8 episodes

It’s early December 2014, and at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, an unusual gathering is taking place. It’s the final night of Midwest Furfest, the world’s largest convention for a subculture known as Furries.
The party is in full swing when, just after midnight, attendees suddenly find themselves struggling to breathe. Something terrible has happened: poisonous levels of chlorine gas are sweeping through the hotel corridors.
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 and 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.
Fur and Loathing, coming soon from Brazen.

Fur & Loathing Brazen

    • True Crime
    • 4.5 • 49 Ratings

It’s early December 2014, and at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, an unusual gathering is taking place. It’s the final night of Midwest Furfest, the world’s largest convention for a subculture known as Furries.
The party is in full swing when, just after midnight, attendees suddenly find themselves struggling to breathe. Something terrible has happened: poisonous levels of chlorine gas are sweeping through the hotel corridors.
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 and 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.
Fur and Loathing, coming soon from Brazen.

    Broken Glass

    Broken Glass

    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?
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    • 28 min
    The Stairwell

    The Stairwell

    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?
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    • 32 min
    Pawstikas

    Pawstikas

    After Nicky's trip to Midwest Fur Fest, he comes to understand just how bad the attack could have been. With the help of Patch O’Furr, Nicky begins honing in on who they believe to be a prime suspect  – a Furry who goes by 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.
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    • 32 min
    The Furry With The Gas

    The Furry With The Gas

    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 Kinkade.
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    • 42 min
    Magnus

    Magnus

    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.
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    • 38 min
    Introducing Fur & Loathing

    Introducing Fur & Loathing

    This is Fur and Loathing, coming soon from Brazen.
    It’s early December 2014, and at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, an unusual gathering is taking place. It’s the final night of Midwest Furfest, the world’s largest convention for a subculture known as Furries.
    The party is in full swing when, just after midnight, attendees suddenly find themselves struggling to breathe. Something terrible has happened: poisonous levels of chlorine gas are sweeping through the hotel corridors.
    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.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 2 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
49 Ratings

49 Ratings

clyde the awesome ,

Great true crime style podcast

While I do frequently listen to podcasts my style usually doesn’t include true crime with the exception of a few that I got really into a while back like Serial. This podcast has a very similar setup to serial that I forgot I was even missing but now I’m hungry for more. On top of all that, the furry community is very close to my heart so finding this portrayal of us in such a neutral to positive light is great.

phoebesophie ,

Educational

This is a great podcast, I’m not part of this community but I love learning about it. It’s really well done and really interesting. Being a part of a marginalised community has made me interested to learn more about others. Thank you.

CrackedV ,

Great work, one complaint

I am loving the podcast. Great reporting and presentation. However, not sure if this can be addressed, but the volume difference between the podcast and the obnoxious spectrum advertisement is massive.It requires constant volume adjustment.You might want to fix this for future listeners.

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