Clown arrested lurking near Kentucky apartments as scares spread to sixth US state

The 20-year-old suspect was caught 'crouching in a wooded area' by local police before attempting to flee the area

Middlesboro Police Department

Kentucky police have arrested yet another nefarious-looking clown as the number of states allegedly terrorised by these big top lurkers grows to six.

Middlesboro Police arrested 20-year-old Jonathan Martin, who is accused of “causing public alarm” outside an apartment complex in the town, 130 miles south of Lexington. Martin was crouching in a wooded area near the complex in a “full clown costume” and mask, according to police documents obtained by WDRB.

“Upon my stopping when I saw the clown, he started running towards a vehicle at Cumberland Village,” the arresting officer wrote in a report.

Martin’s arrest comes as reports of clowns stream into local police departments in as many as six states; so much, in fact, that other departments have taken to warning area residents against the stunt.

“Dressing as a clown and driving, walking, or standing in public can create a dangerous situation for you and others,” nearby Barbourville Police wrote in a Facebook post. “While dressing up is not in and of itself against the law, doing so in public and thereby creating an unnecessary sense of alarm is illegal.”


 Many people find clowns rather frightening (Don Emmert/Getty)

Earlier this month, North Carolina residents reportedly spotted a sinister-seeming clown near their apartment complex, when one neighbour decided to chase off the lurker with a machete.

“I looked again and there was a clown, white face, red hair, polka dot yellow shirt and, like, inflatable Aladdin pants, blue,” the man said. “I had my firearm, bookbag, and machete in my hand. Instinct, I got kids.”

In Georgia, reports of a clown duo attempting to lure kids into their van turned out to be a hoax.

The interstate scare even caught the attention of It author Stephen King, who immortalised frightening clowns with the character Pennywise.

“Kids love clowns, but they also fear them; clowns with their white faces and red lips are so different and so grotesque compared to ‘normal’ people,” he told the Bangor Daily News. “The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns can really be terrifying."