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Comments on a cultural reality between past and future. 
Countdown to Hallowe'en 2016: Clown Detour Image Source: Instagram/Vin Innocente via HuffPo / Café Mom.

In March 2014, a person dressed as a clown terrified citizens of the New York borough of Staten Island. The clown stole around the streets at night and lurked near train stations. HuffPo:

"A mysterious clown has been roaming the streets of Staten Island and freaking out local residents.

Staten Islanders have been posting pictures and videos on social media of a person dressed up like a clown wearing a yellow outfit, red shoes and a mask while holding balloons and waving to the cameras, the Staten Island Advance reported.

The clown has been spotted at night near the Richmond Valley and Grasmere train stations and in front of a Chinese restaurant during the day on Richmond Avenue, according to the Advance and online posts.

'I wish I was joking dude, it scared the heck out of me,' Michael Levy posted on his Instagram photo of the clown behind a tree at night. 'I thought it was like some dummy or cardboard standup thing at first until he pointed at me.'" Image Source: Instagram/Robert Privitera via HuffPo. Image Source: Instagram/Michael Levy via HuffPo.

The story became less interesting when a different clown turned up at a high school, stood with people for selfies at a local mall, and hammed it up at a wrestling venue the following week. The men who initially shared the images on social media had pulled a prank on the city in a publicity stunt to promote their film production company. Staten Island Live:

"A series of images posted to social media showing a creepy, mysterious clown roving the borough was shared to Instagram and Facebook by four Staten Island men who have ties to each other and a New York City production company. Three of the men -- Vincent Innocente, Robert Privitera and Michael Leavy -- are friends with each other on Facebook; the trio, along with comedian Vic Dibitetto, is linked with Fuzz on the Lens Productions."

The group likely copied an October 2013 incident in Nottingham, UK, in which a film student roamed city streets dressed as a clown in an act of dramatic self-promotion. The clown now has his own page on the production company's Website; on Facebook he is classified as a 'public figure'; and you can buy a Staten Island clown t-shirt. Image Source: Vic Dibitetto via New York Daily News.

So Im not cool with this staten island clown thing that's developing at the moment.
— Carlo Sorrentino (@NEXGREATEST) March 20, 2014

The Staten Island rumours followed the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March 2014. Responding to the atmosphere, one of the men who staged the Staten Island clown incidents denied any hoax, and mentioned the missing aircraft: "When Dibitetto was asked about the connection, he responded via a Facebook message: 'I also know where the Malaysian airliner is.'"

Like EgyptAir Flight 804, which crashed in the Mediterranean on 19 May 2016, the missing Malaysian airplane made a detour from daily mentality and faith in the mundane. There is a collective consensus on what is confirmed and real. This is the psychological meat and potatoes of everyday life. When something shocking and unexplained occurs, communities depart from their general agreement to remain sane. MH 370 is still the subject of many elaborate conspiracy theories and arcane explanations about its fate.

Psychologists who analyze the impact of traumatic events refer to stages in group response. Right after the plane's disappearance, one CNN expert described the initial public reaction as the 'romantic hero' phase. People gather to make sense of what has happened; they contribute money to rescue teams. They try to repair the rip in the collective fabric. If the rescue takes too long, people join in a psychological group event in which they engage with the trauma or anomaly quasi-artistically, to imagine what has happened and try to help. If the mystery remains unsolved, mass interest will fade.

These shifts in collective psychology resemble the non-linear, oblique, or 'right-brained' way artists engage with the world. However, unlike conspiracy theorists, artists do not believe (or most of them don't) that the artistic products or events which they are making constitute genuine, alternate realities. The communal reaction to trauma sparks the artistic impulse, but includes an inability to distinguish the real facts from the created fiction. This is a less well understood aspect of post-traumatic group psychology. It was also evident after 9/11 and the Great Recession. Both events inspired stubborn conspiracy theories and theorists. This is not because the theories are true; these myths are coping mechanisms, created to ease heightened communal anxieties. Finding the 'truth' through conspiracy theorizing is a way of finding emotional control in the face of perceived irrationality, fear, threat, death, or chaos.

In the US, the National Center for Biotechnology Information commented on the impact of terror events, plane crashes, and natural disasters:

"The effect of traumatic events on human functioning has been a subject of study for many years. An abundance of research has examined traumatic events ranging from individual events such as motor vehicle crashes and sexual assaults to community-wide events such as natural disasters, commercial airplane crashes, and community violence, as well as global events such as war.

As defined by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), a traumatic event—or witnessing such an event—triggers fear, helplessness, or horror in response to the perceived or actual threat of injury or death to the individual or to another (APA, 1994). ...

Perceptions of risk are influenced by the degree to which individuals feel they have knowledge of and control over an outside event and how familiar and catastrophic the event will be (for review, see Slovic, 1987). People are more likely to feel that an activity or event is not dangerous if they can control it. Under these circumstances, it becomes less effective to cope by distancing oneself from the population at risk if the risk is seemingly random. ...

In addition to its distinctive characteristic of intent, terrorism can uniquely disrupt societal functioning. Terrorism has the capacity to erode the sense of community or national security; damage morale and cohesion; and open the racial or ethnic, economic, and religious cracks that exist in our society, as evidenced by an increase in hate crimes following the September 11, 2001, attacks (Human Rights Watch, 2002; FBI, 2002). ...

Other behaviors and outcomes reflecting functional impairment after terrorism events are in need of further study. School dropout rates, divorce, and domestic or interpersonal violence and conflict are potential future research topics in this area. Increases in school or work absenteeism, which may indicate functional impairment, have been noted following terrorist attacks. ...

Research from the disaster mental health field has developed models that stratify groups based on exposure level. These levels include those indirectly or remotely affected—individuals who are not in close geographic proximity to the incident, but who witness the event through the media; those who are negatively exposed through secondary effects such as an economic downturn; and those who experience the death of or immediate risk to a loved one from the terrorism event (i.e., relatives, friends, coworkers, rescue workers, witnesses). ...

Evidence suggests that terrorism events are similar to other traumatic events in this regard. As described earlier, psychological consequences will vary across the population ... some people will experience direct physical trauma or threat of trauma; ... a wider population will be affected by secondary adversities and a general climate of fear. ...

Hoaxes and copycat events may initially result in psychological consequences similar to those of actual terrorism events. Although the research base is extremely limited, the psychological impact of a hoax may be as great as that of a true threat."

Although the Staten Island clown detour was staged, with obvious cinematic and fictional references, and was exposed as a social media gimmick, it still influenced people in ways similar to the real aircraft disaster which occurred in the same month. The MH 370 disappearance may have increased the social media virality of the Staten Island clown. The Staten Island images were frightening and anomalous enough to set in motion the dynamics of the mental detour, the departure from reality into weird myth-making.

Despite media assurances that the clown was a hoax, an ultra-Christian Youtuber took the clown to be a sign of the Illuminati's plans to set up the New World Order and bring on the end of days as foretold in the Bible. The clown letting go of his balloons represented the release and sacrifice of Christian souls in the coming World War III. One commenter responded: "Dude it's just a clown I mean I love Jesus but don't take it that far﻿." Mysterious clown in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at the corner of Mason and Adams Streets, 2 a.m. (2 August 2016). Images Source: LadBible and WTMJ.

Video Source: Youtube.

In recent years, clown sightings have appeared across the Europe and UK. In late 2016, clown sightings exploded in the United States. In early August, a clown was spotted in Green Bay, Wisconsin. On 19 August 2016, terrified children reported clowns lurking around Greenville, South Carolina. A report filed with the police on 21 August stated that there were "clowns in the woods" near Fleetwood Manor Apartments. Several reports and sightings confirmed that the clowns were trying to lure children with green laser lights, candy, and money to an abandoned house in the forest. Authorities searched the house and found nothing. Image Source: WTHITV10.

By late August and September, clown sightings spread elsewhere in the city, then across South Carolina, then to other states, including Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, and Tennessee. As a result of sightings in Alabama, two schools closed. More rumours placed clowns in Ohio. By mid-September, police began arresting suspects in Georgia. Between 15 and 19 September, children spotted clowns on the streets in Annapolis, Maryland. From Kingsport Tennessee Times News police blotter on 15 September 2016:

"Shortly after 11 p.m., police were called to an apartment complex in Piney Flats. A resident, 18, reported that he had spotted someone dressed as a clown 'on the other end of the parking lot waving.' The teen stated that when he attempted to confront the individual, the clown ran away into a wooded area. Two responding officers searched the property but were unable to locate anyone. The complainant was advised to contact the sheriff's office if further assistance was needed. The local clown sighting follows a rash of similar accounts across the nation, some in which suspects allegedly attempted to lure children into woods, others that were later determined to be fabricated. A check of Kingsport police records finds no such Pennywise parallels in the Model City." Warning letter from property management, Fleetwood Manor Apartments, Greenville, South Carolina (24 August 2016). Image Source: WSPA. The woods near Fleetwood Manor Apartments, Greenville, South Carolina. Image Source: ABC. Image Source.

This is where clown sighting was reported. @cityofwspolice say he used treats to try & lure kids into woods @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/uN16osd5pK
— Sarah Krueger (@SarahKruegerTV) September 5, 2016 "Karen Mann Hicks, of Princeton, posted this photo that appears to show a creepy clown walking alongside Simmons River Road in Mercer County [West Virginia] on Sunday night [11 September 2016]." Image Source: Karen Mann Hicks/Facebook via We Heart WV. Further report: Bluefield Daily Telegraph. On 30 September, this photo was declared a hoax.

Report on 15 September sighting, Piney Flats, Sullivan County, Tennessee (19 September 2016). Video Source: Youtube. Another sighting at Hal Rogers Parkway in London, Kentucky (18 September 2016). Image Source: Jamie Hill/Facebook via Local 8/WKYT.

31 Official trailer (30 August 2016). Video Source: Youtube. Some newspaper reporters believe the clown sightings are part of a marketing campaign, possibly for this movie. Producers denied that the sightings had anything to do with their film.

Since the Staten Island clown sightings in 2014 turned out to be a marketing hoax, the media assume these reports are part of a similar film production campaign. The sightings have overlapped with a genuine horror-clown charity marketing event in Georgia. After initial skepticism, reports reached national and international news. Esquire magazine and the Guardian concluded that the clowns were threatening children as part of a guerrilla marketing stunt to publicize Rob Zombie's horror film, 31, which opened in the USA on 1 September. However, Zombie's film distribution company denied it: "The company and the film 31 are not associated in any way with the creepy clowns and costumed characters found roaming the South." In Maine, the Bangor Daily News asked horror writer Stephen King to comment:

"King attributed the clown scare in the Carolinas to a recurring phenomenon: the supernatural bogeyman who lurks in the shadows. Phantom clown scares have happened before, most notably in the 1980s in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona and a few other places.

'I suspect it’s a kind of low-level hysteria, like Slender Man, or the so-called Bunny Man, who purportedly lurked in Fairfax County, Virginia, wearing a white hood with long ears and attacking people with a hatchet or an axe,' King said. 'The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns really can be terrifying.'"

Latest reports:
The 2016 clown sightings may cloak a real crime ring, surrounded by copycats. They are a weird symptom of malaise, anxiety, uneasiness about the election, and confusion about social media and virtual reality. The trend is just beyond the control of police, the press, schools and parents. Disrupted communal stability inspires low-grade hysteria. Without proper grounding, action from authorities, or rational explanations, a mass hoax will be contained psychologically by conspiracy theorists, and other basement-level mythologizers.

Beyond them, it will fall to the entertainment industry to cope with 2016's clowns, because culture digests anything that the mainstream cannot otherwise absorb. You can see an article on how the 'culture shocks' of real history are absorbed by the horror genre here. For example, horror director Wes Craven started in the porn industry. The Vietnam War inspired American slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s and later violent video games. Horror directors displayed war's carnage, transmuting it into fictional bloodbaths, orchestrated by cinematic serial killers, wearing masks. And now, the cinematic masked killers have returned to reality. "A screenshot of the Facebook thread with the alleged threat made toward Manor High School[, Manor, Texas]." Image Source: Facebook via KVUE. "In a letter sent to Del Valle High School parents Friday morning, the principal said they 'have been made aware of a rumor about clowns threatening the security' of the school." (30 September 2016) Image Source: KVUE. "The tweet that may have started all of the chaos in schools across the country has been taken down after being shared hundreds of times." (30 September 2016 report) Image Source: NJ.com. More from Facebook. These threats came from a group of teens, who were arrested. Image Source: Facebook via NBC News. Image Source: Brandy Source. Image Source: Democratic Underground. Image Source: Q105. Image Source: We Are Anonymous. Middlesboro, Kentucky clown arrest: Jonathan Martin was arrested for disorderly conduct and "wearing a mask in a public place." (24 September 2016) Images Source: We Are Anonymous. By 1 October 2016, the clown sightings had spread to Nova Scotia, Canada. Image Source: CTV via Youtube.

Canadian report (1 October 2016). Video Source: CTV News via Youtube. Posted by Tam B at 12:00:00 AM Labels: 9/11, Conspiracy Theories, Countdowns, Cyberethics, Disinformation, Film, Horror, Illuminati, Informatics, Occult, Omens, Superstitions, Virtual Reality, War, World Trade
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