Shortly before Halloween 2016, there was a widespread panic about scary clowns.

They'd happened before, dating back at least to the early 1980s in America.

But this time it was different.

Fueled by rumors, social media, and latent concerns about clowns, the sightings and reports of evil, stalking, and threatening clowns

spread across the country and eventually around the world, resulting in fear, violence,

and even school lockdowns. Today on Skeptoid, we'll dig into the curious case of the clown panic

of 2016.

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You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Ben Radford, guest hosting for Brian Dunning from

Skeptoid.com. The Phantom Clown Panic. Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction,

science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better

life decisions by knowing

what's real and what's not.

The clown panic of 2016 can be traced back to a bizarre incident in August of that year.

Creepy clowns were reported in Greenville, South Carolina, allegedly luring children

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