CLOWN FILES 2016
PROJECT 3 / CINCINNATI, OHIO / FALL 2016

THE 2016
CLOWN
HYSTERIA

CINCINNATI → OHIO → THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

By the end of September 2016, creepy-clown posts were everywhere around Cincinnati. A reported attack in Reading shut down schools. Teenagers were arrested over threats. A 911 call from Franklin made the news. I started with those local stories, then followed the panic across Ohio and the rest of the country.

OPEN THE CINCINNATI FILE WHY DID IT SPREAD? →
Clown standing at night near a treePHOTO / VIRAL SIGHTING IMAGE
Local television report about a clown-related juvenile arrestLOCAL TV / COLERAIN
Two masked clown figures outdoorsCIRCULATING IMAGE
SEPT. 29–30
CINCINNATI AREA
01 / SEPTEMBER 2016

CINCINNATI GOT HIT FAST

I started with WCPO, WLWT and FOX19. Within a few days, the clown scare had turned into school closings, 911 calls and arrests around Greater Cincinnati.

WCPO-style television image reporting a juvenile clown-threat arrest LOCAL NEWS / 2016
CASE FILE / CINCINNATI / 09.29–10.01.2016

It stopped feeling like a joke.

On Sept. 29, Colerain Township police arrested a 14-year-old Mount Healthy High School freshman over clown-themed threats involving Colerain High School. By the next day, WCPO reported seven juvenile arrests around Greater Cincinnati. Reading schools and Mount Notre Dame also canceled classes after a separate reported clown attack and threat.

WCPO — 7 teens arrested FOX19 — Colerain arrest

Franklin 911 call

A Franklin woman reported that a person in a red-and-white clown costume chased her from her car to her apartment. She said no threat was spoken. WLWT's report includes the 911 call.

OPEN WLWT REPORT / AUDIO →

Reading schools close

A 45-year-old woman reported being grabbed by the neck by a person dressed as a clown who also threatened students and teachers. Reading Community City Schools canceled classes for Sept. 30. Mount Notre Dame High School also closed.

OPEN FOX19 REPORT →

Fairfield threatened

Fairfield City School District reported clown-themed social media threats aimed at several schools. Officials said they did not view the posts as a credible danger, and classes continued.

OPEN WLWT REPORT →

Northern Kentucky spillover

Gallatin County Schools dealt with social-media accounts using clown images and threats. Attendance dropped sharply, and the sheriff consulted federal authorities while investigators worked to identify who was behind the accounts.

OPEN WCPO REPORT →
SCHOOLS THAT CLOSED

Confirmed school closures in the research

Reading Community City SchoolsReading, Ohio · Sept. 30, 2016 · districtwide closure, including the junior/senior high school.
Mount Notre Dame High SchoolReading/Cincinnati area · Sept. 30, 2016 · classes canceled in response to the Reading incident.
Chaparral High SchoolTemecula, California · Oct. 7, 2016 · classes canceled after clown-associated online threats disrupted the school day.
NAMED ARRESTS / CHARGES
Alexsandra Conley, 18 — Hamilton, Ohio

Charged with making false alarms after police said she admitted inventing a knife-wielding clown attack because she was late for work. Reading Police said this was separate from the earlier incident that closed schools.

WLWT SOURCE →
Jonathan A. Martin, 20 — Middlesboro, Kentucky

Arrested Sept. 23 after police said they found him in a full clown costume near a wooded area by Cumberland Village Apartments. He was charged with disorderly conduct and cited under a local mask ordinance; police also listed outstanding warrants.

WKYT SOURCE →
02 / OUTSIDE CINCINNATI

THE REST OF OHIO

The same thing was happening outside Cincinnati: threatening accounts, copycat posts, police reports and school warnings.

OHIO
Franklin
Reading
Colerain
Milford
Fairborn
Canton
Fairborn

Police charged a 15-year-old boy with a felony terroristic-threat charge after a clown-themed social media account allegedly threatened Fairborn High School students.

CBS/AP →
Milford

A Milford High School student was arrested Sept. 30 over what school officials called a copycat clown threat. Officials said students and staff were not in danger.

FOX19 →
Canton / Perry Township

Police later arrested a 12-year-old accused of using a clown-themed Twitter account to threaten a school in the Perry Local School District.

Cleveland 19 / AP →
03 / BASIC FACTS

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

The easiest way to understand 2016 is to separate the documented events from the rumors that were flying around online.

WHENLate August through October 2016

The first widely reported U.S. stories came out of South Carolina. By late September, clown-related reports and threats were appearing across the country.

CINCINNATIReading, Colerain, Franklin, Fairfield, Milford, Sycamore

Local TV stations reported a mix of alleged sightings, threatening social-media posts, school closings and juvenile arrests.

SCHOOLS CLOSEDReading Community City Schools + Mount Notre Dame High School

Both closed Sept. 30 after the Reading incident. Chaparral High School in California also canceled classes during a separate clown-threat case.

NAMED ARRESTSAlexsandra Conley · Jonathan A. Martin · Connor Jones

Those names appeared in public reporting. Most Cincinnati students arrested in clown-threat cases were juveniles and were not named.

MAPReports appeared across the United States

Atlas Obscura mapped more than 100 reported sightings, threats and scares by Oct. 6. A report on a map is not the same thing as a verified sighting.

OVERSEASThe scare reached the United Kingdom

British police handled clown incidents in October, including reports in England, Wales and Scotland.

THE HARD PART: figuring out what was real, what was a prank, and what only existed because everybody was already watching for clowns.
04 / OUTSIDE OHIO

THEN IT WAS EVERYWHERE

Reports moved from the Southeast across the country and eventually overseas. Some were hoaxes. Some were never verified. Others led to real arrests, threats and school disruptions.

Map showing reported 2016 clown sightings across the United States
U.S. distribution map supplied for the project. Atlas Obscura also published an interactive map tracking more than 100 sightings, threats and scares by Oct. 6, 2016. Open interactive map →
Greenville County, South Carolina

Residents and children reported clowns near wooded areas. Deputies investigated but could not substantiate the early sightings.

Reports jump state lines

Sightings, threats and prank accounts spread along the East Coast and into the Midwest.

National school disruptions

Schools and colleges dealt with rumors, lockdowns, threats and arrests tied to clown-themed accounts.

United Kingdom

Police across Britain recorded clown incidents. In County Durham, a knife-carrying clown followed children toward school; other reports appeared in Liverpool, Scotland, Wales and elsewhere.

Clown with balloons at night
UNITED STATES

Over 100 reports mapped by early October

Atlas Obscura's Oct. 6 map tracked more than 100 reported sightings, threats and scares beginning in early August. The map is a record of reports, not proof that every sighting happened as described.

ATLAS OBSCURA →
Clown standing at night holding a bag
UNITED KINGDOM

The U.S. craze crossed the Atlantic

By Oct. 7, The Guardian reported six recent clown incidents handled by Northumbria Police and separate reports in Liverpool, Wales, Scotland and Essex. Police described the trend as part of a wider prank spreading from the U.S.

THE GUARDIAN →
Clown figure standing near a fence at night
UNITED KINGDOM

Named arrest: Connor Jones

The Guardian reported that 18-year-old Connor Jones of South Wales was arrested and fined after dressing as a clown and frightening pupils outside schools.

THE GUARDIAN →
05 / WHY IT CAUGHT ON

FEAR, RUMORS + CLOWNS

MASS HYSTERIA

Mass hysteria

Mass hysteria is when fear spreads through a group and people start reacting to the same threat, even when the facts are unclear. The 2016 clown scare was closer to a social panic: rumors, news coverage and copycats kept feeding one another.

MEDICAL BACKGROUND →
COULROPHOBIA

Coulrophobia

Coulrophobia means an intense fear of clowns. For people who already found clown makeup, masks or exaggerated faces creepy, the 2016 stories had a built-in fear factor before any threat was even proven.

CLEVELAND CLINIC →
HOW A PANIC LIKE THIS SPREADS
1AMBIGUOUS EVENT

A strange report creates uncertainty.

→
2SHARING

News and social media repeat the story quickly.

→
3FEAR

People become more alert to anything that fits the story.

→
4COPYCATS

Pranksters imitate the behavior and create new incidents.

→
5FEEDBACK LOOP

More reports create more attention, which creates more reports.

Psychotherapist Aaron Balick described the 2016 phenomenon as a combination of intense feeling and social contagion amplified by social media. Sociologist Robert Bartholomew called the scare a textbook example of a social panic.

THE GUARDIAN — SOCIAL CONTAGIONROBERT BARTHOLOMEW — SOCIAL PANIC
06 / PHOTOS, TV, AUDIO

MEDIA I FOUND

These are the clips, photos, 911 audio, interviews and social-media screenshots I would save in the Project 3 Media folder.

Night image of two clown figuresTV / LOCAL

Reading schools close after reported clown attack

WCPO · Cincinnati / Reading · Sept. 2016
911 AUDIO

Franklin woman reports clown chase

WLWT · Franklin, Ohio · includes 911 call
Local television clown coverageTV / LOCAL

Reading threat and school closures

FOX19 · Reading, Ohio · includes 911-call reporting

Gallatin County threat accounts

WCPO · screenshots and school response
Clown figure at nightINTERVIEW

Professional clown reacts to the panic

WCPO · Gretchen Cox, “Cookie the Clown” · Cincinnati
CINCINNATI
CITYBEATLOCAL PRINT / WEB

Oct. 5–12, 2016 issue archive

Cincinnati CityBeat · contemporary local issue with creepy-clown coverage
United States clown sightings mapMAP

National sightings map

Atlas Obscura · interactive map · Oct. 6, 2016
CC PHOTO

Scary clown, NYC Halloween Parade

Wikimedia Commons · Tzim78 · Oct. 31, 2016 · CC BY 4.0
CC PHOTO

Killer clown with bright light

Wikimedia Commons · Tzim78 · Oct. 31, 2016 · CC BY 4.0
Masked figures in woodsNATIONAL TV

Hoax or threat? Nationwide panic

CBS News · Oct. 8, 2016
07 / INTERVIEWS

WHAT I’D ASK

01

A TEACHER WHO WAS PRESENT

  1. What is the first thing you remember hearing about the clown scare in 2016?
  2. Did students seem genuinely afraid, or did most treat it like a joke at first?
  3. Did your school change any routines, security, dismissal or after-school activities?
  4. What rumors were spreading among students that you later learned were false or exaggerated?
  5. How much of the fear came from social media compared with what was actually happening locally?
  6. Did teachers receive instructions about what to tell students or parents?
  7. Was there a moment when the situation felt serious to you personally?
  8. How quickly did the fear disappear?
02

A STUDENT WHO WAS THERE

  1. Where did you first hear about the clown sightings?
  2. What were students posting or sending to each other?
  3. Did you believe the threats were real at the time? Why?
  4. Did you or your family change anything because of the scare?
  5. Did anyone at school claim to have actually seen a clown?
  6. What was the most believable rumor you remember?
  7. Did police, teachers or parents make you feel safer, or did their response make it feel more serious?
  8. Looking back now, what part of the panic seems the strangest?
03

A PROFESSIONAL CLOWN

  1. How did the 2016 clown scare affect your work?
  2. Did clients cancel events or ask you not to wear certain makeup or costumes?
  3. Were you ever treated differently in public because you were a clown?
  4. Why do you think clowns can make some people uncomfortable even when they are meant to be funny?
  5. What separates professional clowning from the people who dressed as clowns to scare strangers?
  6. Did professional clowns talk about the panic among themselves?
  7. Did the scare have any lasting effect on the profession?
  8. What do people misunderstand most about clowns?
08 / SOURCES

SOURCES I USED

I kept the Cincinnati section tied mostly to 2016 local reporting, then used national sources for the bigger picture.

WCPO 9Seven teens arrested for local clown-related threats WCPO 9Reading school closures and Greater Cincinnati reports WLWT 5Reading schools and Mount Notre Dame closure WLWT 5Franklin report and 911 call FOX19Colerain High School threat arrest FOX19Reading incident and school closures Cincinnati CityBeatOct. 5–12, 2016 local print/web issue archive with creepy-clown coverage WLWT 5Alexsandra Conley false-report charge WKYTJonathan A. Martin arrest in Middlesboro CBS / APOhio arrests including Fairborn and the Cincinnati-area total Cleveland 19 / APPerry Local School District clown-themed threat arrest ABC7 Los AngelesChaparral High School closure and juvenile arrest in Temecula Atlas ObscuraInteractive U.S. clown-sighting map The Washington PostNational school lockdowns, rumors and arrests The GuardianUnited Kingdom clown incidents The GuardianSocial contagion and the 2016 panic Cleveland ClinicCoulrophobia definition and symptoms PubMed CentralMass psychogenic illness background

Photo credit: the two Wikimedia Commons clown photographs linked in the Media section are by Tzim78 (Demetri Andriani), photographed Oct. 31, 2016, and licensed CC BY 4.0. Other displayed archive images were supplied for this project and are used here as contextual visuals; they are not treated as independent proof of a specific incident.