The Phantom Clowns Are Back

Has anyone here ever read Mysterious America by paranormal investigator Loren Coleman? In one of the chapters of that book, he reported sightings of mysterious men dressed as clowns who were bothering children and who allegedly attempted to abduct these children (no actual abductions took place; the "clowns" were evidently so creepy that every single kid wisely retreated from them). In one sighting, one of these mysterious clowns was actually said to have brandished a knife and demanded that children get into his vehicle (but he evidently said this while still seated in the vehicle, so the kids were able to run). These mystery clowns are often seen driving vans and never any other type of vehicle. The initial reports were made in 1981.

Now, 27 years later, new reports are coming in from Illinois. More reports of a mysterious man dressed as a clown who is trying to entice kids into going with him (this time by using balloons) have come in. The clown once again escapes into a van, with this particular van reported as having the windows smashed out.

Now, what does this have to do with the topic of this forum? When I hear reports like this, I worry that MAA's are going to be blamed. After all, Oprah and the rest of the antis routinely accuse MAA's of doing all manner of horrible and bizarre things in their alleged quest to lure kids into sexual encounters, and in the McMartin Preschool incident some of the false abuse reports claimed people dressed as clowns were abusing the kids. I'm not sure what the people on the board will make of these reports, but I am thankful that Loren Coleman and the respondents on his blog didn't try to tie this newest wave of mysterious clowns bothering children encounters into the "pedophile panic."

I linked to Loren's blog down below so you can go there and read the reports yourself.