Merrimack College Students Shelter In Place After Report Of Clown On Campus

NORTH ANDOVER (CBS) – A residence hall at Merrimack College was evacuated after someone reported an armed clown on campus Monday night.

Students were told to shelter in place after a staff member saw an alert on a "clown watch" Twitter account.

The Monican Centre residence hall was "briefly evacuated" and no suspicious persons were found.

Police allowed students to go back into the building after about 30 minutes.

A similar incident was reported at UMass Amherst Monday night.

All over the country, there have been reports of strange incidents involving suspicious clowns. Earlier on Monday, author Stephen King tweeted "Hey, guys, time to cool the clown hysteria--most of em are good, cheer up the kiddies, make people laugh."