The national clown phenomenon has spread to Penn State, and students are not happy about it.

In response to social media hype, around 500 to 1,000 students swarmed out of their dorm rooms on Monday night, following a supposed clown sighting, Penn State Police Deputy Chief Thomas Sowerby said.

Sowerby said it was never confirmed whether or not there was actually a clown present either on campus or downtown — they were all just “third-party” reports.

Police received no first person reports of any clown sightings. The first report of clown activity came in as a student reporting her friend saw a clown. When the police started to receive calls from parents, they said they requested the students call and report the exact location of the sightings. Police received no calls of personal sightings throughout the night.

Despite rumors, South Halls never received lockdown orders throughout the night. University police said that the residence halls always remain on lockdown since they require a card for entry.

Yik-Yak was allegedly one of the main forms of social media that fueled the clown mob, Sowerby said.

The student mob mainly traveled from East Halls to College Ave., and then, later on, ran to Old Main in response to another clown sighting claim on social media.

The mob mainly remained on campus, however, there was an image of a clown face projected on the side of Beaver Hill apartments.

Penn State Police monitored the crowd mainly via bike patrol from around 11 p.m. until 3 a.m. Tuesday morning, although police took no actions.

Despite there being no violence, property damage or injuries, the Penn State Police did receive some noise complaints and saw an increase in requests for Safe Walk escorts, Sowerby said.

There have also been rumors floating around on social media about the mobbing being related to a fraternity hazing activity.

However, the Interfraternity Council had no comment about the matter and Penn State Police were unaware of this rumor.

These alleged clown sightings have been popping up on campuses throughout the country, including at the University of Massachusetts, University of Connecticut, Syracuse University and Temple University, among others.

“We monitor these,” Sowerby said. “We have partners in the law enforcement community and share information. We follow social media [and] online articles on this — monitor trends. How it impacts our community is critical to us. You know, it’s the month of October and Halloween is coming.”

Sowerby said any future events similar to this one will be monitored to the same extent.

“People are fearful of what’s going on, if they’re concerned, we’re concerned — we don’t want people to be panicked by it,” Sowerby said. “I think this is just the beginning for us. I think we are going to have more reports of this — crowds may form again, and you can always have copycats. I can’t predict what individuals will do.”

Along with the IFC, State College Police and East and Pollock Halls Residence Life had no comment in relation to the clown mob Monday night.