A sighting of someone dressed as a clown in the Skyline Drive area of Franklin Township on Thursday night resulted in a 90-minute search of the area in which nothing was found.

Township police said they received the report around 8:30 p.m. after a resident of that area observed the suspicious person at the rear of the family’s property. The resident quickly ran into the home to tell another family member and police were alerted.Franklin Township police said they are taking the situation seriously.He said he was joined by cops from Mahoning Township, Palmerton and the Lehighton barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police in searching the area, pointing out that the area had a tree farm nearby, cornfields and woodlands.The resident described the suspicious person as “dressed as a clown,” police said. The resident reported the person was not wearing a mask, but, rather, had his or her face painted white with a red nose.Reports of suspicious clowns, meanwhile, have surfaced recently. Franklin police said reports of clowns being sighted came from Nesquehoning and Brodheadsville as well.Additionally, police said there was a report out of Schuylkill County that someone dressed as a clown had attempted to lure kids into a vehicle. And, nationally, reports of clowns performing criminal acts, such as breaking into homes, have surfaced.Authorities in Greenville, South Carolina, were among the first to report a clown-related incident in recent weeks. Late last month, some children reported clowns trying to lure them into the woods with money. Sheriff’s deputies found no evidence, however, not even a prankster in a clown suit.But for whatever reason, since then, people in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina and now, Pennsylvania, have reported scary or suspicious encounters with people dressed like clowns.Some of the reported sightings have been hoaxes, like the four young children who told police they made up stories about spotting clowns in unusual places in and around Annapolis, Maryland, or the 24-year-old man whom police in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, charged with falsely reporting that a clown knocked on his window.Other related cases weren’t so harmless and have resulted in criminal charges.The sheriff in Escambia County, Alabama, last week arrested a 22-year-old woman and two juveniles after Flomaton High School was locked down and searched when students were threatened on “Flomo Klown” and “Shoota Cllown” social media accounts. And in Athens, Georgia, an 11-year-old girl was arrested for taking a knife to school on Friday because she was frightened by social media reports and other rumors that clowns were preparing to attack children.