Greenville, S.C. — A new Hulu documentary that premiered Monday, October 12, looks back at the 2016 wave of clown sightings that started in Greenville County and spread across the country.
Clown Panic examines how reports of killer clowns left communities across the United States anxious in the fall of 2016, a decade after the scare began in the Upstate.
On Aug. 21, 2016, Greenville County sheriff’s deputies received a report of a person dressed in clown attire outside the Fleetwood Manor Apartments. Reports to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office described figures in the woods shining green laser lights and offering children large amounts of money.
Deputies investigated an abandoned house near the complex but found no evidence anyone was living there. The sheriff’s office and Greenville Police Department then began receiving more reports at other apartment complexes, which led to extra patrols.
The sightings went on for several months, moving from the Upstate across the Carolinas and the nation. Stores pulled clown masks from shelves, and some arrests followed, including people caught dressing as clowns and others who made false reports.
