No Foolin'

It "happened" in Maryland, and in several Southern states as well.

Suddenly, 911 switchboards were lit up by people calling to report encounters with clowns (and not the type that wears blue suits and red ties).

In Annapolis, Maryland, a couple of weeks ago, kids were calling the cops with specific information about alleged sighting of people dressed as clowns. They added that the clowns were trying to lure children into a wooded area.

Of course, it was not so.

And what followed was that kids from one school told kids from another school, and then, night after night, the police were busy driving near the woods, looking for an insane clown with a posse.

And then, of course, because we love to make fantasy become truth, some older kids in Pennsylvania put on some clowny outfits and drove around, hopping out of the bed of a pickup to scare the bejabbers out of kids.  And all because of nothing.

If you're a parent, you might want to take Abercrombie or Hortense aside for a minute and tell them that urban rumors and legends and hoaxes, while amusing in the cafeteria, are serious matters. No matter how unlikely, the police have to investigate these reports, and that takes their attention away from real crimes and police matters.  

Arrests have been made in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for people filing false reports about having seen clowns where no clowns really were.

Why do people fear clowns?  I mean, besides the fact that they are simply not funny, except for that circus bit where 27 of them pile out of a tiny compact car?  After all, they are supposed to amuse and entertain us.  I don't have the fear, but I understand that some people do.  Here's an article that explains this, this whole thing called coulphobia.

This time next year, it'll be something else.  But for now, we are beset by a scourge of clowns.  Do you understand how someone can want to get out of bed and daub that paint on their face?

If you do, you're the only one.