Killer Clown Shot In Head? No, But Creepy Clown Costume Sales Up As Schools Ban Halloween Clowns

The clown madness continues to make the news each day, especially after a viral video by Chase Prior received more than 20 million views on Facebook alone, as reported by the Inquisitr. However, in spite of all the clown frenzy in the news, not all of the clown reports are valid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rraP3dR6fw4

There’s currently an article spreading across social media that claims a clown was shot in the head and killed. That viral story about a clown being shot in the head in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has all the hallmarks of a hoax, designed to profit off of the current clown controversy.

According to Snopes, the story about the clown being shot in the head is a fake story. The hoax claimed that a man dressed as a clown was shot in the head and was in critical condition.

“A man dressed as a clown was shot on the city’s south side midday Sunday. The shooting was reported just after 10:30 p.m. Sunday at 4801 Plaza Dr. Fort Wayne police were called just after 10:30 p.m. Sunday to an address at 4701 Plaza Dr., near Standish Street just south of McMillen Park, on a report of a shooting there. When police arrived they found a man in a clown costume shot in his head in critical condition.”

One version of the clown hoax story has gotten more than 204,000 Facebook likes, according to the stats about the story, as tracked by Trendolizer in their below graph.

Trend graph:

Another article about a “killer clown” that showed up at an elementary school and was captured in a photo by a Zach Morris is also being spread around Facebook. The article about the killer clown allegedly holding a shotgun comes from a site that is notorious for fake stories.

The claims that a boy in 5th grade captured the photo of the so-called killer clown on his smartphone — along with claims that the killer clown left a note from “Godking” — were designed to spark fears and drive website hits. This killer clown supposedly threatened to create harm if Halloween wasn’t cancelled in 2016.

Trendolizer has tracked the viral nature of the clown story and has reported more than 43,000 Facebook likes on the story about a so-called “killer clown spotted” at a school.

Trend graph:

The stories borrow elements of the truth. Amid all the controversy over clowns and clown threats and clown sightings, schools have banned clown costumes, reports ABC News.

Even the White House has been forced to speak out about the clown controversy.

As seen in the below ABC News video, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest notes that the clown sightings and hubbub should be viewed from a serious lens by authorities.

'Creepy clown' incidents should be taken 'quite seriously' by law enforcement, White House press secretary says. https://t.co/ICVDdDyvjk pic.twitter.com/rALkC8ZCk6

— ABC News (@ABC) October 4, 2016

The creepy clowns have not stopped the sales of clown costumes. On the contrary, clown costume sales have increased, reports WTTV CBS 4 Indy.

Instead of driving people away from clown costumes, the creepy clown controversy has driven the sales of masks up 300 percent over the sales of clown masks in the previous year — so says Brad Butler of national Halloween Express stores.

Meanwhile, folks are searching away on Twitter for information about any clown killings, and for the aforementioned video of the Chase Prior video of a clown in Newark, Ohio.

Searches for video of the clown running have been joined by searches for information about a clown in New York. That is likely based on the below video, which may or may not be a hoax being spread on social media.

Warning: The below video contains language that might be offensive.

In the end, information about an alleged clown being shot in the head is also gaining searches on Twitter.

[Featured Image by Paul White/AP Images]