Salem police increase patrols after clown sightings

It happened on East 29th Street off Highway 52 around 8:30 p.m., WGHP reports.

Two days earlier, a women said she saw a middle-aged man with white facial makeup and flaming red hair standing silently outside a laundromat.

The suspect allegedly tried to lure the kids with treats.

For the past two weeks, Greenville police have been trying to solve several reports of creepy clowns popping up in backyards and luring children into the woods.

Deputy Flood said: ‘This is something we are taking very seriously, especially because of the allegations of the people dressed at clowns attempting to lure children into the woods’. They told police he offered them treats if they would come into the woods.

Police say they are aware of similar incidents in SC and will increase patrols in the area around 29th Street.

Officers say they found no evidence of a clown in the woods.

Some have hypothesized that these clown sightings are part of a an attempt to do some viral marketing for an upcoming horror movie, but I’ve not seen any evidence to support that contention.

About four hours later, a caller who refused to give a name reported seeing a clown about two miles away. In the first incident, reported August 21, a police report described a “suspicious character. dressed in circus clown attire and white face paint, enticing kids to follow him/her into the woods”.

Winston-Salem police said they would increase patrols in the area as a precaution.

The restiveness in Greenville was enough for police to warn that SC law prohibits anyone over age 18 from dressing up as a clown. “It’s illegal, it’s risky, it’s inappropriate, it’s creating community concern”.