Student screaming tradition brings police

Those in the Amsterdam area who heard large ensembles of people screaming their heads off last week may have been listening to the sounds of students blowing off steam after their final exams. The stress relief method, dubbed the Houthaven Scream, is said to have origins in the Flogsta area of Uppsala, Sweden, but took residents of Uilenstede, Amstelveen off guard with many calling Dutch emergency services.

Officers made no arrests related to the screaming in Uilenstede, which took place on Wednesday at 10 p.m. and lasted for twenty minutes. Students thought police dispatched a helicopter in the air to investigate the situation, but police denied this saying that the aircraft was monitoring an ongoing accident scene nearby.

The tradition rapidly expanded past Flogsta in Sweden, spreading quickly to Linköping, Lund, and Stockholm.

Dutch student Tom Brok made a film a short film about the screaming that spread virally. The Parool links the video to the creation of the new Amsterdam tradition.