KARNS CITY — What is big on the Internet may not be big news in town.

A police report about a young boy being attacked in Karns City by a clown with a bat blew up on social media and local news Monday.

The report states that the juvenile was attacked by someone wearing a clown mask, who came out of the woods and hit the boy in the knee with a metal bat before disappearing back into the woods. The boy was taken to a hospital for evaluation,

Residents in the Karns City area, however, weren’t very aware of the incident.

Many who heard of the story only knew of it from scrolling past a Butler Eagle report on Facebook. But many residents weren’t surprised.

“It doesn’t surprise me. Last year, there was a young girl wearing a horse head at a bus stop, scaring my kids,” said Lacy McGarrity, who works in Karns City.

Other residents don’t believe the story is true.

“I wouldn’t trust what happened,” said Valeria Booher of Karns City. “Only the kids seen (the clown). Kids make up stories.”

Paul Whittle of Eagle Printing agrees with Booher’s idea that children make up tales. Whittle said he believes the boy is probably telling a story to avoid getting in trouble.

“He was late or the kid hurt himself and made up the story,” he said. “Or he could be screwing around and messed with the wrong kid.”

A few members of the community expressed shock more than anything.

Amanda Schrekengost of Chicora thought it was a joke.

“I didn’t think it was real,” she said. “I just didn’t think anything like that would happen around here.”

Jake Belles, a Slippery Rock University student, doesn’t believe it’s fake, but given the increased number of bomb threats at Karns City High School, he isn’t surprised either.

“I would imagine it was probably just an act of publicity,” he said. “I believe it’s real, I just don’t think it was motivated by any external factor.”

Other residents, like Lucas Booher, said that while the situation is weird, he doesn’t have enough information to know if the story is real.

The clown incident is still under investigation and no one has been arrested. Anyone with information is asked to call the state police at 724-284-8100.