As she drives home from work at night, a creepy man can be seen, and his hair looks like black fabric. As Senior Valeria Terrazas passes him, she turns around and sees a terrifying clown mask, and at that moment, Terrazas let out a blood curdling scream.

“Since I was driving and I speed a lot, I went home immediately and called the cops,” Terrazas said.

Terrazas has a fear of clowns, which is why she was so frightened when she saw the clown walking down the road.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a serious thing, but if one is running after me then yeah, I’m going to be scared. If there are things around me I’ll probably throw things at it and get help or something,“ Terrazas said.

For senior Mallory Smith, the fear of clowns started when she was young, mainly because of how creepy they look.

“They are terrifying. Just looking at them. I first saw them as a kid at a fair, and they tried to come up to me. I screamed at them because they looked creepy,” Smith said.
One person who isn’t terrified of clowns, but actually wants to dress up as one, is junior Hayden Couch. For him, it is more of a joke to scare his friends.

“I know it’s a pretty big issue around clowns. I think it would be a joke because I know a bunch of people who are scared of clowns. This whole thing is kind of crazy with the murders taking place, and I think some people take it too far,” Couch said.

Although he knows people who are pretty scared of them, Couch would still do it just to provide some comic relief. His main goal is to provide some laughter and fun since it is such a big issue.

“I’m just trying to lighten people up about it because I know there are some people who are scared of them. I am just trying to make them more cautious because it’s still a pretty big deal, and everyone needs to be aware, but I just want it as a joke with friends,” Couch said.

Smith doesn’t understand why anyone would dress up as a clown.

“Why would they copycat them? It is kind of creepy, and it’s just kind of weird why they are doing that,” Smith said.

The reason behind the upsurge in clown sightings may be from publicity, or people just wanting to scare other people. The reason is unclear, but Smith has a theory behind the rise in the number of clowns.

“I think maybe one person did it, and they got a lot of news and media about. People saw that, and they want to be involved, and they just kind of became copycats of it,” Smith said.

There may be a risk to wanting to dress up as a clown because there is that fear that people will overreact, and Couch believes some people need to just relax about it, but if your life is in definite danger, then you need to keep yourself safe.  

“Yes, there is always that fear of people that think you are out to do bad intentions. I guess that is the person who is taking it in context. If you are outside, and you see a random clown with a knife, then you need to protect yourself,” Couch said.