Clown Sightings Prompt New Haven Public Schools To Ban Clown Costumes During This Year’s Halloween

Clown sightings have been reported in several cities nationwide since August. The creepy clown sightings first started in Greenville, South Carolina, after several people told police a clown was trying to lure children into the woods. Since then, several more clown sightings have been reported across the country, and one Connecticut school district is banning public school kids from wearing clown costumes this Halloween season.

New Haven public schools decided to play it safe on Monday and announce a ban on clown costumes. This decision comes after threats were made recently on Instagram by an alleged creepy clown claiming that the creepy clown sightings are not fake and for people to “watch out.”

On Monday, WTNH reported that three schools in Connecticut were receiving threats on Instagram by someone going by the name of “New Haven Clown.” The New Haven Public School district, along with the North Haven and Naugatuck public schools, were all targeted online three days ago by the New Haven Clown. The disturbing posts on social media that begins with “y’all next,” also includes four creepy clown photos, each captioned with its own threat, including a list of the schools targeted, a warning to wait and see, and even targets individual Instagram users who challenge the New Haven Clown by saying the clown sightings are fake and to stop “targeting” kids.

“If you go to career watch out. You just became our next target.”

Since August 29, clown sightings have involved individual clowns being reported in several cities and in several states across the U.S., including the first sighting that took place in South Carolina. The New York Times covered that clown sighting, saying that children were telling adults that creepy clowns live in the woods. Reports of clown sightings taken by the Greenville County, South Carolina, sheriff’s office say that people in clown makeup had been terrorizing children and adults, and even offered money to children to “follow them into the woods.” One woman reported seeing a “large-figured” clown standing under a streetlight and waving to her as she walked home late one night.

Social media posts by the New Haven Clown seemingly suggest that he’s not alone in his threats against Connecticut schools, referring to “our” next target.

How America's fear of creepy clowns turned into a terrifying realityhttps://t.co/xXlsYtLhHu pic.twitter.com/JpplEQ1lvR

— Mashable (@mashable) October 5, 2016

The New Haven Clown is possibly referring to the several other clown sightings that have been ongoing for over a month. On Tuesday, The International Business Times published a map of all of the clown sightings since the end of August, along with a timeline and description of each clown sighting. So far, there have been reports of creepy clown sightings in 10 states. So far, 12 people have been arrested.

Police departments across the country have allegedly said that most of the clown sightings are completely fake and have wasted a lot of time and energy chasing down pranksters. The Kansas City Star reports that one police officer in Rolla, Missouri, claims to have spent almost an entire day investigating reports of clown sightings, all of which turned out to be fake.

https://www.facebook.com/213180800465/photos/a.218900275465.165084.213180800465/10154699330665466/?type=3&permPage=1

But the Rolla Police Department says in a recent and lengthy Facebook post that all reports of clown sightings and alleged clown assaults will be taken seriously and investigated. New Haven Public School officials are also taking creepy clown sightings and online threats seriously. The latest news on clown sightings is an announcement by the New Haven, Connecticut, school district on Monday that bans clown costumes and any other “symbols of terror” until more information is made available regarding the clown-related threats on Instagram. However, school officials did say that there’s no indication that clown sightings pose any real threats to students, as reported by the Boston Globe.

New Haven’s ban of clown costumes this Halloween season in response to the recent clown sightings and clown threats isn’t the first action taken by a school district in an attempt to protect students. In fact, the Reading Community City School district in suburban Cincinnati actually canceled school last Friday after a woman was allegedly grabbed around the throat by a clown and threatened. According to WREG, the woman claimed the creepy clown, who attacked her early Friday morning as she sat on her porch smoking, also made threats against the schools.

“Students and teachers will wish they were never born at the junior and senior high school today.”

https://www.facebook.com/ReadingCommunityCitySchools/posts/1757958957775375

What exactly has prompted the recent string of creepy clown sightings? Could the clown sightings have anything to do with the remake of Stephen King’s It that’s due to come out in 2017? The upcoming supernatural horror drama film, which is actually the second adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, is described by IMDb as a story that follows seven children as they are terrorized by a clown named Pennywise in a small town in Maine.

The studio behind the remake, New Line Cinema, says in a WCPO report that they have no involvement in the recent clown sightings or the threats, and Stephen King himself says that America is overreacting to the rash of clown sightings across the East Coast, saying most of the creepy clowns are good.

Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria–most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 3, 2016

Even though New Line and King have nothing to do with the creepy clown sightings, fans of It may be taking their excitement over the upcoming remake to a whole new level by dressing as clowns and scaring people. The Telegraph shares that there’s even a new Twitter account called @SpookyClowns that takes video clips of clown sightings that people have captured on their smartphones. Recorded clown sightings are taken from all over the U.S., and the Twitter account currently has nearly 200,000 followers, along with a warning to “proceed with caution” when viewing the clown sightings.

[Featured Image by Tim Boyle/Getty Images]