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Credit: vbagiatis on Deviant Art.

September is usually the time of the year when the leaves start to change and the weather gets colder. The sweaters and boots pile on, and flannels are everywhere. Pumpkin Spice Lattes come back to all the Starbucks menus, Reese’s pumpkins are being sold instead of their regular peanut butter cups, and the orchards put their pumpkins out for purchase. September is also the month before October, which everyone knows as the month of Halloween. Even though Halloween only lasts one day, the Halloween spirit is there all throughout the month. Is it possible that this year Halloween came a little early?

Recently there have been several states in the eastern part of the nation that have reported sightings of clowns. People in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina,Alabama, and Georgia have all had reports of these creepy clowns. They have raised a lot of questions, not just for the people in those states, but all over the country. This clown outbreak is an epidemic, one that definitely needs to be explained.

Who are these clowns? Or the people behind them, rather. Are they just regular citizens like you and me? Are they people who have something against the town they live in? Perhaps they’re just pranksters, taking it a step too far. Are they teenagers, adults? These have to be clearly psychotic people, especially if they think dressing up as a clown and luring children into the woods with money, candy, toys, etc. is funny.

But what are they trying to do? Are they trying to scare people? They’re doing a really good job of it, if that’s their goal. Are they rapists? Are they child molesters? Or maybe they’re just people who are trying to make parents become more aware of their kids, adults more aware of themselves, and the world more aware of its everyday dangers? Perhaps these evil looking, unsettling, lurking clowns are trying to do something for the general good of the people?

Are they trying to make people safer by showing them that they’re not always safe? Is this just a scare tactic? Or is there more to the “prank?"

More importantly, when will it stop? Halloween is right around the corner, and everyone will be out with their kids, trick or treating and walking down the streets, while their children are dressed in costumes and smiling, laughing, and being happy with all the candy they get that night. Will the clowns still be out lurking? Will parents have to walk their children up to the doors of the houses they go trick or treating at? Will the clowns try to kidnap people? Who will stop it if they do? The police in the states where clowns have been spotted have not found any evidence of any clowns in the woods, they must be good at hide-and-seek. And although no one has been reported kidnapped, missing, or murdered, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Halloween would be the night of opportunity for them. Are these clowns lurking, waiting in the shadows for the night of all nights, when children are bountiful and plenty, to kidnap them, take them into the woods and do whatever they please with them?

Let’s hope not.