An epidemic of creepy clowns has been sweeping the nation. A series of mysterious clown sightings have been reported in 20+ states across the country. Videos have been posted of such reports, but many people have concluded they are staged.

Most of these sightings are just a tease, but a few have resulted in disaster. One specific incident occurred in Newark, New Jersey. A man dressed as a clown was shot and left on a ramp in critical condition.

The first sighting was in Greenville, South Carolina, when a little boy noticed what seemed to be two clowns hiding in the woods whispering to the him. The clowns were “luring the boy” into a boarded up house in the woods. No one believed the little boy, and he was told it must have been a simple joke to scare him. From this one incident, the clown sightings blossomed. South Carolina was the first, then it moved to North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York and reports continue to come in from other states.

Schools have recently been receiving threats from clowns online. In some cases, schools have taken these threats so cautiously they went into lockdown. In Fairhope, Alabama, a middle school went into a lockdown after receiving cryptic threats from a Facebook account “Flomo Klown.”

However, this was not Flomo’s first terror threat. He had targeted another town, Flomaton, Alabama. On Flomo’s Facebook page one can find gory clown photos and a bio that reads, “I kill people for a living.” After the clown’s threats targeting middle schools, police locked down the schools and swept classrooms for any evidence that could be clown-related.

Being seen in a clown costume is becoming illegal, and many people have recently been arrested. In Kentucky, a 20-year-old man wearing a clown costume was arrested after being found hiding in a ditch. Multiple occurrences like this have taken place in places like Virginia, where two teens in clown costumes were arrested, and North Carolina, where a man wrongly claimed he had witnessed a clown luring children into the woods.

In Mississippi, a county has made a temporary law making it illegal to dress up as a clown in public, at least until Halloween is over. Violators of said law can face a $150 fine until November 1, when Halloween has officially concluded.

Many believe the outburst of clown sightings was caused by the announcement of Stephen King’s novel “IT” being rebooted. King has made statements explaining the clown sightings were not a market ploy for the movie. On King’s twitter, he stated, “Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria– most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh.”