Creepy Clowns Check-In

The actual Whataburger in Albuquerque, New Mexico, terrorized by a "creepy clown."

It is time to do a little roundup of recent clown stories.

Albuquerque Police say they arrested a "creepy clown" that was terrorizing customers at a local Whataburger.

On Monday night, August 6, 2018, police arrested 32-year-old Stephen Ames, who was reported to be wearing a clown mask and waving a machete at customers in the parking lot of the Whataburger at the intersection of Carlisle and Claremont.

According to a criminal complaint, the manager of the Whataburger told Ames to leave after he reportedly spent 20 minutes in the restaurant’s restroom. Once outside, the manager said Ames took out the machete from its sheath and started banging it against his knee. Fearing an attack, police say the manager then locked the doors of the restaurant.

The original Whataburgers used a "W" in their roof design.

They evolved, by 1961, to some locations with the W-less look, while still retaining the A-frame look.

Police say Ames then approached cars that were stopped at a nearby traffic signal. While wearing the clown mask, police say Ames blew kisses at passengers, then approached a car to write the words “kill you” on a window. Before the car could leave, police say Ames shouted “I will f**k you up” at the occupants.

When police arrived at the scene, they say they encountered Ames with the clown mask on, thrusting his hips in a sexual manner toward the Whataburger restaurant. Ames was taken into custody without further incident. Police say they found a filled heroin needle in Ames’ possession, along with the machete.

h/t AWG

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Other incidents...

On July 10, 2018, a gunman involved in a robbery reportedly wearing a golden "angry clown" mask shot a Waffle House patron in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sightings of a Phantom Clown described variously with a "clown mask," and/or with "red hair and red pants," near the Hudson Falls Primary School, occurred on May 29, 2018.  The Post-Star (Glens Falls, NY) 5-31-18, pg. 3, notes, "Police looking into 'clown' sighting near Kingsbury school."

At the Little Caesars pizza shop in Holly Hill, Florida, around 11:50 pm on May 26, 2018, a "clown" attacked an employee closing up the store. The "clown" used a wooden post. The employee pulled out his concealed weapon and shot the attacker dead.

Two men wearing clown masks held up a Queens, New York, Walgreen's at gunpoint on May 22, 2018.

On April 11, 2018, there was a Beverly Hills, California incident involving a clown, kids, and a machete. NBC Los Angeles, on April 11, 2018, at 10:19 pm PDT, updated their story:  "A man in a clown mask spooked a Beverly Hills neighborhood Wednesday when he reportedly wielded a machete at children."

On April 9, 2018, WPRI in Warwick, Rhode Island, reported, "Clown-masked robber targets local Dunkin' Donuts."

Also...

See "Phantom Clowns: Classified," for the definition and differences between Phantom Clowns, Killer Clowns, and Stalking Clowns.

See also "Creepy Clowns" and the NY Post's historical article from 2016.

Copycat Creepy Clowns Countrywide

Clown contagion appears to be spreading across the nation.

The Wasco Clown, a California photography project by a husband-and-wife team who said they wish to remain anonymous, appears to have inspired copycats that have been photographed and videotaped in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Fishers, Indiana; and Jacksonville, Florida. Source/Video.

Huffington Post and many media outlets have posted the photos.

Also, there's been a recent rash of clowns-as-robbers incidents too.

See posting of October 10, 2014, "Wasco's Mysterious Clowns."

Phantom clowns have been making appearances for years (see this, from 2008), so it would only be natural that clowns would be used to terrorized people again. And again.

UFO Name Game Hits Shootings

In The Eighth Tower, a dark work, John A. Keel, as the publisher notes, pulls no punches, and probes the ultimate question: "Are we pawns in a celestial game?" 

Monday was the 13th of January. A day like any other day, but one in which the Fortean name game picked to play its game.

First up, Roswell. The Roswell Incident took place in the U.S. in 1947, when allegedly an unidentified flying object crashed on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. The name "Roswell" has become famous or infamous in association with UFOs, and Roswell today even has a museum dedicated to ufology.

On January 14th, Tuesday, a middle school student opened fire in his gym with a shotgun and critically wounded two students in Roswell, New Mexico.

The injured were a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy who were "simply sitting in their gym waiting to go to class," New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said. The shooting occurred shortly before class was to begin at Berrendo Middle School.

The Eastern New Mexico Medical Center confirmed it treated two patients, who were then air lifted to the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, located about 175 miles from the middle school.

("The Lubbock Lights were an unusual formation of lights seen over the city of Lubbock, Texas, from August–September 1951. The Lubbock Lights incident received national publicity and is regarded as one of the first great UFO cases in the United States," notes Wikipedia. That is, perhaps, after the "Roswell Incident.")

A spokesperson for UMC said the boy, who the governor said was 12, is out of surgery and is listed in critical condition. The girl, 13, is also being treated at the hospital and is listed in serious condition, according to the spokesperson. A school staff member suffered a minor injury and declined treatment.

The names of the shooting victims or the shooter have not yet released.

After the shooting, here's how the Chicago Tribune described the town where it occurred:

Roswell, a city of 48,000 people in southeastern New Mexico, is best known for its association with UFO lore because of the 1947 crash at a nearby site of an object UFO proponents believe was an alien ship. The U.S. military says materials recovered near the site were from an experimental surveillance craft.

Earlier, on January 13th, a familiar surname in UFO circles - Reeves - became the focus of another shooting.

Curtis Reeves, Jr., 71, (shown above) a retired Tampa Police Captain was arrested and held without bail for shooting a man and his wife after an apparent argument over texting while at a Wesley Chapel, Florida, movie theater (Cobb Theater's Grove 16 & CineBistro).

At the Monday afternoon showing of the film Lone Survivor, Reeves and his wife were sitting behind another couple, Chad and Nicole Oulson, watching the previews, when Reeves became agitated with Chad for texting before the movie began.

Lone Survivor is set during the War in Afghanistan, the film dramatizes the failed United States Navy SEALs mission Operation Red Wings, in which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance team was tasked to track Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. was principally filmed in New Mexico, working 42 days there. Filming first took place at the Sangre de Cristo ("Blood of Christ") Mountains of the Santa Fe National Forest. Then the production moved to Chilili, New Mexico for two weeks of filming, and finally to the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

At the Wesley Chapel-January 13th screening of Lone Survivor an argument broke out between the couples, popcorn was thrown, after which Reeves reportedly left the theater, came back, took out a gun and fired at Oulson and his wife (shown from their Facebook page). Officials said Nicole tried to block the bullet, resulting in a gunshot wound to her hand, before Chad was struck. And killed.

The Tampa Police Department issued a statement on Reeves Monday evening:

Curtis Reeves Jr. retired from the Tampa Police Department on 9/30/93 as a Captain. He was instrumental in establishing the department's first Tactical Response Team. We are not aware of any contact with the department since his departure more than 20 years ago.

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John A. Keel once raised the question of name selectivity in his writings: "Hundreds of thousands of phenomenal events have been described in newspapers, magazines and books, and hundreds of thousands of witnesses have been named in print. When dealing with such a large body of evidence – or population – certain laws of probability should surface. We might expect that more Smiths would see UFOs than anyone else, simply because there are more Smiths around. But, in actuality, the name Smith rarely appears in a UFO report."

What Keel found was that unusual names were the point of convergence for the phenomena. He saw McDaniel, Reeves/Reaves, Maddox, Heflin, Allen, Hill, and others, as being selected for UFO and related experiences, as I first pointed out in my "Name Game" chapter in 1983, in Mysterious America.

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence that on January 13th, the postal service delivered my copy of the new edition of John A. Keel's 1975 book, The Eighth Tower: On Ultraterrestrials and the Superspectrum. Anomalist Books, in conjunction with Keel's relatives, republished this book. Keel's first book, Jadoo, and his introspective ufological book, Operation Trojan Horse, where the author tackles the games of names and dates of the "Cosmic Joker," have all been reprinted by Anomalist Books, with newly added material.

Reeves. Roswell. Keel. 

Albuquerque Shootings Kill Five

The bullet-ridden bodies of three adults and two children were found inside an Albuquerque, New Mexico, home late Saturday, January 19, 2013.

A teenage boy faces murder and other charges in the shooting deaths on the outskirts of Albuquerque.

Investigators were still combing over the home on the southwestern edge of the city where investigators found the victims Saturday night, said Deputy Aaron Williamson, a spokesman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department. It was unclear whether the teenager now in custody is related to the victims, nor would Williamson disclose whether the victims -- who included two boys and a girl -- were related.

Williamson said each victim had been shot multiple times. Several guns were found inside the home, including a "military-style" rifle he said had been used in the crime.

The teen is being charged with two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death, the sheriff's department said. He was arrested after being questioned at the sheriff's office and is likely to be arraigned on Tuesday, Williamson said.

Officials began offering their condolences for Greg Griego, a spiritual leader known for his work with firefighters and the 13 years he spent as a volunteer chaplain at the county jail.

"Chaplin Griego was a dedicated professional that passionately served his fellow man and the firefighters of this community," Fire Chief James Breen said in a statement. "His calming spirit and gentle nature will be greatly missed."

Jail Chief Ramon Rustin said Griego was instrumental in the creation of the Metropolitan Detention Center's chaplain program and worked to get inmates integrated back into the community.

Griego also was a former member of the pastoral staff at Calvary, a Christian church in Albuquerque. As part of his work there, he oversaw the Straight Street program for jail inmates.

The other victims' names and the suspect's identity have not been released Sunday afternoon.

A semi-automatic assault-type rifle, along with several other weapons, were recovered at the scene.

Thanks to Theo Paijmans for initial news tip.