Schools Going On Lock Down Because Of The Cat In The Hat
Remember back in 2016 when creepy clowns suddenly started appearing around the country, with people dressing up and trying to scare people?A disturbing new social media trend is bringing back that same fear, only this time, the creepy character is the Cat in the Hat.
The SCARY Cat In The Hat Trend
The viral “Cat in the Hat” trend features disturbing, AI-generated images and videos showing the famous Dr. Seuss character lurking around neighborhoods, homes and schools.
Some posts make it look like the Cat in the Hat is a dangerous killer who has a list of people he is coming after.
But there is an important detail: there is no evidence that a real Cat in the Hat killer exists.
Instead, the frightening images and videos appear to be part of an online hoax designed to scare people and attract attention.
The problem is that some people have taken the trend much further by making actual threats involving schools and students.
Schools Going On Lockdown
Police in several states have warned that these posts are not harmless jokes. Teenagers in places including Kansas and Colorado have already been arrested in connection with threats related to the trend.
In Kansas, a teenager was charged with criminal threats after police connected the student to a social media account involved in the trend.
A similar situation happened in Colorado, where a teenager was arrested after a social media post suggested the Cat in the Hat could show up at a school and homes.
A High School in Michigan was placed under a precautionary perimeter lockdown after the “Cat in the Hat” directed a specific threat at students.
The TikTok video below shows a mother sharing the story of her child's school being put on lockdown in Oklahoma because of this Cat in the Hat trend:
The trend is especially concerning because AI makes it easy to create images and videos that look surprisingly real.
The Cat Is Not Real
Unlike the 2016 clown craze, someone doesn't even have to put on a costume and walk around town. They can create a fake “sighting” from their phone and spread it to thousands of people within minutes.
Police are reminding parents and students not to share threatening posts and to report anything that mentions a real school, student or location.