Creepy clowns crop up around California
It’s a quiet night. You’re walking to your car from work and you’re all alone. As you round a corner, a clown jumps out at you from out of nowhere, wielding an ax and laughing to himself like a maniac. It sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel or a B-movie you’d find on Instant Netflix, but it’s a phenomenon that’s becoming more and more common in Southern California.
YouTube videos are plentiful, documenting strange and terrifying pranks people dressed up as clowns have pulled on random passing people. One video portrayed the aforementioned ax-wielding clown chasing people down in the middle of the night.
Since the night of Oct. 1, the Wasco Clown has been terrorizing anyone passing through Kern County, even setting up his own Instagram account to interact with fans and “victims.” His tweets are humorous rather than threatening, posting things like “Y’all would really choose ebola over me?” and “Just an ugly human being behind a mask.”
In an interview with Kern Golden Empire, the Wasco Clown revealed that the social media postings are part of a photography project started by his wife.
Perhaps it’s the hype, but genuine fear surrounds the case of the creepy clown.
According to LAist, one boy claimed the Wasco Clown chased him and various others have reported seeing the clown committing unspecified crimes, though the Kern County Sheriff’s Department has debunked these reports.
The Wasco Clown is not alone in his terrifying endeavors, however. Several copycat clowns have also shown up in different areas, such as Delano and Bakersfield.
According to the Bakersfield Californian, on Oct. 11, Bakersfield police responded to a report of a clown holding a firearm, but the search yielded no results.
Reports of creepy clowns stretch all the way to a small French town named Douai, where a clown chased a small girl and a middle schooler was even attacked.
Thankfully, violent encounters such as these are still unseen in Southern California, as the creepy clown sightings so far are restricted to harmless scares.
Despite all the clowning around in surrounding areas, there haven't been any reports of scary clowns locally.
“The precinct is aware of the clown incidents,” the Culver City Police Community Relations said. “But [they] have no reports of clowns terrorizing people thus far.” The Corsair attempted to contact the Santa Monica Police Community Relations liaison, Suzie Lockwood about reported scary clown incidents in Santa Monica, but have not heard back.
So when you go out this weekend to enjoy your festivals, parties, and Halloween extravaganzas, expect the unexpected around every dark street corner.