Are you a coulrophobe? I'm coulrophobic, meaning I am afraid of clowns and if you are too, I suggest you be wary this October. Lately, creepy clowns have been popping everywhere and it's been in question whether the general public should be genuinely afraid or they should pass them off as some pranksters trying to scare kids.

These clown sightings surfaced in South Carolina and from there, a frenzy was created. Several residents at an apartment complex said that people in clown makeup had been terrorizing children and adults. Several children reported clowns that were offering money to follow them into the woods. It had been said there was a house in the woods that the clowns supposedly lived, however, police found no evidence at the house. While there had been an increase in patrolling around the apartment area and flyers warning kids against going into the woods alone at night, people seem to be taking the law into their own hands. Residents of the apartment complex may have fired shots into the woods.

In recent weeks, there have been at least 12 arrests of people facing charges of making false reports or threats or chasing people in multiple states. Authorities believe some of these cases to be children with overactive imaginations or teenagers adding to hysteria by pulling pranks. However, at least one death has been linked to the clown hoax. A few weeks ago in Green Bay, Wisconsin, residents spotted a clown walking around town and carrying a bundle of black balloons. This Green Bay clown was nicknamed Gags and some locals made a sport out of spotting him. Others pulled out firearms. Gags was revealed to be a viral marketing stunt for a movie.

Along with the 30th anniversary of the novel IT by Stephen King and the announcement of the remake to be released in 2017, some called King into question and many believed it could be a marketing strategy for the movie, like Gags was. This theory was soon busted as King denies involvement with the clown sighting. “If I saw a clown lurking under a lonely bridge–or peering up at me from a sewer grate, with or without balloons– I’d be scared, too,” King told the Bangor Daily News.

The hype that these clowns are getting in real life and over social media is becoming a little bit more serious and a little bit less of a prank. People are armed and preparing to defend themselves over the clown epidemic. People getting arrested on the street for being dressed as clowns pulls Halloween into question and what will happen the day of? Will clown costumes be