Wave of Creepy Clowns Haunts Law Enforcement Across South

ATLANTA, GA — It was as if the doors of a comically overcrowded tiny car exploded open, throwing white-faced, big-shoed carnival staples in every direction. Clowns lurking at the edge of the woods. Clowns chasing school children at bus stops. Pistol-packing clowns opening fire on an unsuspecting victim.

It sounds like stuff straight out of a horror movie. But these stories, and plenty more like them, are real reports that have been fielded by law enforcement in Georgia in recent days, and they follow a haunting trend in the Carolinas and elsewhere in the South this season.

There have been arrests. Some have proven to be fake, and more remain under investigation. But one thing is clear: Be they real, imagined or a combination of the two, a wave of creepy clowns has made its mark this season.

The strange tale actually begins in the Carolinas. A couple of weeks ago, a rash of reports began springing up, mainly centered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina. In several of the cases, a clown or clowns were reported to be in wooded areas and trying to lure or otherwise interact with children. In one case, a woman claimed she saw a clown holding a machete.

By late last week, though, at least some of those tales had begun to unravel. A Winston-Salem man was arrested Friday for filing a false police report after he claimed to have chased a clown into the woods.

At least one other report in Winston-Salem has been deemed untrue. Police there said video surveillance in an area where clowns were reported to be talking to children showed no such activity.

But just as some of the stories started falling apart in the Carolinas, they began blossoming in Georgia, and police have not been amused.

Georgia's Creepy Clowns in the News

• Creepy Clowns Reported in Georgia
• Creepy Clown Sightings in More Georgia Communities
• Fake Reports Surface As Georgia Clown Craze Continues

On Monday, LaGrange Police said on their Facebook page that they received "several calls" about clowns in a van, in wooded areas, trying to talk to children.

"This behavior is not cute or funny," police said in the post. "Understand that if officers see this behavior, you're going to have a conversation with them. And, if applicable, you may face criminal charges."

A day later, similar reports cropped up in Dublin, Macon and Athens.

One of the most compelling reports came out of Macon, where authorities said a group dressed up as clowns was reported to have been menacing children at a school bus stop.

The clowns, who appeared to be older kids or adults, came out of hiding in some bushes and abandoned houses near the bus stop, according to a statement by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office.

"It was also reported that some of the kids have been getting friends requests on Facebook from people dressed as clowns and messages saying 'I will find you,'" according to the sheriff's office statement.

No one was injured in the incident. But deputies said children told them the clowns had been showing up for several days.

As the week wore on, and stories kept popping up, Georgia's clown craze began following, in part, the script laid out in the Carolinas.

Police trying to piece together what happened in several of the instances hit dead ends, unable to confirm some of the clown reports.

"We can't say for certain that someone hasn't seen anyone looking like a clown, but we have had several reports where we assigned an investigator with this situation and we have yet to substantiate," Dublin Police Chief Tim Chatman told WMAZ-TV.

On Friday, authorities in Thomson, about 30 miles west of Augusta along Interstate 20, announced that two teens were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after sheriff's deputies say they were using a clown mask to scare people at a local shopping center.

The teens said "they did it to scare people and have fun."

In other cases, the reports were found to be outright fabrications.

Back in LaGrange, a man and his sister-in-law were arrested Wednesday for falsely reporting a white van full of suspicious clowns to the sheriff's office.

When questioned, the man at first told deputies he'd actually seen the van full of clowns the day before, and that he thought he'd seen the same van again. But, in the end, he admitted lying about seeing clowns in what turned out to be a van that had run out of gas.

In Macon, a shooting victim at first told police he'd been hit in the leg when a group of clowns jumped out of their vehicle and opened fire on him.

He eventually admitted that, instead, he was shot by a man who had approached him wanting to buy drugs, and that he made up the clown story because he'd heard about all the other reports.

Several of these cases across the three states have hit dead ends. Some speculation has even pointed toward Hollywood, where stories of terrifying clowns are nothing new.

The company distributing "31," an upcoming film by Rob Zombie in which victims "participate in a violent game, the goal of which is to survive twelve hours against a gang of sadistic clowns," has denied any involvement with the clown reports.

Spokespersons for Warner Bros./New Line Cinema, producers of the upcoming remake of Stephen King's "It," (featuring killer clown Pennywise) did not immediately respond to a message from Patch seeking comment Friday.

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said he suspects social media and news coverage of the sightings keeps spreading the phenomenon further and further.

"So far, these incidents have been mostly pranks that have created a nuisance at bus stops and in neighborhoods," Davis said Friday. "Our worry is that if these pranks become more serious and a child is harmed or if an individual feels threatened and resorts to violence to stop a perceived threat. Hopefully this fad will subside before a person is seriously injured or dies because of someone’s idea of fun."

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