“Scream VI” publicity stunt has people flooding the Bay Area Sheriff's office with emergency calls.

In Sonoma residents got an unexpected sneak preview of the iconic horror movie villain from "Scream", as a man dressed as Ghostface lurked around the Sonoma Plaza area.

Clearly aware of where the web cameras were, this Ghostface stood in clear view of them and looked up to the Sonoma Community Center, the building that was "Woodsboro High School" in the original “Scream” movie.

It was the "Visit Sonoma" offices whose Sonoma Plaza Webcams that captured the spooky visitor at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning. Soon the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office was flooded with calls from concerned citizens, and they sent deputies to the scene.

The Ghostface person confirmed that this was a PR stunt for Paramount Pictures for the upcoming movie. And on Twitter, the official Ghostface account said "I was just minding my business".

I was just minding my business https://t.co/aG8bc3J4Cc

— Ghostface (@GhostfaceTalks_) March 1, 2023

It's been a while since we saw simple ad-stunts like this, and it seems it's still effective. The Ghostface appearance made the local news: Kron4 "Person in ‘Scream’ mask frightens people in Sonoma Plaza", and at KTVU Fox2 "'Scream' costume causes scare in Sonoma".