Creepy Clown Arrested Because Creepy Clowns Lurking In Woods Is Actually A Thing Now
Kentucky cops arrest a guy dressed as a clown lurking in the woods
Clowns are a popular phobia, but they’ve got nothing on people who get their kicks out of dressing up in elaborate costumes and lurking in the woods. Over the past few months, creepy clown sightings have spread across six states, but until now, none had been arrested and unmasked.
According to WDRB, police officers in Kentucky nabbed a man who was hanging out in full clown regalia in a wooded area in Middlesboro.
Jonathan Martin, a 20-year-old with a lot of time on his hands, was picked up by the police around 1AM on Friday morning and charged with disorderly conduct and wearing a mask in a public place, which never seems to be an issue in superhero movies. Probably because rich weirdos who dress up as enormous bats are far less terrifying than someone who willingly impersonates a terrifying creature who can squeeze into tiny cars with dozens of friends.
Wearing a costume isn’t exactly illegal, according to a Facebook post the police department in nearby Barbourville shared on Tuesday, but it can still be dangerous.
“Dressing as a clown and driving, walking or standing in public can create a dangerous situation for you and others…While dressing up is not, in and of itself against the law, doing so in public and thereby creating an unnecessary sense of alarm is illegal. Approaching people in a threatening manner and threatening people is illegal.”
Which is exactly what Martin was doing, for some inexplicable reason.
The 20-year-old was spotted in “full clown costume” and “running towards a vehicle at Cumberland Village [apartments]” but he was picked up by the cops and taken into custody. He looks far less frightening when demasked for his mugshot.
I find Stephen King’s “IT” as scary as the next guy – Pennywise is a freaky demonic clown, to be sure, but I don’t really have much of a problem with the circus mainstays. In fact, I find these people who enjoy donning costumes for the sole purpose of scaring others a lot more menacing.
It’s pretty bizarre that enough of these incidents are occurring that police departments now feel the need to address “clown complaints” the way Barbourville did last week. And of course, there was the slew of clown sightings in a South Carolina town that never resulted in an arrest, but freaked everyone out just the same. No one seems to know what to make of the trend.
Despite the fact that there are two upcoming movies about evil clowns – one based on the aforementioned IT and another by filmmaker Rob Zombie – the studios associated with each film have denied that the recent sightings are part of a marketing stunt.
It seems likely that it’s just a silly stunt that’s caught on thanks to social media coverage. Here’s hoping this recent arrest will scare these clowns straight. Because it’s weird as hell and nobody, whether you have a clown phobia or not, is into seeing dudes dressed in scary costumes lurking around the woods at night. Go to Comic-Con and leave the rest of us alone.
