It began in Greenville, S.C., at Fleetwood Manor Apartments, a complex nestled against the edge of several acres of woods. On August 21, a police deputy investigated reports of a clown with white face paint trying to lure children into the dark thicket. A resident told him one of her sons had seen many clowns flashing green lights and her other son had heard pounding on the door and the sound of chains clanking. Other children told him that clowns had tried to tempt them with money and that the clowns live in the house by a pond deep in the woods. Another resident said she had seen a clown with a blinking nose near a dumpster at 2:30 a.m. He waved at her.
A week later, a boy at an apartment ten miles away reported seeing a man in a clown mask in the woods near his home. Later that night, a boy at an apartment just three miles from Fleetwood Manor reported seeing another clown. That apartment also sits on the edge of a wooded area. There was another local sighting the next day. The following day, a woman told police she saw a clown standing outside a Greenville laundromat, simply staring at her.
I've seen these reports spread and multiply over the last month or two. Weiiird stuff.
Personally, I wonder if perhaps some clowns have escaped from circuses over the years. It's conceivable that they could survive and breed in the wild, creating a small clown population. Clowns are natural scavengers, so they would be expected to intrude onto the edges of towns and cities, looking for food in bins and such. Perhaps preying on pets. It's worrying that they're starting to go for children, though.