What would you do if a man in a clown costume carrying a weapon was walking down the road towards you at night?

That scenario has been on the mind of residents in Wasco, California. The residents are being terrorized by the clowns who started to appear everywhere in the small town at night at the start of October and with the growing popularity of the “Wasco Clown of Instagram”, there are many copycats in Wasco and nearby cities.

The original Wasco clown who remains anonymous does not carry any weapons only the copycats have been carrying weapons. The Wasco Clown is becoming very popular on social media sites such as Twitter (@therealwascoclown) and Instagram (wascoclown) with a combined 80,000 followers.

His growing popularity is the main cause for the copycats.  There are at least 20 people in Wasco running around in clown costumes.  This has caused police to make one arrest so far. The arrested person was a teenager who said he was trying to copy the Wasco clown. The teen was arrested for annoying a minor and taking the prank too far and chasing the minor and visibly shaking him, said police Sgt. Joseph Grubbs who said that more arrests will be made and that the Bakersfield want this to end.

As of Friday, October 10th police in Bakersfield have fielded 16 reports of clowns welding weapons. “We’ve been having sightings all over the city,” Bakersfield Police Lt. Jason Matson told Reuters. “They range from anywhere from a guy carrying a gun to a guy carrying a knife running up to houses.” The Wasco clown and the many weapon welding copycats are making national news sites like CNN, MSN, Buzzfeed and ABC.  They are all talking about the clown.  “We’ve been having sightings all over the city,” Bakersfield Police Lt. Jason Matson told Reuters. “They range from anywhere, from a guy carrying a gun to a guy carrying a knife running up to houses”.