Causing alarm throughout the country with their painted masks and bright costumes, groups of teens and adults have been raising havoc around towns and schools. That’s right, I mean the clowns.   Named by news.com and other news sites as “The Clown Craze”, and “The Clown Purge”, this Halloween-costume epidemic is making its way to our front doors.

“We have had a lot of incidents related to the [clown] problem, dealing with threats and people walking around in costumes. “ Washington Township Police Department local authorities said.

That should come as no great surprise considering there have been hundreds of “creepy clown” incidents across the U.S, and dozens in New Jersey alone right in the South Jersey area.

“The school district has a very strong working relationship with our local police department. Together we have responded to concerns and potential threats in our community as they have occurred.” Superintendent of schools Joseph Bollendorf said.

“When it first started happening, I thought it was just a joke or a prank, until the people dressing up started carrying weapons and causing actual problems.” Adrienne Brookstein ‘17 said, “Now that it is an actual issue and not just stupid teenagers, it has gotten a lot more attention nationwide and everyone is on the lookout.”

School districts especially have been targeted nationwide by these clowns, with students and adults making copycat threats on social media and sending harassing messages to friends and administrators, including to students and staff within school districts. Incidents have been reported from all over, including issues dealing with harassments and threats in schools in the immediate area, and even within Twp itself.

“We have had to deal with a couple of school aged minors who have posed illegitimate threats posing as clowns on social media. The police and the district were able to act very quickly to get to the source of those threats and hold those accountable for their actions.” Superintendent of schools Joseph Bollendorf said.

Clown sightings and crimes have been reported in over 10 states including New Jersey, and many schools have closed their doors or been repeatedly put on lockdown due to clown threats. Public schools in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other surrounding areas have all had their own experiences with hateful broadcasts and messages, clown threats, and crimes.

Bollendorf said, “The sad reality is that our students, and many others across the state and nation see these threats as prankish without realizing the implications of their actions.”

Now that the problem has developed into a full blown hazard, police officers across the state are on the lookout for people dressed in suspicious costumes or causing harm to others.

These threats and news reports of the clowns terrorizing innocent people has been a popular topic since early September, and in New Jersey alone four reports of clown sightings were given to police in the first week the incident started to hit home.

“It had been happening throughout the country for at least a full week before it came to our area and other areas of the state,” Bollendorf said, “It did not come to my attention until late in the week at the end of September, which led to the events that occurred in our community of the weekend of September 30th.”

People have reported seeing clowns walking down the street, holding weapons, chasing children, walking around public places, and even driving around in large groups scaring people in neighborhoods. More recently, there have been continually increasing numbers of reported injuries due to clowns following or chasing children and teens, and even multiple deaths that were clown-related in the nation. It is rare an event like this takes shape as a long-standing problem, and it seems to be a literal epidemic, people catching the virus in every state and deciding to go out and put on that painted mask.

“It is important for school administrators, teachers, and parents to use these events as another teachable moment, to help our students and children to understand that there are consequences for our actions, and that we have to mindful of world that we live in and how quickly a seemingly insignificant prank can turn into something very serious that has significant repercussions. It is also an opportunity to once again talk about good digital citizenship and the appropriate use of social media.” Bollendorf said.