The Washington Post Education Scary clown rumors, threats feed hysteria, leading to school lockdowns, arrests By Joe Heim and T. Rees Shapiro October It was just after midnight Tuesday at James Madison University when the clown calls started pouring in. Phones beeped and buzzed. There was no official alert at the Harrisonburg, Va., school, but on Yik Yak, Twitter and GroupMe, students learned of a possible intruder on campus. A grainy Snapchat video purported to show a menacing clown outside of Weaver Hall. Freakout ensued. Local Headlines newsletter Daily headlines about the Washington region. Some students panicked; others were just wary. No one really thought it was funny. In minutes, undergrad posses carrying flashlights and pepper spray roamed the Quad, seeking to capture the clown or at least chase it off. “Most people were mobilized to defend the campus from the person inside the clown suit,” senior Diego Jauregui said. “People definitely felt safe in numbers,and they were discussing what to do if they found a clown. Which would be to charge them and hold them down but not hurt them and call the authorities.” The JMU clown fright was just one of hundreds that have erupted this week at colleges, high schools and grade schools across the country, forcing learning institutions to respond seriously to a growing national hysteria that many had previously regarded as a laughing matter. Clown fear rattled schools in the Washington region this week. Officials ordered a lockdown Wednesday at Northwestern High School in Prince George’s County, Md., after a clown-based Instagram threat. The Loudoun County sheriffs office in Virginia announced that it was directing patrols at schools in response to the clown scare. A student in Montgomery County, Md., brought a knife to school Wednesday, reportedly to protect himself against any clown attack. Many of the clown posts on social media have included threatening language that specifically targets individual schools. One threat in the Washington area referred to a clown kidnapping a student, planting a bomb and exploding a school. Montgomery authorities arrested students who posted threats to a school using a clown alias, with the principal of Rosa Parks Middle School citing it as “a great teachable moment to discuss how pranks can have a negative impact with severe consequences.” Administrators may say that the clown threats are hoaxes, but they feel compelled to address them. Student safety is paramount for school districts anduniversities after a seemingly unending string of fatal school shootings and threats during the past two decades. But schools have to thread the needle when it comes to alerting parents without causing further panic. Arlington County, Va., Schools Superintendent Patrick K. Murphy sent an email to parents Wednesday afternoon that attempted to address concerns about social-media threats without ever using the word “clown.” The message, crafted with police, was carefully worded to not feed any hysteria, said schools spokesman Frank Bellavia. “It’s a fine line,” he said. Bellavia said that the clown sightings have added an unusual twist to the kind of threats schools receive via social media. “This was a completely new one that we hadn’t seen at all,” Bellavia said. Parents at Benton Middle School in Prince William County received a letter from Principal Denise Huebner urging them to not overreact but also warning of students who might be inclined to copy the clown threats. “Please talk to students and urge them to avoid becoming part of the problem,” she wrote. “Students found to be taking an intentional role in this problem will face serious consequences.” Amanda Yanovitch, who has three children in Chesterfield County schools in Midlothian, Va., said the bus-stop discussion every morning centers on the latest clown-threat rumors. Yanovitch blamed teens for fomenting the fear.