Clowns Kidnapping Kids (Haslingden, UK)

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/10838147.Kidnapping_clown_rumours_in_Haslingden_are_false_say_police/?ref=mmsp

Lancashire Telegraph [UK]

27 November 2013

Kidnapping clown rumours in Haslingden are false say police

ROSSENDALE police have confirmed that social media rumours about a clown kidnapping children in Haslingden are false.

In a statement, the force said: “The Haslingden Neighbourhood Policing Team have been made aware of a rumour circulating in the area regarding several people in Haslingden being dressed up as clowns and using scare tactics to kidnap children and take them away in vehicles.” […]

The Knockout Game

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/nyregion/knockout-game-a-spreading-menace-or-a-myth.html

New York Times

22 November 2013

Police Unsure if Random Attacks Are Rising Threat or Urban Myth

‘Knockout Game’ a Spreading Menace or a Myth

By CARA BUCKLEY

http://nypost.com/2013/11/23/i-was-in-shock-they-were-all-laughing-knockout-game-victim-speaks-out/

New York Post

23 November 2013

I was a victim of the knockout game

By Michael Gartland

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/25/guess-what-the-knockout-game-is-america-s-latest-phony-panic.html

The Daily Beast

25 November 2013

Guess What? The “Knockout Game” is America’s Latest Phony Panic

Much like "wilding" before it, the furor over the "knockout game" bears all the hallmarks of an overblown panic over a crime wave that doesn't exist.

By Jamelle Bouie

Have teenagers adopted a new game of random assaults, with the goal of a one-hit “knock out?” […]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/woman-made-up-knockout-game-story-after-boyfriend-hit-her/article_3d614541-f78d-51e8-95a9-98bcd8507e61.html

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

6 December 2013

Woman made up 'knockout game' story after boyfriend hit her, St. Louis police say

By Christine Byers

ST. LOUIS -- Police say a reported “knockout game” attack that recently attracted national attention to St. Louis is false.

Ashley DePew, 23, and her boyfriend Justin Simms, 25, were charged Friday with falsifying a police report. The pair had claimed DePew was the victim of a random attack outside a St. Louis bar last month, police said.

Police now believe she was actually injured by her boyfriend and the pair fabricated the “knockout game” story as a cover for her injury. […]