Do you ever just feel like screaming? Join the club.

If you were running through Alton Baker Park around 10:45 a.m., on Sunday, Oct. 11, and heard a series of sudden shrieks coming from the Autzen Canoe Canal Footbridge, there’s no need to be alarmed. 

That was the inaugural communal scream of Scream Eugene, a new club to gather and scream about the state of the world. 

It seems like there’s a lot to scream about these days. Pop-up communal screaming clubs have emerged across the United States in the last year, in Chicago, Houston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and beyond. In Portland, a weekly Scream Society meets every Wednesday at the Eastbank Esplanade overlooking the Willamette River to let it all out. 

The Eugene club was started by Daysha Brown, 30, an esthetician who lives in Springfield. As she talked with her esthetician clients, she heard she’s not alone in needing a cathartic release. 

Brown had a difficult time in the last two years, as a chronic lung infection derailed her daily life. She said she is in recovery, but it was an isolating experience. She joked with friends about the best place to let out a big scream about the state of the world, noted the creation of screaming clubs in other cities and was inspired to make a Eugene version. 

“In the climate of the world, there’s been a lot of disconnect,” she said. “There’s been a lot of big feelings that people have had, and we’ve lost touch with how to feel those feelings and how to express them, and how to relate with other people.”

Scene of the scream 

On a chilly Sunday morning overlooking the Willamette River from the Autzen footbridge, Eugene had its own modest screaming group. (Brown purposefully chose Sunday morning as it seemed like the least alarming time of the week to scream as a group.)

“I think everyone’s just going through a lot,” said Ciera Lazott, a friend of Brown’s and an attendee of the scream. “Life’s hard, and you know, people get busy and burnt out. Who couldn’t use a scream on a Sunday morning?”

The event was small: four people and a Lookout Eugene-Springfield reporter yelling before everyone went their separate ways. 

“It was nice,” screamer Jessica Brown said. “A little pressure release, I guess.”

In all, the scream club meeting lasted about 30 minutes. That low-lift nature of the event was Brown’s intention, who planned to do laundry after. She was happy with the first scream, though the turnout was less than she expected, but said she got what she needed from the scream and looked forward to evolving the event in the coming months. 

“My goal behind it is to just give people a space that is no obligation, no fee, there’s no sign up, there’s no nothing,” she said. “It’s just a place that you can come and maybe meet some like-minded folks, have a bit of an emotional release, and continue on with your day.”

Scream Eugene will meet on a monthly basis throughout the winter. Follow on Instagram at @screameug for details on the November scream.