  What has red lips, a red nose, and a permanent smile on their face? Definitely not Taylor Swift.  Try again? A clown.  Recently, the media has been constantly reporting on clowns and they aren’t bringing joy to birthday parties. These clowns are popping up everywhere – and they don’t want to give you a balloon.  Instead, they’d rather give you the most terrifying experience of your life as they try to drag you away, kicking and screaming.
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The first sighting of a clown was in Greenville, South Carolina, where a young boy told his mother that a clown tried to lure him away. Â After this report, clowns seemed to start crawling out of the woodwork . The clowns have even infiltrated places like Florida, New York, Wisconsin, Kentucky and now sadly Pennsylvania. Our lovely campus has even been speculated to have its own clown sighting. It seems like some radar went off and all these clowns decided to show up all at once.
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 All of this can’t just be a coincidence.  This clown craze has to have some sort of meaning behind it.  I don’t know about you, collegiettes, but I am absolutely terrified of clowns.  They are my kryptonite. You could even say that I have coulrophobia which is the fear of clowns.  My fear all started when I was 5-years-old and accidentally watched Stephen King’s It.  I was completely traumatized by Pennywise the clown.  This clown was not all about balloons and making you laugh, no, he was a killer clown.  Ever since then, I refuse to be near a clown.  I am even cringing as I look up GIFs of Pennywise. I probably will even be cringing after this article is published.
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What’s interesting is that there has been buzz that Stephen King’s It will be remade soon. Ironic? I think not.  The movie is even said to be broken up into two, terrifying films.  The first film will focus on the characters as children and how they face their fears, while the second will focus on the characters as adults and how they come to terms with the fear still being present.
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The picture above is one of the released promo pictures for the remake.  As you can see, it’s an understatement to say that there is definitely hype for this remake.  Yet, the fans of the book may be expressing their excitement for the film in not the healthiest of ways. It appears that these fans are trying to embody Pennywise and lure children.  See the possible connection?  People aren’t thrilled with these actions.  In fact, people are going on “clown hunts”.  Our lovely mothership, University Park, has even  participated in their own riot, going on a clown hunt to try and put an end to this craze. Â
Some retail stores have even participated in trying to end this craze. Target has completely stopped selling clown masks. Obviously, Target is taking this matter seriously if they are willing to lose the potential profit of those masks, valuing the safety of their customers more. Â
   Hopefully this clown craze settles down and those Stephen King fans stop clowning around.  Until then, collegiettes, some words of advice: walk in pairs, carry mace, and stay strong for Halloween weekend.
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