]

1. Maybe Slenderman decided on a change of pace?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[icymist]

2. I had to look up Slenderman since I don't know everything going on the internet.

Interesting.

[randome]

4. You don't know everything that's going on the Internet? Then why are you here?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[icymist]

6. Eh, I'm inbetween making chicken soup and working on my art project.

The clowns got my attention, though...

[snooper2]

3. It's going to be a fun Halloween

[icymist]

5. "It's not a crime to just be creepy"! Crazy!

eom

[tblue37]

7. I bet it is a bunch of young guys doing it for the lulz. nt

[LonePirate]

9. Exactly

[snooper2]

21. Well- Clown costume sales up 300% in wake of creepy clown headlines

Like I said, can't wait for the 31st!

These news headlines are creating profit for many Halloween retailers across the country. Halloween sales already add up to an estimated $7 billion in the U.S. each year; and it now appears a big part of that number will come from clown costumes.

“Clown mask sales are up more than [300%] from a year ago the same period online,” Brad Butler of national Halloween costume chain Halloween Express told Eye Opener TV Tuesday.

“In the top 10, eight of them are ‘evil’ clown masks this season whereas last year, five of the top 10 were ‘evil,’” Butler added.

http://myfox8.com/2016/10/04/clown-costume-sales-up-300-in-wake-of-creepy-clown-headlines/

[jack_krass]

19. Q: "What would you do if you were about to wash your car and you saw a clown"

A: "Wash my car"

[LonePirate]

8. It's just teens and immature adults playing pranks on people. There is nothing to fear.

However, people are being hysterical because the clowns look creepy and scary. It's simply some attention starved jerks trying to frighten people with almost no harmful intent. The whole thing is being blown out of proportion because the media is shining a spotlight on these people.

[tblue37]

22. Well, I bet someone (someone in a clown costume) is going to get hurt, possibly even

shot if this keeps up.

Already a 12-year-old is being charged with a felony as an adult because he was ignorant and immature enough to make threats as a clown about killing other students. That kid's life is going to be ruined by the hysteria.

Considering the American capacity for hysteria and overreaction to perceived threats (especially those deliberately hyped by the media to push ratings), I do not see this ending well.

[icymist]

10. Why are police spending so much time on these? Do they know something we don't?

What authorities say about the clown sightings in Washington

Several people have shared posts and messages with KIRO 7 News about reports of clown sightings in wooded areas of the South Sound and masked individuals walking around in cities in the North Sound.

KIRO 7 News contacted police amid reports for a question-and-answer section, below.

What are some of the South Sound reports?

According to the News Tribune, people reported seeing men dressed as creepy clowns near South Hill and Graham.

What are some of the North Sound reports?

A KIRO 7 viewer posted on our Facebook page that she had seen a clown at a gas station in Lynnwood.

http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/what-authorities-say-about-the-clown-sightings-in-washington/453073042

I just heard on the news that officers are asking that hoaxers stop and what to do with an actual encounter.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. "you have a nice night"

wow, what a frightening encounter!

...

[Wounded Bear]

11. I read elsewhere...

that it might be connected to a movie release. Stephen King's It or something?

[Goblinmonger]

20. Rob Zombie is doing a killer clown movie--31

It's going to make It look like a kid's show.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. WHO ARE THESE BOZOS?

[treestar]

18. lol

[GReedDiamond]

14. It is leading to this kind of crap...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028207203

This is classic propaganda/look at this shiny object over here/while/Trump is the real "clown" we must FEAR.

I rarely use fear based attitudes to defend my "political positions"...but, in this case, I fear a trump/PENCE Administration like nothing I have feared in my entire 60+ y.o. life.

TRUMP IS THE ULTIMATE SCARY CLOWN!!

[stone space]

15. The OP you linked to is not about a clown.

It's about a threat to kill schoolchildren in a specific school on a specific day.

He could have made the threat with a picture of a unicorn, and it would still be a threat.

[GReedDiamond]

23. According to the article...

...the 12 y.o. kid used "the guise of a clown" in making the threats, not a unicorn or whatever else, so it seems that the kid was influenced by the recent "scary clown sightings" in the news. He told the cops that he thought it would be funny, presumably because of these ongoing "scary clown sightings" being promoted by the news media.

So I would disagree that this "is not about a clown," and must wonder whether he would have even made the threat if it were not for the near panic mode in which the media presents these (often fabricated) "clown sightings."

I realize that the threat made was specific in nature, and agree that the kid should have been arrested for it, but I disagree with charging this 12 y.o. kid as an adult. Nobody was killed or hurt, and I believe that charging him in the juvenile system would be more appropriate, given his young age and not fully developed brain. I also believe that his parents ought to be scrutinized by child protective services, if that has not already happened or is in progress.

The idea that he should be charged as an adult, with the potential of destroying the rest of his life over this single incident - and again, I agree this was a serious threat - is an overreaction by the prosecutor, IMO.

[icymist]

16. And now Stephen King weighs in...

Stephen King calls for reason amid creepy clown hysteria

It is a strange thing when Stephen King must defend the world from tales of horrific clowns. The horror maestro who authored "It," which featured a monster in the form of a clown, recently spoke out as a voice of pro-clown reason.

<snip>
King, who has long trafficked in psychological horror, offered his opinion on what makes clowns scary to the Bangor Daily News at the beginning of September. The creepy clown is a horror du jour, with a meme-like ability to feed on itself.

"I suspect it's a kind of low-level hysteria, like Slender Man, or the so-called Bunny Man, who purportedly lurked in Fairfax County, Virginia, wearing a white hood with long ears and attacking people with a hatchet or an axe," King said to the Maine newspaper. "The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns really can be terrifying."

The creepy clowns may be with us for some time yet. Clown mask sales are up 300 percent from 2015, Brad Butler of the costume store Halloween Express told Eye Opener TV. Normally half of the best-selling masks are "evil," he said. This year, eight of the top 10 clown masks would transform the wearer into something wicked.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/0001/11/30/stephen-king-calls-reason-amid-creepy-clown-hysteria/2006254

[tenderfoot]

17. Anything to avoid reporting pertinent stories

such media manufactured bee ess.