Recent reports are coming in of clown sightings in Brevard County and the rest of the country, but a quick look at history shows that this is not new.

In fact, the sightings actually have a name: "Phantom Clown Scare."

In the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, clown sightings were very popular. Many of the sightings were pretty much the same as those that have been reported in the past few months:

  • Person dressed as a clown;
  • Clown tries to lure children, adults into van, woods or empty house;
  • Sometimes the clown has a knife or gun;
  • Clowns disappear (not in a supernatural way) or escape the police.

That’s right -- police have chased these painted horrors and investigated reported sightings. In one particular case, it was in 1981 in a town in Missouri.

Kansas City police Sgt. Jim Treece said in a 1981 interview that two sisters, 6 and 7 years old, were walking to their school bus when a yellow van pulled up to the girls, which was witnessed by their mother, reported Paula Maynard in a story posted on the United Press International site:

“Moments later the children ran screaming back to their mother and the van sped off. The woman told Treece her children said a man dressed as a clown had pointed a knife at them and ordered them to get into the van. The dark-haired man was wearing a clown outfit and had a painted face 'with red polka-dots,' the woman told Treece.”

Apparently, this is not something that happens in the distant past. Every few years, there are reports of clowns making unscheduled appearances throughout the country.

In 2008, Chicago’s South Side saw reports of a clown trying to lure several children into a van.

And currently, News 13 is investigating a recent clown sighting in Brevard County.