Most Notorious Illinois Urban Legend Was Evil Clown Never Caught

Why is everyone so afraid of clowns? If you live in Illinois, there's actually a very good reason or reasons. One is all too real while the other is the state's most notorious urban legend who's perpetrator was never caught.

Mental Floss just shared a fun YouTube short as they canvas America for urban legends and their choice for Illinois is a good one. Behold.

Ah, yes. Homey the Clown. What fun memories that brings up in Illinois in the 1990's. Homey was so infamous in Illinois, there's even a villains Wiki page dedicated to him. I remember that time and the concern over a clown trying to abduct children was an all too valid fear. Anyone remember John Wayne Gacy a couple decades prior to that?

If you grew up in 1980's and/or 1990's Illinois, you feared stranger clowns that weren't invited to your birthday party for a good reason. History proved that fear was valid. While many now laugh at and discount the Homey the Clown sightings in Illinois as mass hysteria, I look back and am glad that everyone was so paranoid. Who's to say that there wasn't a real evil clown/deviant trying to abduct Illinois kids? It had happened before and perhaps this urban legend proves that it could have happened again.