So, I agree they’re sorta scary — or at least, they have been since Stephen King ruined a once-noble entertainment profession with a single novel — but what explains the way they’ve run amuck in the national headlines of late?
Some stories have suggested a frothy brew of social media, bored students, crooks with a sense of humor (gotta rob that gas station wearing a clown mask, right?), runaway imaginations and Halloweenish pranksterism all ran together to create our latest clown crisis. I say “latest” because Slate observed that scary-clown crazes have popped every few years since the early 1980s.
Anybody want to speak on behalf of clowns? Email rrollins@coxhio.com.
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