Creepy Clowns Have Been Spotted In KL, But Here's Why There's No Need To Panic
:O ... wait.
By Samantha Khor — 26 Oct 2016, 06:05 PM
Remember the creepy clown hysteria that's sweeping across the US, UK, Australia, and several other Western countries? Looks like they've made their way to Malaysia.
Apparently, in the past few days, a creepy clown or two have been spotted lurking at some parks in Kuala Lumpur come nightfall
A Facebook user snapped a few photos of a creepy clown waving to her from a children's play set while she was out jogging on Sunday night, 23 October. The exact location of the park is not known.
Another netizen also claimed to have stumbled upon a creepy clown sometime before 8.00pm on Tuesday, 25 October. Similar to the previous sighting, the exact location is not known.
Earlier today, a female jogger took a video of her being chased by a similarly creepy clown when she went jogging at dawn:
The video was posted today, 26 October at 11.16am, so we assume she managed to escape from the clown.
So, should you start panicking and prepare for a killer clown apocalypse? Well, no... because the above sightings are probably just a prank.
For one, all the photos and video above were only posted to the same channel - a public Facebook group called 'KL Gossip Station' - instead of the witnesses' own profiles.
In fact, some commenters pointed out that the video is obviously fake, even going as far as to write a "script" for a "better, more realistic version".
Most importantly, upon a closer look, we realised that the creepy clowns in the photos and video might actually just be ONE clown! Observe his clothing:
All three clowns bear a resemblance to each other from its fuzzy red hair and white make-up down to its yellow and metallic jumpsuit.
Granted, the above points are not exactly concrete proof that the clown is harmless. Bear in mind, however, that most creepy clown sightings that were previously reported in other countries have proven to be hoaxes.
Clown paranoia was taken to new heights in the US when fake news sites started cashing in with "news" about clown-related deaths, particularly those about people killing clowns, people being killed by clowns, or people being killed because they were mistaken for clowns getting thousands of shares on social media.
Nearly 30 people - most of them teenagers - have also been arrested since September for posting clown-related "terrorist threats" to public spaces and social media, falsely reporting clown sightings, and even in connection with robberies and stabbings.