It's been a frightening few weeks for the people of Greenville, South Carolina, where clowns are reportedly being spotted luring children into the woods.
The sightings have since spread to Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In the midst of the multiple sightings and police confirmation, a theory has been making the rounds that the clowns are part of a viral marketing stunt for the upcoming film adaptation of It, which comes out in 2017.
What if all these news stories about sightings of clowns hanging out in the woods all creepily is viral marketing for the remake of IT?!
I read a theory that all of these clowns are to help marketing for a movie but they'll regret it when one of them gets shot
clowns tryna lure people into woods now&the new IT movie remake come out this year. which intern thought this would b a good marketing promo
Others theorized it's a ploy to promote Rob Zombie's upcoming movie, 31, that's also about killer clowns.
These clowns in NC are probably just part of a viral campaign for the new Rob Zombie film due out very soon.
I keep hearing that the "clowns luring kids into the woods" thing is marketing for Rob Zombie, but if it is, the news hasn't gotten the memo
The studios behind both It and 31 told BuzzFeed News they are not affiliated with the clown sightings.
"The company and the film 31 are not associated in any way with the creepy clowns and costumed characters found roaming the South," a spokesperson from Saban Films, the studio making 31, said.
A spokesperson for Warner Bros., which is behind It, also said the rumors are not true and that there is no connection between the film and the sightings.
So, it seems the mystery continues.
