Creepy, armed clowns, inspired by social media and pop culture, have been sweeping the world and terrorizing innocent civilians. From California to France, reports of clowns clad in weapons have been flooding police departments. The influence of scary clowns is at an all time high, with TV shows, movies, and internet videos portraying these circus dwellers as much more than a child's form of amusement. Although clowns have always been mystical and harrowing creatures, they are becoming more and more prominent. The popularity of this strange and disturbing trend of armed clowns seems to be growing, and the end is nowhere in sight. Many people are locking their doors and shutting their curtains as the trend of scaring innocent citizens by wearing ominous clown costumes is spreading. In the Californian city of Bakersfield, people dressed as evil clowns have been stalking and terrorizing citizens (Bernstein 1). Many of these sightings were reported to the Bakersfield police department. Although some of the reports were concluded to be hoaxes, clowns were spotted all over the city, some…show more content… Authorities are unsure of the reasoning for these attacks, but one theory is the country's new tradition of celebrating Halloween (www.thelocal.fr 1). Fourteen people were recently arrested while dressed as demonic clowns and scaring citizens with weapons (Kirby-Green 1). The clowns in France tend to target a younger crowd, and like to congregate outside of schools, lurking for their next young victim to scare (Kirby-Green 1). Although most incidents never actually turned violent, one clown was arrested for beating a man with a metal bar (Kirby-Green 1). However, the clowns are not the only ones who are in trouble with the law. A group of teenage clown hunters carrying tear gas and hammers were arrested in France while trying to get revenge on the creepy stalkers (Kirby-Green