Kelly’s back!!! And just in time because in this episode of Strange Country, we send in the clowns—lots of em pouring out of that one tiny car. Cohosts Beth and Kelly dive into the Clown Panic of 2016 and recognize that Americans need some media literacy lessons stat.
Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands
Cite your sources:
Chan, Melissa. “Penn State Students Flood Streets to Hunt for Clowns.” TIME, 4 October 2016, https://time.com/4517709/penn-state-clown-hunt/. Accessed 10 October 2022.
“Clowning - Circus Clowns History and Facts.” History of Circus, 2022, http://www.historyofcircus.com/circus-facts/circus-clowns-history-and-facts/. Accessed 16 October 2022.
“Clown sightings prompt police calls in Green Bay, Wisconsin.” ABC7 Chicago, 5 August 2016, https://abc7chicago.com/green-bay-clown-freak-gags-the-wisconsin/1458590/. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Guarino, Ben. "Clown sightings have spread to North Carolina. Now police are concerned about creepy copycats." Washington Post, 7 Sept. 2016. Gale OneFile: News, link-gale-cay.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A462681051/STND?u=nysl_sc_ahs&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=dd605091. Accessed 16 Oct. 2022.
Guarino, Ben. "Police begin making arrests as false reports of clowns plague Southern towns." Washington Post, 20 Sept. 2016. Gale OneFile: News, link-gale-cay.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A464104094/STND?u=nysl_sc_ahs&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=7c0a5b24. Accessed 16 Oct. 2022.
Guarino, Ben. "South Carolina community warned about reported group of scary clowns trying to lure children into woods." Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2016. Gale OneFile: News, link-gale-cay.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A461968042/STND?u=nysl_sc_ahs&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=477a76a4. Accessed 16 Oct. 2022.
Holley, Peter. “This creepy 65-year-old clown will terrify your misbehaving kid for cash.” The Washington Post, 3 November 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/03/this-creepy-65-year-old-clown-will-terrify-your-misbehaving-kid-for-cash/. Accessed 10 October 2022.
JACOBO, JULIA. “Clown Lives Matter March Canceled Over Death Threats.” ABC News, 14 October 2016, https://abcnews.go.com/US/clown-lives-matter-march-canceled-death-threats/story?id=42805927. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Jay, Kitty. “The Untold Truth Of Ronald McDonald.” Mashed, 10 December 2020, https://www.mashed.com/124443/untold-truth-ronald-mcdonald/. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Mack, David. “People Are Being Warned About Scary Clowns Luring Kids Into The Woods.” BuzzFeed News, 29 August 2016, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/clowns-in-the-woods. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Radford, Benjamin. Bad Clowns. University of New Mexico Press, 2016.
Romano, Aja. “The great clown panic of 2016 is a hoax. But the terrifying side of clowns is real.” Vox, 12 October 2016, https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/10/12/13122196/clown-panic-hoax-history. Accessed 10 October 2022.
Teague, Matthew. “Clown sightings: the day the craze began | Clowns.” The Guardian, 5 October 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/05/clown-sightings-south-carolina-alabama. Accessed 16 October 2022.
Wang, Amy B. "Target halts clown-mask sales amid creepy-clown hysteria." Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2016. Gale OneFile: News, link-gale-cay.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A466826983/STND?u=nysl_sc_ahs&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=3099f93d. Accessed 16 Oct. 2022.