Not funny! Creepy clowns jinx Halloween mood

Since late August, the trend of trying to scare unsuspecting people has grown with scary-looking clowns lurking in woods, appearing on dark roads or driving in cars, some brandishing knives. 

The spine-chilling sightings have been reported in states ranging from California and Minnesota to South Carolina, New Jersey and New York and have generated the hashtag #IfISeeAClown and @ClownSightings on Twitter, which has 335,000 followers. 

Even the White House weighed in on the sightings. Press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters in response to a question at a briefing that local police take it quite seriously. “If anything is suspicious, anything, be it somebody verbally or physically acting menacing in any type of costume, notify the police right  away,” said Captain Laurence Martin of the Wayne Police Department in New Jersey, which responded to a report of a clown sighting last week. 

In nearby Fair Lawn, where young adults were stopped following a scary clown sighting report, police said trick-or-treaters should be vigilant. “Have a heightened awareness about what is going on around you,” said Sgt. Brian Metzler of the Fair Lawn Police Depart ment. Best-selling author Stephen King, whose 1986 novel “It” weaves a tale of a Maine town being terrorized by a supernatural being that appears as a clown named Pennywise, took to Twitter to address the phenomenon. 

“Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria - most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh,” he said in a recent post.