SMOF News, volume 2, issue 29

Panic at Furnal Equinox, and news in brief.

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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