Kirk A. Bado

kbado@tennessean.com

Nashville cannot escape the national clown hysteria as students at Belmont University reported seeing clowns on campus late Monday.

The clowns were reported in the Hillside area of campus, a multi-building apartment complex for upperclassmen between 12th and 15th avenue.

"I was leaving the gym around 10 p.m., and a friend called me saying there were clowns in Hillside, so I decided to drive back instead," said Belmont senior Erin Theobald.

While campus security said there were no clowns some students intensified the panic by pretending to be clowns and cackling in Hillside after security had cleared the area.

Sophomore Paul Murphey posted an image of a clown standing outside a building on campus around 12:30 a.m. to a Belmont Facebook page, claiming it was real. Murphey later posted on Reddit saying that the image was faked to make a joke. His post quickly went viral, and is now on the national front page of the popular blog.

"It's fun to be a little scared and get caught up in the silliness. Thinking it was one big joke, I decided to Photoshop a 'sighting'," the user said in the post.

In the post, Murphey claimed their roommate spotted more students with golf clubs searching the area outside the building for the clown. This led to more calls to campus security, and a surge of fear.

"I severely underestimated the power of hysteria and it quickly got out of hand," Murphey said, "I sincerely apologize to anyone who was made uncomfortable or otherwise affected by the reports spawned as a result of my mistake."

A spokesperson for Belmont campus security said no clowns were found, but that did not stop students from tweeting about their fears and patrolling campus looking for the intruders. Groups of students armed with bats patrolled the parking lots.

Senior Sarah Summerbell thought she heard angry male voices outside her Hillside apartment around 10:00 p.m. She had seen the national stories about clowns but did not end up calling campus security.

"I didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing," she said.

Students locked their doors and watched from their balconies as Belmont security snaked patrol cars through the parking lots. Campus police were joined by resident assistants who helped calm curious onlookers as Hillside flooded with students looking for the clowns.

Eventually the panic subsided and students returned to their dorms.

Belmont spokesperson April Hefner said most of the calls were third-hand reports instead of actual witnesses.

"The University is aware that at least one false report was made, and Student Affairs in conjunction with Campus Security will be following up today to investigate the entire incident and determine any appropriate disciplinary action that may need to be taken," she said in a statement.

RELATED

Check back for further updates.