Howl

A howl is a in-person gathering of therianthropes. The term was first applied to meet-ups for members of the alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW) mailing list, many of which were organized in the mid-to-late 90s.

History

An attendee jumping over a bonfire at the 1995 Harvest Howl

Origin on alt.horror.werewolves

The term first appeared in the name Harvest Howl, given to a meet-up organized in 1994 by AHWW user Smash Greywolf. Members went camping somewhere in the Ohio wilderness to "socialize, get to know one another, howl at the moon, leap over raging bonfires, and to generally share the camaraderie that exists amongst members of the cyberpack". Greywolf stated that he chose the site because it came to him in a vision.

While Greywolf intended to make the Harvest Howl an annual event, several other howls occurred across over the next several months. Many members preferred to congregate with those who were more local to them than travel back to Ohio, especially as the number of AHHW users began to grow rapidly. However, the Spring Thaw Howl was held there in 1995 over Easter weekend, and a second Harvest Howl was held there in November. A second Spring Thaw Howl was held in Kentucky in 1996. Increasing numbers of howls were held after this; speaking to Orion Scribner, a member named Jakkal attested to there being several a year.

European members of AHWW began to organize howls as well. Three meets ran with the title "EuroHowl", in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Other meets such as The Easter Y2K Therian Meet and BritHowl 2002 were also categorically considered EuroHowls. By 1999, members of ALF, WEREmail and other forums also participated, and the meets were open to furries as well as weres.

Later spread

In 1999, AHWW became essentially inactive. The therian and otherkin communities in general transitioned away from mailing lists and onto forums. However, the word 'howl' had escaped, and was used by members of the Russian forum therianthropy.ru and Swedish members of Werelist for their meetups throughout the 2000s.