There’s an epidemic of creepy clowns out there. Some might just be jokers, but others, armed with guns, knives and bats, are undoubtedly a very real threat.

Image: Facebook/Kurtis Mulvaney / Dayton Police via WHIO

There is a current tsunami of creepy clown sightings. Indeed, the phenomenon is sweeping not only the U.S. but countries from Canada to the U.K. And while there’s no doubt that some of the clowns are nothing more than pranksters and hoaxers, others are much more sinister. The genuinely scary ones, for instance, include clowns with weapons and those using a handy disguise to commit felonies. In fact, things have gotten so bad that genuine clowns are finding that their professional bookings have fallen off a cliff.

Image: Facebook/Phoenix Police Department

That’s understandable, though, as what could be scarier than a creepy clown? Well, how about a creepy teenage clown with a gun? In fact, Phoenix police arrested two 17-year-olds for allegedly robbing a Taco Bell and a Domino’s at gunpoint while disguised with clown masks. They were caught on camera too, so the armed duo obviously weren’t the brightest of big-tent performers.

Jamie Hill of London, Kentucky, spotted this clown while on Highway 192 and posted the picture on Facebook. “The person behind the clown may or may not have meant any harm. I don’t know that,” she wrote. She went on to reply to doubters, “People [are] saying it’s fake and I just made it all up. I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s not.”

Meanwhile, clowns in the Springfield neighborhood of Jackson, Florida, have taken to stepping onto people’s front porches and doing weird things. This clown, for instance, destroyed a pumpkin. What’s just as scary, though, is that he appeared to be unconcerned that he was being filmed on a security camera.

Another Springfield clown just strolled up Doug Vanderlaan’s garden path and stood staring at the security camera. Why this particular leafy residential neighborhood has attracted the attention of freaky clowns remains a mystery.

But then the creepy clown phenomenon is nothing new. In fact, in summer 2014 this balloon-wielding clown started to haunt Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Locals were reportedly less than pleased that the clown had disrespecting the last resting places of the dead.

And clowns weren’t just haunting cemeteries in Brooklyn. In July 2015, this clown was spotted after dark in Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago’s North Side. What’s really creepy is that the clown saw that he was being filmed and stopped to wave at videographer Julia Graham and her husband Brad.

Image: Middlesboro Police Department via BBC

Elsewhere, Jonathan Martin found out that the police in Middlesboro, Kentucky, didn’t think that his clown antics were funny at all. Dressed in a clown suit, Martin was lurking in woods near some apartments. Then the cops nabbed him and charged him with disorderly conduct and for wearing a mask in public.

Jasmine Rivera spotted this clown in Upstate New York’s Capital Region, outside her apartment in Clifton Park. Keeping a cool head, Rivera snapped the clown on her smartphone then drove off. Speaking later to WNYT.com, she said, “He looked toward the car at me but turned and kept going, just walking slowly. It was really creepy.”

Image: Facebook/Gags - The Green Bay Clown — Image: Facebook/Gags – The Green Bay Clown

This clown, spotted in Green Bay, Wisconsin, even has a Facebook fan page. He was reported to local police, but they remain remarkably calm about this scary apparition. Captain Kevin Warych told a WGBA-TV reporter, “A person can walk down the sidewalk dressed however they want as long as they’re in a place they legally can be.”

In October 2016 this guy, armed with a pipe and wearing a clown mask, was robbing a Speedway gas station in Dayton, Ohio. He had one buddy wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and another wearing a surgical mask, and the three made off with the contents of the cash register. Not funny at all.

This spooky clown in a Guantanamo Bay-style orange jump-suit was pictured standing on the roadside in Duhring, West Virginia, in September 2016. Chief Deputy Darrell Bailey of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department told The Daily Item, “We don’t know the person’s purpose… but it’s dangerous, and dangerous for them if it’s a joke.”

Image: Central Point Police Department via Oregon Live

Here’s another would-be scary clown prankster whose principal achievement was to get himself arrested. Police in Central Point, Oregon, arrested Michael Richards, 21, for trespassing and disorderly conduct. Richards had distributed similar pictures of himself at four different schools, freaking out students, teachers and parents alike.

Image: YouTube/CreepyThings via NYDailyNews

This bizarre clown was spotted multiple times around Staten Island, New York. It turns out that this is a classic example of commercial interests jumping on the clown bandwagon. In fact, the whole thing was exposed as a hoax perpetrated by a Staten Island film production company. We’re won’t name the company here; it’s had enough free publicity already.

For once, this clown is definitely more frightened than frightening. After all, two Chicago-based rappers were driving in their car when they saw the clown and threatened him with a pistol. Wisely, the clown made a rapid exit.

This teenager and his accomplice in crime seem to have gotten off pretty lightly. In August 2016, he and a female friend went to a children’s park in Gatineau, Canada, with the express purpose of scaring kids. After all, he’s carrying an extremely dangerous looking chain. Gatineau cops subsequently gave the pair a talking-to, but they didn’t press charges.

Moving to the U.K., here we have a mad clown brandishing a chainsaw while chasing two guys across a parking lot. Truly scary? Yes, but it is not quite all that it seems. The clown was, in fact, a 19-year-old student at London’s Brunel University, and the “victims” were friends of his.

Meanwhile, in Plymouth, England, this hammer-bearing clown stepped into the path of George Birkbeck and refused to let him pass. However, this turned into another case where the clown was more terrified than terrifying. In fact, the clown took to his heels when Birkbeck chased him with a beer bottle from a crate that he had just purchased.

Back to the U.S.A., this clown armed with a knife apparently tried to gain entrance to a home in Texas. The subsequent security camera footage was posted on the internet by IceColdTexan1964. The redditor wrote, “I’m sure we would all be dead today if he was able to get in.”

This crazy clown hanging off the back of a bus in Detroit in October 2016 would appear to be more of a danger to himself than anyone else. However, Detroit police officer Jennifer Moreno told the Detroit Free Press that the clown could be guilty of a civil offence. He’s certainly guilty of an offence against plain common sense.

Kurtis Mulvaney spotted this pair in the English city of Manchester. In the subsequent Facebook post, Mulvaney added that one of the clowns was armed with a machete. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, however, Mulvaney said, “If you fear clowns, you’re daft. Yes, that picture is real. Yes, there were people dressed as clowns. I’m too old to be fearing clowns. I fear jail and the taxman.”