Just in time for Halloween, here are three news stories about creepy clowns. Two of them are true and one of them is false. Can you guess which one is the fake? The answer is at the end of the post.

A.

Ever since the heyday of the traveling circus circuit, clowns have spent their winter off-months in sunny Florida. Hundreds of clowns still live in Sarasota, Florida, and this year the International Association of Clowns and Circus Performers decided to hold a Halloween parade. It was to feature clown marchers, clown bands, clown cars, and clown floats. After receiving more than 50 complaints from residents, mayor Shannon Snyder cancelled the parade. Why? The complaints were mostly from parents, who said the clown parade would be too frightening to children.

B.

The latest season of FX’s dark and disturbing American Horror Story focuses on a serial killer named Twisty the Clown. The clown, with a mangled permanent smile on his face, kills people with scissors and traps a bunch of kids in a school bus. The show obviously plays on the quite common fear of clowns. Clowns of America International has spoken out against the show, claiming an unfair portrayal of clowns that contributes unfairly to what the organization calls “clown fear.”

C.

We’ve established that clowns can be kind of creepy, and a lot of people find them downright terrifying. These people should stay far away from the California towns of Wasco and Bakersfield. People in grotesque clown costumes and makeup have been showing up and silently posing around the towns, sitting on park benches, holding balloons, or smiling strangely as people walk by. Nobody knows who these clowns are, or why they’re doing it, but police won’t stop them because they aren’t violating any laws.

Want more things that sound true…but aren’t? Then check out Uncle John’s Fake Facts. (Really!)