The 2016 Clown Craze | Horror History

This was one of those “you just had to be there to understand” experiences

The world just felt different back then, I genuinely can’t believe 2016 is almost 10 years ago.

The fact that because IT: Chapter Two takes place 27 years after the first one (1989), it's canonically set in 2016.

The jumpscare at the beginning. I knew it was coming, but my heart still jumped our of my body ngl

I remember during the clown craze, I was in 6th grade, one of our security guards came into the cafeteria during lunch to make a speech to all the kids that he wouldn't let the clowns hurt us and they would protect the school and everyone clapped and cheered. It was a weirdly nostalgic time. Some family friends had encountered them but I never did.

This was the reason why IT was so popular, no debate

I don't agree with the notion that these people were just having harmless fun. If they were doing all these things NOT dressed like a clown, they would probably be arrested. Think about someone hanging out in the woods and trying to lure children to them with candy, someone coming on your property to look through your windows, someone staring at you for a long time and then running straight at you without warning, someone standing in the middle of the street and chasing your car as you passed by. These are all precursors to assault. Wearing a clown costume does not make it okay, the world is not a haunted house.

Fun fact: a clown (I forget their name) threatened to shoot up my school on facebook and it freaked the hell out of one of my friends at the time as well as a few other students to the point where some kids stayed home for the week and my school had to increase security. Still have no idea what happened to the guy, but we didn't hear a peep from him after that.

Fun fact: in the late 90s/early 00s this craze happened in Puerto Rico. After a kid got kidnapped, schools were shutting their gates and having cops patrol the area for clowns

2016 was a wild year. Kinda wish I could experience it again tbh.

Why did that jumpscare at the start actually get me so bad 💀

I graduated from Penn State in 2018 and vividly remember this going down. The "JOEY" chant is referencing Joey Julius ("Big Toe Joe"), the star kicker of the football team at the time. That mob was almost exclusively freshmen (who live in East Halls and Pollock Halls primarily), but I incidentally came across the crowd at Old Main while walking from the McDonald's on College Ave making my way to West Halls to meet my best friend. I'm stoked to see such detailed coverage of a very fond and funny memory from my college years! WE ARE!!!

My last year of Trick or Treating was in 2016. I was dressed up as a witch, complete with a wooden staff that I use from hikes. I told my friends that if a clown came at us, I would wack it with my staff. A clown jumped out of a bush at some point in the night. I kept my word and gave the clown a good hit with my staff. I did not feel guilty. Still don’t.

Important reminder kids: You're not the main character on planet earth. Nobody has to put up with you trying to scare them if they don't desire to be scared.

2016 has always been one of my favorite years

this is why assault laws exist in the uk, that is, laws that criminalise making people think you are going to attack them, not actually attacking

I was starting to remember this. Wondering where they all went or where the hell they even came from. I also remembered the guy who dressed as batman going out fighting crazy clowns so kids would feel safer. Edit: I saw it on the news to my memory. They were doing a special report. Apparently, the guy was pretty good at self-defense fighting, so he decided he'd give the kids peace of mind and dress as batman and go out to fight the scary clowns. I remember him saying to the camera, "You don't need to be scared, kids, and as for you clowns, try scaring me." In a batman voice.

The clown craze scared me so much bc I lived in a rural area known for drug use. I was terrified that one of those ppl might try to take advantage of the craze and try to break into my home or scare me when I came home from school. I have a clown phobia from when I was little so this was a literal waking nightmare for me

I remember being in third grade when this craze has happening. There are a lot of corn fields near me including right next to my elementary school, only separate by a small chain link fence that ends near the side of the school. Rumors started that someone saw a clown in the field. But what made it terrifying was I, and many others, played soccer in a grass patch between the blacktop and fence. And the ball went over the fence every once in a while.

God I'm so glad you mentioned the Northampton clown. As someone who grew up and still lives there, I remember being warned all over the local news about being wary of clowns and people in costume, he was sited a lot nearby where a live at the beginning, it did stop being so prevelant when it became pretty clear he wasn't really going to hurt anyone however.