Residents of a Winston-Salem, North Carolina, neighborhood are keeping a careful eye on their kids this week after police responded to a report of a clown trying to lure kids into the woods with “treats.”
Two children and an adult said they witnessed a creepy incident that immediately brings to mind Stephen King‘s “It,” a horror novel adapted into a TV movie that starred Tim Curry as the killer clown Pennywise. New Line Cinema is in the process of producing a new adaptation starring Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things”) as the villain. Andrés Muschietti is directing the 2017 release.
Local North Carolina NBC affiliate WITN reported that two children told the police they saw the clown, while an adult reported hearing him. The clown was described as wearing white overalls, white gloves, and red shoes, and having red bushy hair, a white face and a red nose.
Officers found no evidence of a clown in the woods, but WITN reported that four hours after the initial complaint, someone else anonymously reported seeing a clown about two miles from the woods.
“Who in the world goes around dressed in a clown costume trying to lure people [into the woods]? That is scary in itself,” one woman interviewed for the local news broadcast said. “I will be pursuing my Second Amendment right to own a firearm, because I gotta protect my kids. This ain’t right. It’s creepy. It’s weird. I don’t like it.”
“Parents need to speak with their children and speak with them soon, and let them know that this is not normal. It’s not safe,” a police officer said.
Watch the news report below.