Infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy worked as a clown for years, entertaining children. Though his job as a clown was unrelated to his murders, it still inspired numerous movie villain clowns and earned him the nickname “The Killer Clown.” It’s an agreeable opinion that clowns are creepy.

Over the past few months, reports of clowns walking the streets at night, luring children into the woods or ganging up and chasing people down have been made across the country. Now, it’s seriously time for the clowns to stop.

The reports started in late August, and have not stopped since. Marywood University even had a clown incident of its own one night in early October, and Campus Safety ultimately ruled it a prank.
But come on, are any of us seriously safe?

It’s time to give up the charade and take off the masks. This “prank” has reached limits that it should not have, and it’s not funny anymore.
Halloween is officially over, and unless you’re a professional clown, there’s no longer a good reason to dress up as one.

Clowns are creepy. Even in the context of making balloon animals at a birthday party or getting a pie in the face. There’s something unsettling about a clown’s permanent smile or exaggerated frown. Just watch this video of Puddles Pity Party, also known as “The Sad Clown With The Golden Voice,” sing Lorde’s hit song “Team.” Puddles does a great job of performing the song, his performance is still unsettling to watch, because clowns are inherently creepy.

With clowns’ place in pop culture and our collective conscious as creepy killers, it’s understandable why people are freaking out about these sightings. We’re more then two months into the craze, and agreeably tired of hearing about these clown sightings. It’s about time to move on to a new, harmless viral craze.

Maybe we can start planking again, or try to bring back the hype of Pokemon Go. Either way, anything is better as long as clowns aren’t involved.

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Twitter: @WeidnerTWW