Amidst crazy hurricane storms and a heated presidential election comes the “clown crisis”, a term that describes the dozens of sightings of people dressed in ugly and scary clown costumes.

According to a website The Verge, it all started in South Carolina back in August.

A mother and her child saw a clown in the dark woods just outside Greenville and called the police. Sightings continued throughout southern states and have spread nationwide.

The hysteria surrounding killer clowns has been spread through social media and constant news coverage.

Often turning out to be people pranking or starting Halloween early, there have been few sightings that lead to actual arrests.

However, a clown was spotted in San Jose by junior Maher Osman and his brother during the weekend of October 8th and 9th.

“The clown was standing in our backyard at around 7pm. We thought it was a regular person at first, but turned out to be a guy in a clown costume,” Osman said.  No one was hurt, though Mrs. Osman was a bit spooked.

The story of the San Jose clown does not stop there.

“The next day, he went into our neighbor’s pool. They called the police and he was taken away,” Osman said.

Both occurrences left no one harmed, but make no mistake the clown was not a welcome guest.

The clown mania did not stop there.

This is not the first clown sighting in the Bay Area, and it is safe to say it will not be the last.

​The Fremont Police Department said they have received calls confirming at least one clown sighting. October 7th, Oakland Unified School District had their schools under lockdown due to clown sightings and antics.

Many local schools have banned clown costumes for the upcoming Halloween holiday as they can cause disturbances and disruptions.
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In Concord, only 46 miles from San Jose, a clown tried to kidnap a one year old girl on October 5.

​According to CBS Bay Area, police were quickly dispatched, but could not locate the man. ​