[6] The phenomenon later spread to many other cities in the U.S. By mid-October 2016, clown sightings and attacks had been reported in nearly all U.S. states, nine out of 13 provinces and territories of Canada, and 18 other countries.
Prior to the spate of incidents in 2016, numerous sightings of people dressed as clowns in odd or incongruous settings have occurred throughout the world since 2013.
The proliferation of videos and images of these precursor sightings spread through social media posts and viral sharing of the content.
The Northampton clown sightings, which were in the town during September and October 2013, were the work of three local filmmakers: Alex Powell, Elliot Simpson, and Luke Ubanski.
[7] In March 2014, Matteo Moroni from Perugia, owner of the YouTube channel DM Pranks, began dressing up as an evil clown and terrifying unsuspecting passersby, with his videos racking up hundreds of millions of views.
This occurrence involved two residents who spotted the "creepy clown" scaling the gate at the Rosehill Cemetery late at night.
After the clown entered the cemetery, they turned to face the residents and began waving slowly as they made a video recording.
[12] In Greenville County, it was rumored that clowns were attempting to lure children into the woods with money or loitering around.
[13] Five pictures of a creepy clown roaming a vacant parking lot under a bridge in Downtown Green Bay at night started going viral on 1 August 2016.
In Reading, Pennsylvania, a 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed during an incident that could have been provoked by a prowler wearing a clown mask.
[33] By 25 October 2016, several news outlets reported on an alleged clown-initiated "purge" or "attack", which supposedly was to take place on Halloween Eve of 2016.