Creepy clown calls in Starkville ruled hoax

Turns out, nobody sent in the clowns.

Despite phone calls to the Starkville Police Department and Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Department reporting clown sightings recently, the claims were not true.

The Sheriff's Department received two third-party phone calls about a clown in the Highlands neighborhood on Monday, according to a joint news release issued by the law enforcement agencies. The callers said they were "calling for friends." However, when investigators called the numbers back, both phone numbers were out of service.

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The report of clowns in the area then spread on social media.

The Sheriff's Department believes both calls were a "hoax." No direct sightings of the clowns were reported to the police or the sheriff's departments.

Clowns have reportedly been spotted in the woods in North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky while reports of clown sightings recently shut down schools in Alabama.

RELATED: Creepy clown lurks in Mississippi town in 2014

Contact Sarah Fowler at sfowler@gannett.com or 601-961-7303. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.