The growing mystery behind the creepy clowns in the Carolinas crossed even more state lines this week after the Tennessee Highway Patrol posted a photo to Twitter, warning residents to call 911 if they spot the potential "predators."
It was unclear who took the photo featuring a clown in a white tank top and full face of makeup standing next to another clown in more traditional garb with a bright red wig.
But that didn't stop the agency from sharing the photo and asking people to call 911 if they see anyone dressed up like a clown, luring kids into the woods.
Weeks prior, clown sightings in North and South Carolinas had residents on edge - some even saying they'd be arming themselves.
Another disturbing clown report from Columbus, Ohio came Sept. 2 when a 14-year-old said a man in a clown mask chased him with a knife.
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"We don't know whether this was a prank or not, but we are taking it seriously," a local police spokeswoman, Denise Alex-Bouzounis, said at the time.
That encountered followed multiple reports out of Greenville, South Carolina claiming that menacing clowns were lurking in the woods allegedly offering kids money to follow them to an abandoned house.
North Carolina had a wave of reported clown sightings, in areas near Greensboro and Winston-Salem.
It isn't clear if the clown reports are all due to the approaching Halloween festivities, or if it is, as some online chatter muses, an elaborate viral marketing scheme.
Nonetheless, authorities have asked parents to keep an eye on children and recommended they don't play in wooded areas at night.
