POLICE SEEK DEMON CLOWN
"Police said they were
inundated with calls Friday afternoon from school children who tolf of seeing
an elusive demon clown reportedly armed with a knife or machete.
"It´s been close to a
hysteria situation" said police Sgt. Jim Treece. We´ve had calls at the
rate of about one a minute since school let out. Some parents say their children
come in crying, saying the clown chased them home, or that he slapped them. The
clown is real to a very young mind".
Treece said police have had
trouble sorting out prank calls from those of serious children and concerned
parents. He estimated that between 60 and 100 calls had been received between 9
a.m and 4 p.m Friday.
"Whether it´s a joke to these
children or whether they think they´re seeing a clown, we just don´t
know", Treece said. "We have to alert the citizenry, yet try to keep
from generating a panic situation".
The report of the demon clown
surfaced across the state line in Kansas City, Kan., earlier this week with
children telling of the armed man, his face painted white, roaming the streets
in a yellow van.
The calls began to diminish in
Kansas City, Kan, Friday, but mushroomed on the Missouri side.
A Kansas City, Mo., woman told
police she watched a yellow van approach her daughters, ages 6 and 7, as they
left home to attend school Friday morning.
She said the girls ran back to the
house, saying a man in a clown´s suit opened the van door and threatened them
with a knife. The mother said she could not see the man.
Kansas City, Kan., police
spokesman Michael Dailey said concern among parents was heightened early this
week when the principal of a parochial school sent home a note to parents
warning of the "killer clown". "... The Fort Scott Tribune - May 22, 1981
Loren Coleman, Mysterious America, 1983
