Remember the horrible clown panic of 2016?

Are you part of the 42% of Americans who fear clowns?

Courtesy of ABC News – Go.com
Remember back in 2016 when clowns were popping up all over Chicago?

The clown panic of 2016 may have started in the US, but it soon became an international frenzy. There were over 260 clown incidents in over 20 countries reported in 2016. The fear of clowns has been exemplified because of a real killer clown, John Wayne Gacy. An American serial killer and rapist, Gacy was convicted of the murders of 33 boys and young men in Cook County, Illinois between 1972 and 1978. He was also well known in his community as Pogo the Clown, performing at children’s parties and fundraising events. While many psychologist claim that the fear of the unknown is what makes clowns so scary, events like these don’t help their case.

“Yeah I’m afraid of clowns. I was kinda nervous because you never knew who was behind the mask, something happens to you and you don’t know who did it,” senior Cristian Sanchez said.

Students and parents in our community both became frightful of clowns following the sightings.

“Yo no pense que era tan importante hasta que me llamaron de la escuela de mi hija y tambien cuando vi las noticias. Tenia miedo de que mis hijas salieran solas,” mother of a Morton East senior said.

While some people were too afraid to let their loved ones leave their house, some people didn’t fall for it and got annoyed by the sightings.

“I just thought it was ridiculous how it got so popular like it was a joke, not even serious, but people were actually scared,” Seniors Luz and Luisa Rangel said.

Just like the Rangel twins, many others in the building could tell it was just a fad.

“It got a little bit out of hand because it occurred at night and people didn’t really know what was going on, but it was a fad and people jump on fads all the time so that’s why it was so popular among us,” Consumer Ed Teacher, Mr. Pyburn said.

Some people even believe that the sightings have made phobias seem cool.

“I’ve been scared of clowns since I can remember, but now people think it’s cool to have phobias all of a sudden,” anonymous senior said.

Overall, the sightings drew attention from the whole nation because we enjoy the creepy unknown.

“I think it was very popular because people like to get scared,” senior Jocelyn Cabrera said.