News

Clown Sightings Have Allegedly Turned to Murder

Published

8 years ago

October 7, 2016

What started as a small ~~joke?~~ sampling of sightings, the clown “craze” has officially got out of control (if the threats of violence earlier this week weren’t enough).

A story that appears to have gone under the radar, maybe to avoid mass panic, is that there has allegedly been a clown-related murder. Police in eastern Pennsylvania are trying to figure out who stabbed a 16-year-old to death during a fight that broke out after a person showed up wearing a clown mask, Fox News reported last week.

“We urge anyone who was there to contact the Reading police,” Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams told the Reading Eagle. “Someone was wearing a clown mask and a fight broke out. Anyone who knows anything about this, please contact the Reading police.

Officials told the newspaper they responded to reports of a person lying on a front porch of a home, and that there was a large crowd in the street. The Reading Eagle identified the victim as Christian Torres, 16, who was a 10th-grader at Reading High School.

Reading Police Chief Andres Dominguez Jr. told the newspaper that investigators believe there are several suspects.

“I believe the issues got out of control,” Dominguez told the Reading Eagle. “Everyone in the neighborhood knows each other.”

It’s only a matter of time before the media will deem this as “clown terrorism”, which will be both hysterical and frightening. There’s nothing funny about violence or the threat of harm, and what may have begun as a tasteless joke is now a National emergency. 2016, man, how did we get here?

News

Horror Novelist Ray Garton Has Passed Away at 61

Published

14 hours ago

April 22, 2024

John Squires

We have learned the sad news this week that prolific horror author Ray Garton, who wrote nearly 70 books over the course of his career, has passed away after a battle with lung cancer.

Ray Garton was 61 years old.

Stephen King tweets, “I’m hearing that Ray Garton, horror novelist and friend, died yesterday. This is sad news, and a loss to those who enjoyed his amusing, often surreal, posts on Twitter.”

Ray Garton’s novels include Seductions, Darklings, Live Girls, Night Life, and Crucifax in the 1980s, followed in later decades by output including A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting, Trade Secrets, The New Neighbor, Lot Lizards, Dark Channel, Shackled, The Girl in the Basement, The Loveliest Dead, Ravenous, Bestial, and most recently, Trailer Park Noir.

Garton also wrote young adult novels under the name Joseph Locke, including the novelizations for A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master and The Dream Child. He also wrote the novelizations for Tobe Hooper’s Invaders from Mars and Warlock, as well as several books for the Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchises.

Other young adult horror novels you may remember the name Joseph Locke from include Petrified, Kiss of Death, Game Over, 1-900-Killer, Vengeance, and Kill the Teacher’s Pet.

You can browse Ray Garton’s full bibliography over on his official website.

He wrote on his website when it launched, “Since I was eight years old, all I’ve wanted to be was a writer, and since 1984, I have been fortunate enough to spend my life writing full time. I’ve written over 60 books—novels and novellas in the horror and suspense genres, collections of short stories, movie novelizations, and TV tie-ins—with more in the works.”

“My readers have made it possible for me to indulge my love of writing and I get a tremendous amount of joy out of communicating with them,” Garton added at the time.

Ray Garton is survived by his longtime wife, Dawn.