As Halloween approaches, people are preparing their best tricks and treats. Clown costumes may have started as cute and funny, but over the years have become downright creepy. The recent creepy clown scare is sweeping the nation, and even affecting students at St. Dominic High School.

Clowns have been a common fear among the American people for many years. Recently videos have appeared all over Twitter of people driving or hiking, taping their encounters with creepy clowns. Some of the videos seem to be fake and set up, while others are real. In a few of the videos, the clowns are holding weapons such as knives or pitchforks.

“Personally, I think you have to be at a really low point in your life to dress up as a clown and harass people,” said junior Liz Wagner.

While most think this is all a joke, there are others who are left traumatized by the creepy costumes.

“They make me want to stay in my house for the rest of my life,” said junior Riley Leutkenhaus.

Most can agree that the whole ordeal is getting out of hand. Whether in Florida, Chicago, Kansas or even Missouri, these clowns are making their way across the country. Rumor has it that a clown even made its way to the St. Dominic campus.

“Two weeks ago I had soccer practice for my select team at the stadium. We were all just standing there and then we saw him. I couldn’t even scream I was so scared in the moment,” said sophomore Caroline Staebell.

Thankfully, this clown sighting was non-threatening as it was only a dad playing a joke on his daughter and her teammates.

While there are a variety of feelings towards these clown sightings, there is one thing we could all agree on: they need to stop. Although they may be entertaining to watch, they are leaving people traumatized and scared.