Fort Thomas Police: "Clown Sightings Not A Joke"

Riggs Park is at the cross-section of Memorial Parkway, Rosemont Ave and W. Southgate in Fort Thomas. FTM file.

Creepy, threatening clown sightings have been increasing over the last couple months, leading residents of affected states to wonder just what’s going on.

According to Fort Thomas Police Lt. Rich Whitford, the Fort Thomas Police Department has received a few reports of people in clown costumes menacing residents, but in those incidents the culprits were found to be local teenagers looking to scare their family or friends as a prank.

“We had heard reports of a clown trying to scare people in Southgate earlier last week, then we received a call on Thursday night of a clown on Military Parkway chasing a child with a machete near the woods,” said Whitford. “It turned out that the machete was a fake and that the people involved were brothers.”

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Whitford also said there was a report of two people dressed head-to-toe in clown costumes in Tower Park. They were local teenagers as well.

“The majority of the time they are young people trying to alarm others as a prank, but this is not a joke anymore. Someone is likely to end up getting hurt,” said Whitford. “If you see this, take care of yourself first. Do not approach them. Let us deal with it and if it turns out to be kids doing this as a joke, let us call their parents. If a crime is committed, we will deal with it accordingly.”

Residents on Rosemont Avenue also spotted teens dressed as clowns on Sunday scaring children at Riggs Park, near the corner of Memorial Parkway and W. Southgate.

Earlier on Friday, some schools in Reading, Ohio were closed after a woman reported being attacked by someone dressed as a clown who threatened the students at her school. At least 28 states have had strange clown sightings so far. Some were just hoaxes or jokes, and some may have been copycats from earlier news reports. Some of the social media threats to different states came from accounts using the same fake clown names. Only a few arrests have been made.

Other incidents of sightings in Kentucky and Ohio:

Riggs Park. FTM file.

In Kentucky, police arrested a man who was lurking around, dressed as a clown. He was dressed in a clown costume, hiding in trees by an apartment complex, police said. According to Kentucky.com, the man arrested was a 20-year-old in Bell County who was walking in a wooded area near apartments at around 2 a.m. In Gallatin County, Kentucky, extra security was assigned to schools after two people posted threatening messages on Facebook that included creepy clown profile pictures.

Meanwhile, one resident in Plano posted a weird photo on Facebook of a clown that she said was in her daughter’s backyard. 

In Winchester, Kentucky, a woman told police that she was walking on a trail the night of Friday, September 30, when she was assaulted by a man wearing a clown mask, WDRB reported. She fought him off and escaped.

According to Kentucky.com, there have been many other sightings in the state, including in Waco and Laurel County. Sightings have been reported in multiple cities in the state.

On Thursday night, September 29, a woman reported that she was attacked by a man dressed as a clown, who then threatened students at the Reading Community School District. Mount Notre Dame High School was also closed because it shares a parking lot with Reading High School, Cincinnati.com reported. The woman was smoking a cigarette on her porch when a man dressed as a clown grabbed her around the neck and made threats against the school and her. The School District later reported that the man had not yet been arrested. 

Reading’s Homecoming Parade, football game, and homecoming dance were set to continue as scheduled.