STORRS, Conn. (AP) – Carrying golf clubs, shovels and hockey sticks, several hundred University of Connecticut students gathered just before midnight in a cemetery, ready to do battle with menacing clowns they had heard might be lurking among the headstones.
Police determined that Monday’s clown rumors, like dozens of others across the country, were a hoax. But with reports of clown sightings spreading, fueled largely by social media, authorities are being forced to take them seriously as a potential threat to public safety, particularly at schools, where principals have conducted lockdowns and canceled classes.
“There are many other emergencies and calls for service that troopers and other first responders need to get to without being misdirected to a prank,” Connecticut state troopers said in a statement.
Similar incidents have been reported this week at schools around the country, including Penn State University, where police said more than 500 students showed up early Tuesday to hunt for clowns.
Officials at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, ordered students to shelter in place for more than 30 minutes Monday night and evacuated a dorm after social media reports that an armed clown could be on campus.