W. CORNWALL TWP., Pa. - Reports of clown sightings have surfaced all over the country, and now that includes one in Lebanon County.
Whether they make you laugh or just freak you out, the growing trend of clown sightings has reached Central Pennsylvania.
"It may be a completely innocent and non-threatening situation, but again, we'd like to know what a person was doing out at that time of night in a clown costume in a residential area," Chief Bruce Harris of the Cornwall Borough Police Department, which also polices West Cornwall Township, said.
Cornwall Borough police say around 10:45 p.m. Saturday, an adult male in a clown suit was walking down Riders Way. The man then walked in between two homes, not to be seen again.
It's a neighborhood with plenty of small children, so parents are on alert.
"They're young, so I don't want to introduce them to clowns yet because I don't want them to be scared," Tiffany Lerch, a parent, said.
Some parents here say they have kept their children indoors after hearing about the clown sighting in their neighborhood and are glad police are paying attention to this.
"Especially with a bunch of little kids running around here, what if my kids were outside and he would have scared them," Lerch said. "My kids could have ran into the street, got hit by a car. I think they should be taking it more seriously."
Other residents think this is just the latest copycat fad to sweep the nation.
"If it's something happening nationwide, people are just going to look to kind of pick up on it and do something their own way," Ed Caudill, a resident, said.
It's important to note that there was no crime that occurred here on Saturday night, but it's an opportunity for police to remind residents to remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings.
"It's not a crime at all, no, no violation, just suspicious, which is why the person called it in," Harris said.
The resident who called it in waited until Monday to tell police. Harris would have like to have gotten the call when it happened so that an officer could investigate it immediately.
While FOX43 was reporting on this story Tuesday night a young man on a skateboard, accompanied by his parents, was seen wearing a clown mask. We spoke to the teen who said that he was just wearing the mask for fun and meant no harm by it. He also said it was possible that he was the person reported to police on Saturday.