Crying inside? Creepy craze no joke for real clowns

Some fear going out with their greasepaint makeup and red noses will make them a target of police, or even marauding mobs who take to the streets on so-called "clown hunts."

Association president Randy Christensen says clowns are also increasingly getting requests for "modified performances" in which they entertain without makeup and traditional clown attire.

This week, retail giant Target took the step of pulling scary clown masks from its shelves.

[...] they've become a recurring staple of crime blotters since serial killer and working clown John Wayne Gacy was convicted in 1980 of killing 33 people.

In 2012, James Holmes dyed his hair red as Batman's Joker when he opened fire at a Colorado movie theater, killing 12 people.

World Clown Association's Christensen says this year's clown scares seems to be reaching new heights, and suggests working clowns repel them the same way they always have, by spreading a message of happiness and boundless.