The creator of the paint-faced villain Pennywise, in his novel It, responds to panic over spate of ‘clown-related activity’ across the country

After instilling a fear of clowns into millions of readers with his malevolent character Pennywise, novelist Stephen King has urged an America alarmed by a flurry of threatening clown sightings that it’s “time to cool the clown hysteria”.

The first sighting was in Greenville, South Carolina, where a small boy told his mother that a pair of clowns had tried to lure him away. A number of clowns have since been spotted in states including Florida, New York, Wisconsin and Kentucky. Time magazine totted up sightings in more than 24 states, with a handful of arrests. Its report said: “In Alabama, at least seven people face felony charges of making a terrorist threat connected to ‘clown-related activity’.”

David Kiser, a talent recruiter for Ringling Bros circus company, told the Guardian that “since caveman days, people would smear ashes on their faces to make each other laugh. Other times they would smear ashes on their faces to scare each other.” Scott Bonn, a criminologist and professor of sociology at Drew University in New Jersey, told Time that “the fascination with clowns is really the fact that they’re not real. We don’t know what’s beneath that makeup. It could be anyone or anything. They’re actually very frightening.”

Why Stephen King's It still terrifies 30 years on Read more

King’s clown creation, Pennywise, has terrified readers since he appeared in his novel It in 1986. “There was a clown in the stormdrain. The light in there was far from good, but it was good enough so that George Denbrough was sure of what he was seeing,” writes King. “The face of the clown in the stormdrain was white, there were funny tufts of red hair on either side of his bald head, and there was a big clown-smile painted over his mouth … ‘They float,’ it growled, ‘they float’, Georgie, and when you’re down here with me, you’ll float, too.’”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A publicity image of Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in the new film version of It. Photograph: Warner Bros

Pennywise was played by Tim Curry in a 1990 TV adaptation. A forthcoming film will see Bill Skarsgård taking on the role of the killer clown – and some commentators are suggesting the wave of spooky activity could be viral marketing for the film.

Stephen King (@StephenKing) Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria--most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh.

But despite his own contribution to coulrophobia – the fear of clowns – King has urged his millions of followers on Twitter not to worry about the rash of sightings across the US. “Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria – most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh,” he wrote.

His followers were unconvinced. “Except the ones that live in stormdrains, right?” said one, while another was clear that “nothing contributed more to my clown hysteria than It”.

One Twitter user came up with a particularly creepy hypothesis. “This is exactly what Pennywise would say if he hijacked your account, ‘Stephen’,” they wrote.