Jason Burger, Contributing Writer
If you have a social media account of any type, it is most likely that reports, pictures, and tweets of creepy clowns keep coming up.
However, it is not just social media users that have picked up on the not so funny trend.
Recent police and national news reports show that as early as Aug. 1, menacing tales of people dressed as clowns are attempting all kinds of crimes.
Everything from personal assault, to luring young children into wooded areas has been reported nationwide.
Adding to the chaos, several public schools have contacted police due to students making clown threats on social media, some threats even resulting in school cancelations.
Although the issue remains serious, in most cases police investigation proved that there was no threat to the schools at all.
The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University have reported students calling into their campus police departments with alleged “clown sightings.”
Even though no reports of clowns on OBU property exist, the students on campus are paying attention to the situation.
“I have seen something about a clown on Facebook and also on Twitter. I guess [a clown] was over by Harrison [Road],” junior Blaine Coffee said.
Although the post that Coffee saw was never confirmed as a legitimate sighting or a hoax, there is still awareness on campus that crazy clowns are a problem.
“Even if the [clown] events aren’t real, the fear behind them is evident by the school cancellations and overall general talk of it,” junior Nicole Smith said.
“It doesn’t so much scare me as infuriate me that we are now letting idiots in clown costumes mess with our lives.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Jasmine Ratzlaff, a senior sociology major, expressed doubt with the clowns.
“I feel like it’s not a huge threat here in Shawnee,” Ratzlaff said.
“It’s a small town and no one is going to try anything like that. I would be concerned if I was the person that spotted them [clowns] because I don’t want to be the one person that they take the opportunity to commit an act of violence on.”
While it is easy to look at a clown and assume the worst, not all clowns are out to terrorize the public.
thebisonnews.com 
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