“Clown Panic” is a documentary film directed by Ed Perkins. The movie features real-life people who were the victims of the 2016 clown panic that was rampant in the United States. It shows how clown sightings increased over time in the entire nation and sent people into a frenzy. Coulrophobia exacerbated due to social media and national news. A phenomenon that started in South Carolina soon spread to other parts of the country, even internationally, that worried people to their core. Through interviews of several people, the film explores how the clown panic affected people and harmed their daily lives.
Why Did Parents Like Donna Arnold Want The Clowns Caught?
Clowns may appear good and funny, but there are enough stories about them to prove their real nature. They are usually people wearing masks, hiding their real identities, and that is the problem about them. Since they keep their real selves hidden behind the mask, you do not know what their intentions are. Clowns are trickster figures that you can find in almost every culture in the world – their duality makes them dangerous. It is difficult to understand whether they are happy or sad, and that gives them the power to wipe off their smile in an instant and attack. Most children are fond of clowns, but some of them are not because, even though they are young, they have the idea that clowns can be murderous. Back in 2016, the clown sightings first began in Greenville, South Carolina. Nathaniel Arnold, Donna Arnold’s son, first witnessed the creepy clown figure in the woods around the basketball court. Since then, several other children in the neighborhood had come across the clowns. The real question was what the clowns were doing in the woods? Any good trickster would not have hidden themselves in the woods; instead, they would have come out in the light and played with the children. However, these clowns were scary, and they were making the children afraid. The parents became extremely worried because one of the children was almost kidnapped by the clowns. The community members wanted police intervention as soon as possible, but since they lived in the poorer part of society, they thought that the police were ignoring their concerns. However, the cops did their best to catch the clowns, but no one was caught from Greenville, South Carolina.
Why Was Flomaton High School Put On Lockdown?
Soon after the clown sightings in Greenville, the phenomenon spread to other parts of the U.S.A., like Flomaton, Alabama. Flomaton High School became the topmost hunting ground for the clowns. Many students from the school had witnessed creepy clowns roaming around. The breaking point came when a Facebook page named Flomo Klown posted a threatening message with gun emojis, stating that it killed people for a living. Immediately after the post, the entire school was put on lockdown because of America’s infamous school shooting incidents. Every student panicked and kept messaging their parents to get them out of the situation. Some of them were even prepared to fight the Flomo Klown, but eventually, nobody came with guns and rifles; the students went back home safe.
Who Was The Flomo Klown?
The police tracked the IP address of the Facebook page and found that the Flomo Klown was none other than 20-year-old Makayla Smith. The students of Flomaton High School thought that Flomo Klown was probably a loner kid of the school, but they all were wrong. Makayla Smith was not alone in her big “prank”; she was accompanied by two other teenagers with whom she lived. Smith was six weeks pregnant when she moved in with the family of the teenagers. She was running away from her boyfriend. While Makayla lived with them, one of the teenagers, i.e. the boy, was receiving messages from a clown page. They found out that the clown page was run by a girl he grew up with, and they were friends. Hence, they decided to create their own clown page to get back at her – this was the origin of the Flomo Klown. The boy started to add friends on the clown page and even messaged them. It was not supposed to be anything serious; instead, it was just a big prank that they were doing. Nevertheless, the joke turned serious when Makayla found out that the boy stayed up all night to send obnoxious messages to others on Facebook. Makayla was the only adult in the entire situation, and she was blamed for the teenagers’ misdeeds. She was helpless and hopeless. As a child, Makayla was hurt a lot, which was why she never thought of hurting other kids; she never wanted other children to go through what she went through. However, the threatening Facebook post with guns was way out of line. Consequently, she was charged with terroristic threats because a school was involved; it was a felony charge. Practically speaking, her incarceration ruined her life completely, and everything happened over a clown page on Facebook.
How Did “It” Have An Impact?
The entire clown panic situation reminded everyone of Pennywise, the evil clown, from Stephen King’s novel “It.” Along with “It” there were “Terrifier” and “Terrifier 2” which scared commoners all the more. The real circus clowns were losing their jobs over the fear that spread among people. Guilford Adams, one of the good clowns, mentioned that the creepy clowns were not even real clowns because they knew zero tricks to make people happy. He emphasized that the job of a clown was to make people smile, and making others smile was a way for them to experience joy as well. The creepy, murderous clowns were taking their jobs away. People lost their faith in the goodness of clowns when the national television reported that John Wayne Gacy, who was once a good clown, was a murderer. He had 27 bodies buried under his house and garage, and had two more drowned in the river. Social media aggravated the fear of clowns more because people started to make vlogs about their sightings and made a myriad of creepy theories about clowns. Humans are afraid of the unknown, and the clowns fall under this category because they are always masked, hiding their authentic selves. The fear of clowns soon became a deep concern because it emerged as a national panic. Clown sightings spread everywhere, and everyone lived under the fear that they might get killed by a clown. After the clown panic went international, Stephen King had to come on the internet to calm people’s anxiety regarding clowns, but nothing really worked.
What Was The Ultimate Outcome Of The Clown Panic?
The ultimate outcome of the clown panic was the loss of two lives. Janesa Torres, one of those affected by the clown panic, lost her 16-year-old brother, Christhian. He was stabbed in the heart for wearing a clown mask (because he liked to prank and scare people) and riding his bike. Christhian was killed by Avery, who was terrified of clowns and was told by his mother, Toni Vasquez, to protect himself at all costs. Avery was sentenced to twenty-two years in jail for his crime. Toni Vasquez stated that the clown panic took two lives, one was dead, and the other one was alive but dead because he was spending his days in the prison cell. Following this incident, there was news that the clowns would execute a “purge” (commit any crime without repercussion, as they do in the movie “The Purge,” for 12 hours straight) on Halloween. Even though this propelled the entire nation into severe anxiety and terror, nothing happened on October 31st. After Halloween, it appeared as if the clowns had magically disappeared. They were found nowhere; there were no incidents of clown sightings anymore. However, their disappearance did not wipe out the clown fear from people’s hearts whatsoever.
