[3] However, the 1950 unsolved murder of teenage babysitter Janett Christman in Columbia, Missouri, seems to have been an influence, at the very least on later versions via media adaptations.
[3][4] Days before her 14th birthday, Christman took a babysitting job for a couple, during which she was sexually assaulted and killed by an unknown assailant.
When the couple returned, the porch light was on and the front door unlocked, implying Christman had let her attacker in.
[3] The legend details a teenage girl who is watching television at night while babysitting after the children have been put to bed upstairs.
When the mother or father of the children she is caring for calls home to check in, the babysitter asks if she can cover the clown statue with a blanket.