BRUNSWICK

The wave of recent clown encounters reported around the country has made its way to Maine as some local police departments say they have had reports of clown sightings.

Topsham Police Chief Chris Lewis said police got a call at around 9 p.m. on Oct. 6 that a child had seen two clowns in a playground area near Mt. Ararat Middle School a few hours earlier. The child reported two clowns jumped the fence and ran toward them, then ran away. Police didn’t locate any clowns in the area.

However, Lewis said officers have been told to provide extra patrols near schools and playgrounds. He also checked with School Administrative District 75 Superintendent Brad Smith to make sure all schools continue to follow their protocols when students go outside. Lewis let him know police will respond accordingly if necessary.

Brunswick Police Department also received some reports of clowns, which police were unable to locate.

Brunswick Police Cmdr. Tom Garrepy said the first clown was reported at Jordan Acres School on Oct. 4 at around 7:30 p.m. Two days later at 9:40 a.m., police received a second-hand complaint about a clown that was going to a home in Bath.

On Oct. 7 at 8 p.m., a woman reported seeing what she thought was a clown walking on High Street. Then on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m., police got a report that someone in a clown suit was on Davis Street in Brunswick. Police again found no sign of a clown.

Garrepy said Tuesday that Brunswick police aren’t alerting the public.

“Obviously, we want people to report suspicious activity, but at this point we haven’t had any criminal activity committed by anyone in a clown suit or clown mask,” he said, adding that, with Halloween coming, “we ask people to be vigilant and safety conscious.”

Bath Police Lt. Robert Savary said his department received a few calls about clowns. Someone said they saw what they thought was a clown in Hyde Park, which mobilized people in the neighborhood to try to search this clown out. However, Savary said, it was never located.

Some of the complaints are related to clown-based threats, such as at schools, that someone may have seen on social media.

“We have yet to receive any sort of concrete criminal behavior from somebody dressed as a clown,” Savary said.

CNN’s Frank T. McAndrew reports in “The Conversation” that clowns have reportedly “tried to lure women and children into the woods, chased people with knives and machetes, and yelled at people from cars. They’ve been spotted hanging out in cemeteries and they have been caught in the headlights of cars as they appear alongside desolate country roads in the dead of night.”

The clown scare has escalated to the point where McDonald’s says Ronald McDonald will be keeping a low profile, according to The Associated Press. The company told the AP on Tuesday that it is being “thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald’s participation in community events” as a result of the “current climate around clown sightings in communities.”

Time magazine’s Melissa Chan reported last week that “Clown hysteria has taken the country by storm, fueling both fear and fascination while prompting calls for calm from police departments and even from the master of horrors, Stephen King.”

King’s 1986 horror novel “It” is about a killer clown, set in a fictional town in Maine. A film based on the novel is scheduled for release next year.

“Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria — most of ’em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh,” King wrote recently on Twitter.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

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