PORTLAND — The scary clowns are here.
For weeks, police all over the country have been receiving reports of creepy clowns, lurking in places that no clown should lurk. The New York Times has even covered the story.
And on Wednesday, the terrifying phenomenon hit the Beaver State. According to News Channel 21 in Central Oregon, police responded to a call of a “clown sighting” at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at a Redmond intersection.
“An employee working at Central Oregon Eyecare called dispatch to report she was leaving work when she saw a person wearing a clown mask with teeth, white T-shirt and blue pants,” Channel 21 said in their report. “She became scared and wanted officers to escort her to her vehicle in the parking lot.”
Take a deep breath. It gets worse. Police were unable to find the alleged terror clown.
And on Friday, it appears, the scary clowns hit the Willamette Valley.
Crystal Foster, 20, said she was stopped near O’Bryant Square in Portland in her car, a little before noon on Friday, when a man in black clothing, black gloves and a silver clown mask approached her.
“I thought he was crossing the street,” she said over the phone. “But he came straight up to my car.”
“He came up to my driver side window started banging,” she continued. Then, she says the man proceeded to walk around her car, trying to open all the doors.
Finally, Foster said she sped off, shaken. A little later, she was able to call the non-emergency line for Portland Police, but she said, “They weren’t really helpful.”
She thinks this could have been because she didn’t have much solid information about the attack.
“I couldn’t see his hands they were covered in gloves,” she said. “I couldn’t see his face.”
Sgt. Pete Simpson, spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau, said via email that he hadn’t heard of that specific incident.
“In Portland,where Darth Vader rides a unicycle and has a fire-breathing set of bagpipes,” Simpson said, “clown sightings might just be an average Tuesday.”
In Ohio earlier this month, a woman reported being attacked by a scary clown. In North Carolina, a group of clowns allegedly tried to lure some children into the woods. As early as August, there were reports of malevolent clowns in South Carolina, as well.
Stay safe out there. We still have 30 days until Halloween.
