On the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge over Austin’s Lady Bird Lake last Sunday evening, a loose group of people began to shift and glance at one another. Just before seven, a murmuring started through the crowd.

“Are you here for the scream thing?” someone finally dared. We were all here for the scream thing. It was the first meeting of Scream Club Austin: a recurring invitation for strangers to gather briefly and scream in a public space as a form of free, primal therapy. Screaming publicly to release emotion—even with a group— isn’t new , but this wave of the movement kicked off with the establishment Scream Club Chicago , which has been holding weekly meetings since June and recently got a fresh wave of attention, spurring offshoots around the country like the Austin iteration.

While t

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