Something Happened at Furnal Equinox
Furnal Equinox is a yearly convention for anthropomorphic fans in Toronto. At the 2023 edition this past weekend, something happened in the early morning hours that led to Toronto police being called and a lockdown being put in force.
Furnal Equinox’s own description of what happened says:
Early this morning there was an incident near the south tower elevators that created a disturbance which spread throughout the convention level at approximately 2 am.
The events occurred as follows:
• Attendees moved down the escalators away from the south tower
• They moved across the lobby and then back upstairs towards the sky bridge to the convention center
• Hotel security called Toronto Police Services (TPS) immediately following the incident
• The Nightingales [convention security] responded shortly after hearing the attendees
• Together with the Toronto Police Service, they secured the area
• They then performed a sweep of the area
• A lockdown was initiated, and the gaming lounge was evacuated
• An “all clear” was called within two hours after no immediate threats were located.
Aurora Dreamhack, a convention attendee who was present at the start of the movement, says in part:
[W]e all heard an individual scream multiple times from the South towers. Their scream sounded like someone who was both in fear and in pain, it was indescribable, it haunts me. Everyone in the lobby became silent, seconds later someone in the lobby yelled “gun” multiple times. This sent the lobby scrambling to evacuate the immediate surrounding.
There is still no clear information about the precipitating incident. Aurora Dreamhack says there were plenty of different stories:
I heard 4 different iterations of what occurred. Rumors such as; an active shooter who had fired shots between floors 12 and 15, gunman killing someone in the elevator, someone playing a prank, and someone overreacting.
Some think that what set off the panic was convention security being called to deal with a man who crashed a late-night dance, wearing only a towel and eventually cavorting about naked before he was removed.
How could this turn into a shooting scare? As Aurora Dreamhack notes, close proximity to the United States means a lot of attendees who are used to hearing about mass shootings and ready to assume one is happening near them.
Longtime furry fans may also have an extra dose of paranoia because one of their conventions has been targeted for an attack before. In 2014, at Midwest Furfest in Rosemont, Illinois, someone released chlorine gas in a stairwell. The person responsible has never been identified.
A Vice retrospective about the gas attack notes that furries had reason to be worried about the stigma they struggled with even before that:
[Ken Smith] points to a 2003 Crime Scene Investigation called "Fur and Loathing," which depicts rampant sexual deviancy and even murder at a furry convention. There was also a 2014 episode of Dr. Phil dubbed "Animal Obsessed" that he says painted furries as low-lives and freaks. (One of the talk show's guests, for example, eats dog food out of a dish and another chooses furry conventions over a college education.) But for many in the community, the biggest blow to their image dates back to 2001, when Vanity Fair ran a cover story set at Midwest FurFest. Many furries took issue with writer George Gurley's depiction of the community as sex-crazed misfits with bizarre fur fetishes.
Put that together with the increasing tendency of mass shooters to attack marginalized communities, and you have an easy recipe for panic. In this case, luckily, panic seems to be all that it was.
In Brief
Indiana Comic Convention (Indianapolis, Indiana, May 5-7) has added Ashley Eckstein, Walter Jones, and Tim Daly as guests.
Event Calendar
Weekend of March 24-26
FantaSci 2023: Here Be Dragons, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Fluke 2023 (independent comics and zines), Athens, Georgia, USA
Motor City Furry Con: Fur Imagination, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA
Thaitails Siam Sawasdee (anthropomorphic), Bangkok, Thailand
Woods Flock (anthropomorphic), Spencer, Tennessee, USA
GameStorm 23, Portland, Oregon, USA
WittCon XVIII: Magic vs. Machines (gaming), Springfield, Ohio, USA
Gary Con XV (gaming), Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA
Ludinord (gaming), Mons-En-Barœul, France
LeiriaCon (gaming), Leiria, Portugal
WillowCon (gaming), Wayne, Nebraska, USA
Fargo GameFest, Fargo, North Dakota, USA
FallsCon 2023 (gaming), Wichita Falls, Kansas, USA
PAX East (video games), Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Hotlead (miniatures gaming), Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Adepticon 2023 (wargaming), Schaumburg, Illinois, USA
Not-A-Con 2023 (Pathfinder & Starfinder RPGs), Alcoa, Tennessee, USA
Nadeshicon (anime), Québec City, Québec, Canada
EvilleCon (anime), Evansville, Indiana, USA
SwampCon Pantheon (anime), Gainesville, Florida, USA
Isekai Anime Con, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
AnimeJapan 2023, Tokyo, Japan
Zenkaikon 2023 (anime), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
ExpOtaku Almería 2023 (anime), Almería, Spain
Comic Con Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Armageddon Expo Tauranga (media), Tauranga, New Zealand
GalaxyCon Richmond (media), Richmond, Virginia, USA
Fan Expo Cleveland (media), Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Island Entertainment Expo (media), Charlottetown, PEI, Canada
WonderCon 2023 (media), Anaheim, California, USA
Revelcon 33: The Wedding Episode (media relaxacon), Houston, Texas, USA
Weekend of March 31-April 2
Corflu Craic (fanzines), Belfast, UK
Romics XXX (comics), Rome, Italy
Consonance 2023 (music), Milpitas, California, USA
13 Gears (steampunk), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival, Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA
CosXpo (costuming), Reading, UK
Midwest Gaming Classic, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Alamo City Game Convention, San Antonio, Texas, USA
DayCon (gaming), Kettering, Ohio, USA
ADK Tabletop Day (gaming), Glens Falls, New York, USA
Midwest Gaming Classic (video games), Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Havoc XXXVII (miniatures gaming), Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA
Gary Con XV (Gary Gygax), Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA
KokoroCon 2 (anime), Nottingham, UK
Kawaii Kon (anime), Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Triad Anime Convention, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Angers Geekfest #4: Utopie & Dystopie (media), Angers, France
RodCon (media), Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA
FACTS (media), Ghent, Belgium
ETSU-Con (media), Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Creation Nola (media), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Megacon Orlando (media), Orlando, Florida, USA
ETSU-Con (media), Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
Paris Manga Sci-Fi Show (media), Villepinte, France
Rose City Comic Convention, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
CyPhaCon 2023 (media), Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA
CabbageCon (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Weekend of April 7-9
Conversation 2023 (UK national sf convention), London, UK
Minicon 56, Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, USA
Norwescon 45: Between Two Worlds, SeaTac, Washington, USA
Fastaval '23, Hobro, Denmark
Golden State Fur Con (anthropomorphic), Los Angeles, California, USA
Fur Squared 2023 (anthropomorphic), Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA
Fauntastic 2023: Wild in the Street (anthropomorphic), Lyon, France
Clockwork Alchemy: Villains & Heroes (steampunk), San Mateo, California, USA
GothCon XLVI (gaming), Göteborg, Sweden
DaveCon (gaming), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
Conquest Games Convention (RPGs), Melbourne, Australia
Scrum Con (wargaming), Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
WeebCon Year 3 (anime), Grapevine, Texas, USA
MTAC Blackjack (anime), Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Anime Detour, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Anime Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Karoshi-Con (anime), DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Kanpai!Con (anime), Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Sakura-Con 2023 (anime), Seattle, Washington, USA
Puerto Rico Comic Con, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
BABSCon 2023 (My Little Pony), Burlingame, California, USA
Star Wars Celebration 2023, Anaheim, California, USA
Weekend of April 14-16
Swancon 47, Maylands, Australia
HAL-CON 2023, Kawasaki, Japan
Les Intergalactiques 2023, Lyon, France
221B Con (Sherlock Holmes), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Las Vegas Fur Con 2023: The Enfurtainment Capital of the World, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Jack Williamson Lectureship 2023: Climates of Empire, Portales, New Mexico, USA
Conpulsion 2023 (gaming), Edinburgh, UK
MEPACON (gaming), Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
CODCON XXVI (gaming), Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA
Jeu au Boute (boardgames), Chertsey, Québec, Canada
VGM Con: Oops, All Zelda (videogames/music), Plymouth, Minnnesota, USA
Harucon (anime), Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria
Riverwalk Anime, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Comic-Con Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Bold City Con (media), Jacksonville, Florida, USA
SC Comicon, Greenville, South Carolina, USA
Quad Cities Comic Con, Davenport, Iowa, USA
Supanova 2023 – Gold Coast (media), Broadbeach, Australia
Dairycon 2023: The Moo Generation (Transformers), Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, USA
Weekend of April 21-23
RavenCon 16, Richmond, Virginia, USA
ConStellation 12: Age of Aquarius, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
HELIOsphere, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
LuxCon 2023, Dudelange, Luxembourg
Concinnity 2023, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
JordanCon (fantasy literature), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, Lombard, Illinois, USA
Penguicon 2023 (sf/open source), Southfield, Michigan, USA
Costume-Con 39: Things That Go Bump in the Night, San Jose, California, USA
Farmageddon IX (gaming), Farmer City, Illinois, USA
Cheyenne Gaming Convention, Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA
Rising Phoenix GameCon, Milford, Massachusetts, USA
LexiCon 2023 (gaming), Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Jeu au Boute (boardgames), Chertsey, Québec, Canada
Nashville Tabletop Day 2023 (boardgames), Nashville, Tennessee, USA
CoMo Retro Con (retro video games), Columbia, Missouri, USA
Omnicon Symphony (anime), Cookeville, Tennessee, USA
Mang’Azur (anime), Toulon, France
Anime St. Louis, St. Charles, Missouri, USA
Saluki Con (anime), Carbondale, Illinois, USA
Mobile Bay Anime Festival, Daphne, Alabama, USA
Anime Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Anime Town Utah, Sandy, Utah, USA
FicZone 2023 (anime), Granada, Spain
Beta Quest 2023 (anime), Kingsland, Georgia, USA
Ithacon 2023 (comics), Ithaca, New York, USA
Sci-Fi Scarborough (media), Scarborough, UK
Yellow City Comic Con 2023, Amarillo, Texas, USA
Fayetteville Comic Con, Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
El Paso Comic Con, El Paso, Texas, USA
Wicked Comic Con, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Supanova 2023 – Melbourne (media), Broadbeach, Australia
PortmeiriCon (The Prisoner), Portmeirion, UK
Coda
Starch-based concrete for offworld habitats (The Register)
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