publication date: Monday, October 31, 2016 (part of Fall 2016)

category: Crime

clue: You think clowns hiding in the woods are scary? This one was a real danger to teenaged boys in Chicago in the 1970s.

intended difficulty: easy

solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, LaVonne Lemler, Samir Mehta, Chris Lemler, Richard Slominsky, Justin Woods, Matthew Preston, Joanna Woods, Lori Lancaster, and Jesse King

trivia: Scott originally set out to make a Halloween 2016 goo. As scary clown sightings were a major trend in 2016, he wanted to make a goo tied into them, but there were far too many arrestees and witnesses with no central figure in the trend, so Scott went with a different "scary clown" for the goo. He still scheduled it for publication on Halloween anyway, despite it having little connection to the holiday in the end.


Similar Goos

John Wayne Gacy

This killer gave Chicago's children plenty of reason to be afraid of Bozo. Go »

Mark David Chapman

With four bullets, this J.D. Salinger enthusiast broke a lot of hearts in December 1980. Go »

Willie Horton

Giving prisoners like him the weekend off may have cost Michael Dukakis the presidency. Go »

Lizzie Borden

You didn't have to be crazy to hatchet your parents in 1892... But history says you were. Go »

Augusto Pinochet

I once tried chili in August. Go »

Jeffrey Dahmer

Necrophiliac, cannibal, child murderer, and Milwaukee native. Go »