r/RandomThoughts • u/rageandrose • 7h ago

The Clown Panic of 2016

I saw a special on Hulu for Halloween about “The Great Clown Panic of 2016”. It triggered a random memory for me from when I was a senior in high school.

I remember vividly how terrified everyone was in my small town. Photos started circulating on social media of clowns in one of the wooded areas near the school. I’d love to hear if anyone has stories or experiences from the clown panic of 2016 🤣

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u/qualityvote2 7h ago

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u/rageandrose thanks for posting!

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u/Tacos4Texans 7h ago

It was literally just free publicity for the movie IT

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u/Lucy_Sterling 1h ago

In Philly, someone went around and tied red balloons to the runoff gutters. I have a pic somewhere.

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u/SnazzyCrusader 7h ago

I remember this all too well. There were a couple of sightings close to where I live. It made life a little bit more interesting for several weeks. They weren't being aggressive out here, whomever it was simply wanted to be part of a trend.

It's crazy that it's already been 10 years, though.

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u/rageandrose 7h ago

Right?! I was like oh sh*t, I really was in high school and now I’m almost 30. Glad someone else remembers too.

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u/Slimeseason504 7h ago

We aint see any clowns but i went to a small college in a small city. We set up balloons on the drainage systems around campus. We put a random one up in the quad because we had alot extra. The one in the quad got more attention on snapchat/yikyak than the others. That confused me but it’s whatever. It did it’s job

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u/kittykat-95 7h ago

I was 21 and remember seeing stuff online about it, but never anything happening in my town. 🤣

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u/BakingAndBeingBaked 5h ago

I am terrified of clowns. It’s my biggest irrational fear (it’s Ronald McDonalds fault).

I was leaving for work at like 4am every morning around this time and one day I was leaving my house and stopped at the gas station like I always did. Started to come back out after grabbing my coffee and there was a fucking clown leaning against the gas pump just staring at me.

I screamed my head off, ran back inside and refused to go back out until the clerk told me the clown was gone…. Then I had him check my backseat to just be sure.

I called out of work that day.

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u/Vegetable-Star-5833 6h ago

I was about 22 when that happened and I remember seeing stuff all over Facebook but nothing ever in my town