Nineteen people are hospitalized and hundreds are evacuated into the freezing cold, many still wearing their colorful anthropomorphic animal costumes, or fursuits. Hazmat teams trace the gas to a stairwell, where they find the remains of a chemical bomb. This was an intentional attack.
But almost a decade later, the identity of the perpetrator remains a mystery. In Fur & Loathing, investigative reporter Nicky Woolf takes on the unsolved case, working closely with Furries to find answers. It’s a journey that will bring him face-to-face with the challenges this vibrant, often misunderstood subculture faces – including the far-right extremists looking to wreck the community from within.
Just after midnight, a chlorine bomb goes off at the Furry convention. This is what happens next.
To this day, no one knows what happened at the Hyatt Hotel and Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois on December 7th, 2014. All we do know is that it could have been one of the deadliest domestic terror attacks in US history. So why is the case unsolved?
Who, and what, was attacked here? Time to go to Midwest Furfest – and see the scene of the crime.
Nicky Woolf goes to Midwest FurFest 2023 to see the scene of the crime. How did this attack unfold 10 years ago? How deadly could it have been? What sort of impact has it had on the furry community? And most importantly – who could have done it?
As Nicky and Patch go deeper in the investigation, the dark side of the Furry fandom starts to emerge.
Having been to Midwest Fur Fest, and understanding just how bad the attack could have been. Nicky, with the help of Patch O’Fur, begin honing on who they believe to be a prime suspect. A Furry under the Fursona Magnus Diridian. To understand Magnus, Nicky takes us into a dark fringe group of the Furry Fandom, alt-right and Neo Nazi Furry groups.
The investigation is full steam ahead. But suddenly… fresh evidence takes us in a new and shocking direction.
While the investigation from Nicky and Patch strongly points to one individual…Magnus Diridian, there’s a sudden surprise. The Brazen team gets documents returned from a FOIA request (Freedom of Information Act). Those documents give just enough information for us to piece together what exactly the FBI was doing during the months and years after the attack. And suddenly a new name appears. A name no-one has heard before. Caleb Kincade.
The investigation is closing in on the truth. But can we find the perpetrator?
Having found and interviewed Caleb, our theory of the case is developing – and we think the FBI and police were wrong. As we close in on our last remaining suspect, we hear from people from his past. They paint a deeply disturbing picture. But will we be able to track him down? Will he agree to speak to us? And will we be able to find the answers we seek? Who is Magnus Diridian – and is he the perpetrator of the attack? It’s time to find and confront our suspect.
We are now confident we know what really happened that night. But it’s also clear the authorities botched the investigation. How did things go so wrong?
Wrapping up with Magnus brings us as close as we can get to an answer. That’s because, somewhere along the way, the police and FBI seem to have mismanaged and lost key evidence, followed dodgy leads, and screwed up the investigation – meaning we may never know for sure. What the hell happened? The answer may lie with Rosemont itself – a place that, it turns out, is riddled with corruption.
