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Clowns In The Woods

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David VanK

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Aug 30, 2016
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Sounds like one of those mass-hysteria stories. Parents in a Greenville South Carolina Apartment Complex are being urged to not let their kids out at night because Police have received reports of clowns trying to lure kids into the nearby woods

//www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/08/30/s-c-clowns-trying-to-lure-kids-into-woods.html?via=desktop&source=copyurl
Mod edit: The previous link lead to a summary of a full article which can be found here:

Multiple Reports – but Little Evidence – of Scary Clowns Appearing Around S.C. Apartment​

By Christine Pelisek
Published on August 29, 2016 08:55 PM

Several residents in a Greenville, South Carolina, apartment complex believe that a group of clowns has appeared mysteriously in the woods nearby, authorities say – though law enforcement isn’t so sure.
https://people.com/crime/group-of-clowns-reported-trying-to-lure-kids-at-south-carolina-apartments/
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In 2014, just before Halloween France went into a panic over creepy-clown spotting

French Freak-Out Over Creepy Clowns​

Tracy McNicoll ​

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 2:40PM ET / Published Oct. 31, 2014 4:30PM ET

PARIS, France—It may be Halloween night in France, but for the love of Pierrot, don’t send in the clowns!

A wave of diabolical weapon-brandishing bozos has sown fear across the country in recent weeks, prompting arrests and warnings from bedeviled authorities against anti-clown vigilante justice. In the South of France, one mayor has even banned clowns outright from his town.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/31/french-freak-out-over-creepy-clowns.html
 
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I'm liking the sumo outfit scargie, it suits you well. Everyone needs a hobby.
 
I saw this story too. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
If it's a publicity stunt it may backfire very badly.
Oh and if you ever visit South Carolina it's worth remembering this law "police have warned that South Carolina law prohibits anyone over age 18 from dressing up as a clown."

South Carolina clown sightings could be part of film marketing stunt
One theory suggests clowns that have reportedly beckoned children into the woods in Greenville could be linked to release of new horror film


Police have warned that South Carolina law prohibits anyone over age 18 from dressing up as a clown. Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/LORIMAR TELEVIS
Reuters

Sunday 4 September 2016 07.25 BST

Sightings of silent, menacing clowns in north-eastern South Carolina may be part of a horror movie publicity stunt, it has emerged.

Over the past two weeks, residents have told authorities they have spotted clowns, or people who looked like clowns, on at least eight occasions.

One clown showed up on a roadside in a rain poncho, another waved money at children near woods.

Investigators have failed to confirm a single sighting and the descriptions have varied in detail. But police are nevertheless urging parents to be cautious.

“I will usually let my son play in our backyard where I can see him from the kitchen, but now I won’t let him go outside the house without me,” said Jessie Owen, a 29-year-old Greenville mother of two.

“All it would take is one second. One promise of candy and he would be gone,” she said.

One theory is that the clowns are connected to the release of the independent horror movie 31, by director Rob Zombie. A preview of the movie, which features a gang of sadistic clowns, screened on Thursday evening at a theatre in Greenville, population 61,000.

Greenville police chief Ken Miller told reporters that investigators do not know if the sightings had any connection with the movie, whether it was one or more people looking for “kicks” or something more sinister.

Representatives of the film could not be reached for comment.

One motorist in Greenville called 911 to say he caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure standing the side of the road wearing a “clown mask” and a clear rain poncho, according to master deputy Ryan Flood of the Greenville County sheriff’s office. The caller said the clown then disappeared into a woods.

The officer who investigated the alleged sighting was unable to find anything suspicious, Flood said, just as with the previous reports from in and around Greenville.

Two days earlier, a women said she saw a middle-aged man with white facial makeup and flaming red hair standing silently outside a laundromat. Police fielded two reports of clown sightings on Thursday from an apartment complex in town.

Sightings have spread to a neighboring county, where a woman in Spartanburg reported seeing a person dressed as a clown in her backyard on Wednesday night.

Several people reported seeing a man dressed as a clown outside Greenville trying to lure the children into the woods by waving a wad of cash and a green laser light.

“This is something we are taking very seriously, especially because of the allegations of the people dressed at clowns attempting to lure children into the woods,” Flood said.

The restiveness in Greenville was enough for police to warn that South Carolina law prohibits anyone over age 18 from dressing up as a clown. Chief Miller said a city ordinance related to “molesting or disturbing the public” could also lead to prosecution of clowns taken into custody.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ghtings-could-be-part-of-film-marketing-stunt
 
I thought the South Carolina law cited above sounded rather specific.

Police chief says clowns 'terrorizing public' will be arrested​

Anna Lee published 3:45 p.m. ET Sept. 1st, 2016

No more clowning around.

That's the message Greenville law enforcement officials sent to the clowns who have reportedly been sighted at apartment complexes across the county.

Addressing the incidents at a media conference Thursday, Greenville Police Chief Ken Miller said officers will arrest and charge anyone dressed up as a clown.

"It's illegal. It's dangerous. It's inappropriate, and it's creating community concern so it needs to stop," MIller said.
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This version, from Greenville itself, sounds a more accurate version:

"According to South Carolina state law, no one over the age of 16 can appear in public wearing a mask "or other device which concealed his identity." The statute makes exceptions for people whose trade or employment involves wearing a mask. There's also a city of Greenville ordinance that prohibits "molesting, disturbing or following persons."
 
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Sounds more like the law is to prevent bank robbers and other criminals concealing their identity, so presumably if you saw someone with a mask on approaching the teller you'd know they were up to no good. Unless the South Carolina criminal fraternity are big fans of the Bill Murray movie Quick Change?
 
GNC said:
Sounds more like the law is to prevent bank robbers and other criminals concealing their identity, so presumably if you saw someone with a mask on approaching the teller you'd know they were up to no good. Unless the South Carolina criminal fraternity are big fans of the Bill Murray movie Quick Change?
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bit obvious? Not sure you'd need a specific law to counter that.

I mean if you saw three clowns in a bank carrying shotguns you're not going to think "that's nice those clowns are off on a hunting trip today."

Or maybe that's normal behavior in the US?
 
It sounds more like the rule we have here about motorcyclists not wearing their crash helmets when they enter a bank, only this state has made it law. I doubt there are many gun-wielding clown criminals about, if any.
 
I like it when an old theme crops up again! As weird and creepy as the whole Menacing Clown thing is, it's good to see it crop up again. Or is that just me?!
 
At least one of the clowns was not Pennywise.

//www.journalnow.com/news/local/winston-salem-man-charged-with-making-up-story-about-creepy/article_08371906-7693-11e6-a2be-8f956d581722.html
Mod Edit: Original link requires subscription. Archived version found via Wayback Machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/2017010...cle_08371906-7693-11e6-a2be-8f956d581722.html

more at article above.
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Winston-Salem man charged with making up story about creepy, 3 a.m. clown sighting​

Sep 9, 2016
A Winston-Salem man was arrested Friday on charges he filed a false report of yet another clown sighting.

David Armstrong, 24, called police just before 3 a.m. Friday and reported that someone dressed as a clown had knocked on his window in the 1800 block of Salem Crest Lane.
 
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That's because there are enough clowns already in East Texas!
 
^ You beat me to that comment........:D
 
At least one clown arrested!
Clown arrested in Walmart parking lot
Newnan Police arrested an Alabama clown in a Walmart parking lot.

Just after midnight on Thursday, a woman called 911 in tears regarding a strange man dressed like a clown scaring people, according to a police report.


When police arrived to the parking lot on 1025 Bullsboro Drive, they discovered a man dressed like a clown with face paint and checkerboard suit, according to Chief D.L. “Buster” Meadows.

Several witnesses told police they saw the man running around and scaring people in the parking lot. One witness said she was scared to get out of her car after the clown came up to her window while wearing a mask.

The man, identified as Rodney Allen Byram, 25, of Guntersville, Ala., allegedly told police he was dressed like a clown because it was so close to Halloween, and that people wanted to take photos with him.

Byram was arrested for disorderly conduct.

While in the back of the patrol car, Byram reportedly said, “It’s not illegal to scare people.”

He was still transported to the Coweta County Jail.

“I think this man was lucky nothing dangerous happened to him,” Meadows said. “With so many people carrying guns these days, it wouldn’t have taken much for someone to decide to save the day."

This incident marks the first actual sighting of a suspicious clown in the Newnan area following an online clown scare last week which set many residents on edge.

****

Clay Neely: [email protected], @clayneely
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It's spreading!

Clown warning issued in Middle Tennessee
by Matt Alvarez, Anthony Glover, WZTV
Sunday, September 25th 2016
A warning was given by the Tennessee Department of Safety and the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) on Saturday. The agencies took to Twitter posting, "Watch for clowns in your area. They could be child predators seeking kids" and "Watch for clowns trying to lure children into the woods. They are possibly predators."

Several recent clown sightings have left many communities in the Southeast in fear. It is unclear at this time what specifically led to the warning in Tennessee.

Anyone who spots a suspicious clown is asked to call 911 or *847 for THP. The Tennessee Department of Safety is monitoring this situation..
Click to expand...
http://fox17.com/news/local/clown-warning-issued-in-middle-tennessee
 
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When they re did the children's hospital here they specifically painted over all the clowns because surveys of children have shown they are almost universally terrified of clowns. I find it hard to believe someone who wants to lure a child would dress up in a costume that will almost certainly cause them to run screaming in the other direction.
 
I get the feeling that the new wave of clowns are young, alienated men who take to the guise to hide their own uncertain and undefined personalities. They have not learned of clowns at the ring-side but absorbed the meme from horrors in adolescence: they are, we could say, the children of Stephen King.

paranoid420 said:
I find it hard to believe someone who wants to lure a child would dress up in a costume that will almost certainly cause them to run screaming in the other direction.
Click to expand...

The social panic will focus on abduction but the motivation may simply be to make people run. The enactment of social rejection as a power-play may give some relief from insignificance and anomie. The question is how far down that path these clowns wish to go. :eek:
 
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Swifty said:
we had a crying and messed up clown before that
Click to expand...

I Pagliacci with Tauber from 1936.
Mod Edit: Original Youtube video has been removed. Alternative video link here:

On with the motley - in black and white.

Tauber seems to be channelling Lugosi. An Italian opera sung in English by a German in lurid 1936 colour.

The opera itself dates from 1892.

I'm reminded that the clown was one of the first disguises used by Fritz Lang's evil genius Doctor Mabuse. :eek:

The first film of the cycle dates from 1922.
 
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JamesWhitehead said:
I get the feeling that the new wave of clowns are young, alienated men who take to the guise to hide their own uncertain and undefined personalities. They have not learned of clowns at the ring-side but absorbed the meme from horrors in adolescence: they are, we could say, the children of Stephen King.
Click to expand...
They could also be juggalos. Mod Edit: Original link no longer working. Archived version via Wayback Machine is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20160929043312/http://www.juggalogathering.com/home
 
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^ :D


0:42 seconds in...in fairness it's only slightly funnier than the ginuwine verson ;)
 
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