Seemingly timed near the Halloween season, local police are calling on pranksters or whoever are behind the horrifying sightings of clowns in a California city to lose the costumes that portray some people's worst nightmare.

Authorities continue to investigate the mastermind for a sinister prank involving weapon-carrying creepy clowns that are still haunting California residents.

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Residents in Bakersfield, California have become increasingly concerned as police revealed that 16 of the masked terrorists are seen brandishing weapons, such as baseball bats and machetes, with one arrested for chasing terrified children.

Some even explained that seeing the menacing costumes alone may not conjure fright, but is enough to have a driver's focus disturbed to cause a road accident.

"I saw a flash of bright red and orange out of the peripheral and saw this frightening clown mask. It didn't scare me but it certainly could send someone to swerve," resident Erica Kern explained as she drove past a clown riding on another vehicle's passenger seat on Monday.

The worldwide web community has also taken notice with some social networking sites labeling the disguised pranksters as the "Wasco Clown," in reference to the first sighting in nearby Wasco.

Photos of the creepy clowns, some holding harmless balloons while others with weapons, plagued Instagram and Facebook while authorities still have no clue whether the individuals wearing the colorful yet creepy masks are plain pranksters or something else.

Though it is still unclear whether a single individual, or a group of pranksters are behind it, cops stay on the lookout for more of the menacing jokesters who even took to the social media to taunt and scare people.

One photo was captioned "come out and play" while another said "It's funny you guys think I got arrested" clearly referring to an incident late on Saturday when authorities received reports about a firearm-carrying clown chasing some children.

"We've had multiple of these clown sightings all over town. He was gone by the time we arrived," said lieutenant Jason Matson of the Bakersfield police.

TagsWasco Clowns, clown, Halloween, Bakersfield, california