Earlier on Friday, we reported that the scary clowns had made it to Central Oregon. Now, it appears, they've hit the Willamette Valley.

Crystal Foster, 20, said she was stopped near O'Bryant Square in Portland in her car, a little before noon on Friday, when a man in black clothing, black gloves and a silver clown mask approached her.

"I thought he was crossing the street," she said over the phone. "But he came straight up to my car."

"He came up to my driver side window started banging," she continued. Then, she says the man proceeded to walk around her car, trying to open all the doors.

Finally, Foster said she sped off, shaken. A little later, she was able to call the non-emergency line for Portland Police, but she said, "They weren't really helpful."

She thinks this could have been because she didn't have much solid information about the attack.

"I couldn't see his hands they were covered in gloves," she said. "I couldn't see his face."

We reached out to Portland Police to see if there's been an uptick in clown-related crimes. Sgt. Pete Simpson, spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau, said via email that he hadn't heard of that specific incident.

"In Portland,where Darth Vader rides a unicycle and has a fire-breathing set of bagpipes," Simpson added, "clown sightings might just be an average Tuesday."

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker