Newtown Dark Knight Rises ‘Conspiracy’ Closes Virginia Schools [Video]

Narrows, VA – The same weird, off-the-wall conspiracy theory that purports to connect the Newtown school shootings with The Dark Knight Rises movie caused schools to close today in Giles County, Virginia.

A map seen in the third Batman film that identifies a targeted area as Sandy Hook also apparently identifies “Narrows” as another so-called strike zone according to a conspiracy oriented website which is no longer online. In a posting, the website wondered whether the Virginia schools in that area could be in danger.

When word got out, all five schools in Giles County, Virginia, closed today as a result but are scheduled to reopen tomorrow according to WDBJ, although some parents and students are apprehensive.

Local police stressed that “that there has been no direct threat made to any school” but will be beefing up patrols around the schools. “We have to take this as serious information,” said Giles County Sheriff Morgan Millirons.

The Superintendent of Schools sent out the following letter to parents about the perceived threat, which stated in part:

“On the evening of Dec. 27th, 2012, the Giles County Sheriff’s Department, the Town of Narrows police department, and the Giles County Schools, were notified by the Va. State police regarding information on a website. This website discussed the shootings that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Included in this discussion on the website was how ‘Sandy Hook’ was referenced in the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rising. This reference was in a map that appeared in a scene in this movie. Another zone on this map appearing in the movie was ‘Narrows.’ The author, who posted this article, did an online Google search based ‘on a hunch’ for ‘Narrows Schools.’ From this search, information for Narrows Elementary/Middle School and Narrows High School appeared.

“Based on this information, we have been in communication with our local law
enforcement officials (i.e. — the Sheriff’s Department and Town of Narrows police) to
discuss this issue further. Additional precautions have been taken for the immediate
future and additional safeguards will be installed at each of our facilities in the near
future.”

Note that the name of the Batman movie is slightly misidentified in the letter.

Watch a news report from WDBJ on the school closings in Giles County, Virginia:

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