Residents of Louisville, Kentucky were frightened and worried after a social media threat calling for a "Purge" started to make its rounds on the Internet. According to The Courier-Journal, police were tipped to a message calling for people to participate in the "Louisville Purge" on Aug. 15.

The supposed "purge" was supposed to begin at 8 p.m. and last until 6:30 a.m. Aug. 16. Police told The Courier-Journal that they "take any threat that would incite violence on our community seriously" and urged people to dial 911 if they saw any suspicious activity.

The "Louisville Purge" was based off a 2013 movie, "The Purge," in which all crime is legal for 12 hours. A sequel, "The Purge: Anarchy," was released in July and is currently playing in movie theaters. Police said there were no reports of incidents during the scheduled threat and they were allegedly able to track the original poster to a DuPont Manual High School student, according to First Coast News.

The unidentified student reportedly spoke to the high school's newspaper and said the "Louisville Purge" was started as a joke.

"It was originally supposed to be just a fun thing, I never thought it'd get as serious as it did," the student told the Manual Redeye. "I was really shocked the first time I saw local media covering it."

Liz Palmer, the paper's adviser, said her students had no trouble tracking down the original source of the threat and also spoke to the student's father, who confirmed the story.

Because of the threat, a high school football game for Aug. 15 had to be cancelled. Even though the student allegedly confessed to starting the threat, a police spokeswoman said the department was still investigating threats made following all the media attention.

"We don't know if it's a hoax or not," Dwight Mitchell said, according to First Coast News.

Louisville wasn't the only city hit with rumors of a "purge." Residents in Detroit, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Miami and Cleveland also reported similar threats.