We had a similar thing happen where I grew up in the early 90’s, except it was Homey the Clown from In Living Color. Sadly, I am not making this up.
There were all sorts of rumors going around that a guy dressed as Homey the Clown was driving around in the Homey the Clown van and kidnapping or killing (I don’t remember which) kids.
I had this one friend (Brandy) and for some reason it scared the crap out of her. She lived in a condo and you had to be buzzed in. We went to pick her up, hit the buzzer for the intercom and when she asked who it was one of our male friends said, “It’s Homey!” She didn’t recognize his voice and wouldn’t let him in! LMAO
Where was this? I remember when I was in elementary school, there were fear of Neo-Nazis skinheads. Rumor had it, one of them supposedly held a knife a kid’s throat and he left the school for good afterwards.