By Tim Binnall
Cops in a Minnesota city are on the hunt for some creepy clowns that have menaced residents on at least two separate occasions over the last few weeks and now have the community on edge. The proverbial harlequin haunting reportedly began in mid-September when the Cloquet Police Department received a report of a rather unusual individual lurking around an intersection. According to the witness, the person in question was wearing a clown costume and running towards cars. Alas, when cops arrived on the scene, the weirdo was nowhere to be found. However, this was only the beginning of Cloquet's clown troubles.
A few weeks later, in early October, an understandably concerned mother called police about her daughter's encounter with a similarly unsettling individual. On this particular occasion, the troublemaker was seen wearing black clothing, a white wig, and a clown mask. The harlequin was said to have chased the young girl after she spotted him lingering around a parking lot. Beyond the reports received by Cloquet cops, local social media has since been flooded with stories from residents who claim that their children have also been terrorized by the creepy clowns roaming the city.
As online scuttlebutt often does, the tales have begun to take a darker turn, with many asserting that the miscreants are armed and dangerous. Responding to those rumors and the growing panic over the clowns, the Cloquet police indicated that they had only received the two reports and, to their knowledge, the individuals were not wielding weapons. Asked by a local media outlet about the strange situation that has gripped the community, the department responded, "we continue to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity in the city, particularly regarding anyone clowning around."