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Reports of clown sightings are escalating in the US, sparking fear. But why this epidemic, as asks the video above? Why are statements like “On Facebook they said there was killer clowns around here that were killing people”, or, “A clown started chasing us up here” becoming increasingly visible?

The panic isn’t new and has been filling the pages of history for years. Most recently though, it began in late August in South Carolina, as police dealt with reports about a character dressed as a clown. People said he was attempting to get children to follow him into the woods, which caused panic and even some shooting.

There have been plenty of patrols, false reports of sightings, panicked statements on social media, and more since then. The sinister quality of the threat has had a very tangible effect on the general population. A student in Georgia was arrested for bringing a knife to class, which she said was a weapon against clowns. In Virginia, another student faced legal action for asking a clown to kill his teacher on social media.

Atlas Obscura has even put out a definitive map of all the clown sights in the US. The trouble, of course, is being faced by bona fide clowns, who now find themselves the object os suspicion.