The good clown name continues its tragic decline into ruination this week, with a mysterious Alabama group of so-called 'Flomo Klowns' forcing two schools on total lockdown Thursday morning. Bizarre Facebook posts from a Flomo Klown page and allegedly threatening messages to children prompted the temporary lockdown, AL.comreported. Some of the posts, which have since been deleted, included multiple uses of the gun emoji.
The Flomaton Police Department in Southern Alabama first received a call from a concerned parent regarding "threatening" messages from the Flomo Klowns' Facebook page Thursday. After the threats were verified, Escambia County officials placed the Flomaton High School and Flomaton Elementary School facilities on lockdown. At approximately 11:30 a.m. local time, the lockdown was ordered to be lifted by county officials.
Reports at the time of the lockdown initially alleged that some sort of clown had been spotted near campus, though such reports were eventually deemed "inaccurate." According to Escambia County superintendent John Knott, incidents like this and related clown hysteria in nearby areas should always be taken seriously. "We take any threat especially a specific student seriously when it's a threat of harm," Knott told AL.com. "I encourage our students do not friend these characters. And for parents to monitor and talk with their children about not engaging in any kind of communication with these kind of character."
Stephen King, a guy who knows a thing or three about horrifying AF depictions of clowns, weighed in on the nation's gripping clown problem earlier this month. King didn't seem too concerned about the prospect of actually encountering one of these alleged clowns, but he reiterated the inherent creepiness of clowns in general. "The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns really can be terrifying," King told the Bangor Daily News.
Sorry not-quite-as-creepy clowns, but it looks like the clown name may never fully recover.
