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Recently I've been getting questions about Twilight from people who are obviously not in their demographic (as in, they're neither teenage girls, Mormons, bored housewives, nor goths). They've heard about it vaguely, but are unclear as to what it is or why it's supposed to be a big deal. When I try to explain just how popular the franchise is, I'm met with disbelief. How can something no one they know had ever heard before has such an enormous and rabid fanbase? Beats me, but I tell them not to underestimate Twilight, because these fangirls are the next Zapatistas. If only the employees at San Francisco's Stonestown Galleria mall had listened to me, they wouldn't have the mini riot they had earlier today.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson was scheduled to do an autograph signing in the mall's Hot Topic store. The deal was that the first 500 people to buy a Twilight shirt throughout the day would get a wristband that would allow them to come back at 6 PM for the signing. They were expecting about 200-500 people to show up. I can't really blame them because they've probably never even heard of Pattinson and didn't expect too much trouble, but they REALLY should've done their research about this whole Twilight shenanigans. Fangirls flew in from Arizona and Hawaii just for this "event," and this morning the mall ended up being accosted by 3,000 people—most of them teenage girls—who all wanted a piece. The result? Total mayhem.

These fans rushed to get into the mall, causing a stampede that left several people trampled, a girl fainting, and one woman with a broken nose. An SF Gate commenter claiming to be her wrote:

I am the girl who "broke her nose." I am actually an adult(although a short one), not a teenager. I am less than 5 ft tall and got TRAMPLED in the bull rush from the crowd due to this unorganized mess. Were they seriously only estimating about 200 to 500 people to show? My friend and I had arrived at the mall on Saturday morning before the mall opened and stayed at the mall all day. We sat outside the mall, but were asked to leave by security at about 930 Sunday night. We returned at 400 the next morning and were numbers 340 and 341 in line according to the unofficial list. If Hot Topic as well as the mall had planned ahead and created a line area, as well as other precautions, im sure this cancellation could have been avoided. I feel as if it is unfair to all of us who had showed up, especially those who showed up way ahead of time, for this event to be cancelled when it was poor planning on the mall and stores part.

Really? Two days in a mall parking lot to get some guy's signature? Really? I've waited in some crazy lines in my day and they can be fun given the situation (like camping overnight for a Wii with a bunch of hilarious Nintendo fans), but geez, lining with hundreds of teenyboppers and goths for an autograph of some guy whose movie you haven't even seen yet?

Naturally, the cops had to control the situation by cancelling the event altogether and shooing people away. But one thing I've learned about die hard fangirls is that they never give up. Many of them stuck around anyway and were rewarded greatly: the organizers eventually decided to continue with the event after all. Pattinson appeared at 6 pm as scheduled and signed autographs for the remaining fans. A nice ending to the day, but sucks for those people that got hurt and had to leave.

I would say that the lesson here is to take hearththrobs a little less seriously, but mentally unbalanced screaming girls are part of a tradition that goes way back to Beatle-mania. So maybe the real lesson is that we should destroy every print of Twilight before opening day or Western civilization as we know it would perish. Just throwing that out there.

Here's an unedited account of the whole thing by "lilmisslogan":

OK. so this is true. the list was infact unofficial, according to the hottopic staff. However, according to the police, who arrived hours after the line was formed, the list was infact, official. I was there @ 4:30, my friend and i were #s 219, and 220.

around 6 there were over 2,000 people, and the line had moved from public property (the sidewalk) to private, (the parking lot). This was all because the 1,613 people who had not signed the list (the list stopped @ 387) were trying to get in front because they were told by the sercurity guard (his name's Matt Hullman) "supposedly" that it was first come first serve, like the fans had read on the twilight link (on the hottopic site). At that time there was only 2 cop cars, some of the hottopic staff, and concerned parents as regulators.

Then... Sometime later (@ 6)all heck broke loose. Those 1,613 people who were afraid of not getting a spot, sprinted from the end of the parking lot to the front of the mall. A Mosh pit was then formed. Along the way people fell and injured themselves. The mosh pit continued rougly for an hour and a half. Security started to arrive along with an ambulance and a firetruck.First they told us that the front of the mob needed to get in the back of the line (after we strived to be in the front), needless to say "we" did nto listen. Then... The security repeatedly told the the mob that we needed to back up & evacuate the scene & that Rob. was not coming. People continued to join the mosh pit instead of listening to authority. Supposedly (i was told in person) that some girls had recieved tickets but later were ask to make refunds. As tickets were being handed out, they were also being stolen...

Overall it was great to know i drove 3 hours to get there @ 4:30 in the morning, sign a list that was suppose to construct some kind of semi-guaranteed autograph, to sprint in boots across the parking lot, get my personal space invaded by hundreds of squished people, & have a loss of breath from this great well planned signing. Whats also nice to know is that people flew in from hawaii, washington, and las vegas to see & meet him & were driven away by authority who repeadedtly gave off the false impression that Rob. was not coming. ... As a last thought its great that twilight fans ages 7& up (including me) were decieved & lied to by the authority that were supposed to be helping not contributing to this madness.