(Creepy prescient message on the stage at the Nov. 5 Travis Scott concert in Houston)

Eight people were killed and many more were injured when a crowd surged toward an Astroworld stage at a music festival in Houston on Friday, Nov. 5. The Astroworld Festival crowd apparently overwhelmed security forces and resulted in one of the deadliest concerts in U.S. history.

The city fire chief reported that at least 17 people were taken to hospitals after the crush toward the stage. Officials said that 11 of those taken by ambulance were in cardiac arrest. More than 300 people were treated at an on-site field hospital throughout the event on Friday.

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Around 50,000 people attended the event at NRG Park. Rapper and producer Travis Scott hosted the event which kicked off Friday. The festival was scheduled to last two days, but officials canceled Saturday’s lineup following the tragedy.

“Like watching a Jenga tower topple”

Instagram user SeannaFaith wrote: “The rush of people became tighter and tighter. . . Breathing became something only a few were capable. The rest were crushed or unable to breathe in the thick hot air.  It was like watching a Jenga tower topple. Person after person were sucked down…. You were at the mercy of the wave.”

Related: Astroworld Security Guard pricked in neck, knocked unconscious (TMZ)

“We begged security to help us,” she added, “for the performer to see us and know something was wrong. None of that came, we continued to drown.”

Fire Chief Samuel Peña told a news conference early Saturday: “[T]he crowd pressed toward the front of the stage” around 9 or 9:15 p.m. Central time.

“That caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” said Chief Peña. “People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic.” He added that a cause of death was not yet known for the eight victims.

Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner said, “We will treat it as an investigation. He added that officers were also on the scene at local hospitals.

Twenty-one-year old festival guest Alleighya Odom told NBC News (the crowd) “was like this force on my back, this continuous force.”

“Please help me!”

Ms. Odom said she saw people on the ground: “scared, eyes wild, like, ‘Please help me!’ There’s people behind me crying because they’re being stepped on.”

She added that she had not realized the seriousness of the danger until she saw messages from her mother asking if she were safe.

Ms. Odom also noted that Mr. Scott had stopped the show several times to request help for fans, and the Houston Chronicle also reported that he stopped his show several times when he saw fans in distress. Some social social media footage also showed his efforts to pause his performance.

Videos of the festival, however, showed attendees pleading for help from staff as the chaos intensified. One video showed Mr. Scott dancing as police and medical officials tried to resuscitate a concertgoer directly below him.

HPD Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite was standing near the front of the concert. He told a news conference the situation had developed quickly.

“It seems like it happened with just over the course of a few minutes,” said Mr. Satterwhite. “Suddenly we had several people down on the ground experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or some type of medical episode. We immediately started doing CPR.”

As Rumors abound, organizers cooperating with Police

At a later news conference, HPD Chief Finner told reporters there were “a lot of rumors going around,” (including) “rumors of people injecting some people with drugs.”

He urged people not to speculate, and added that Mr. Scott and the festival organizers were cooperating with police.

Some Injured prior to Tragic Stage Crush

KPRC of Houston reported earlier in the day that several people were injured when festival patrons rushed a front entrance.

Ms. Odom said she felt it was “the first sign” of chaos to come at the show.

“As soon as people started running in, I was like, ‘Oh, no … this is going to be crazy,'” she said. “And the way people were running in, it was just really violent. They were ripping off wristbands off people in the line.”

Chief Finner said the deaths and injuries were not connected with that entrance being rushed, as the crush at the concert happened much later.

Mr. Scott, 30, a Houston native, launched the Astroworld Festival in 2018 as an annual event, though it wasn’t held in 2020. His “Sicko Mode” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2018. He has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including the album “Astroworld.”

The Concert from Hell? 

Mr. Scott performed on a stage rigged to resemble the gates of hell, while attendees entered the demonic festivities through a large sculpture of his mouth which recalled Hieronymus Bosch’s famous “Christ in Limbo” painting depicting the “mouth of hell.”

“See you on the other side”

Many have noted the eerily prescient slogan for the festival: “See you on the other side.” Given the deadly results, that phrase is concerning, as are videos of Mr. Scott mouthing a strange incantation or singing while unconscious or deceased people are being lifted into ambulances below him. On the top of at least one ambulance, concert goers can be seen crawling and dancing.

Law Firm Investigates

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by Matthews & Associates

Travis Scott did a sacrifice. Look at the symbolism of the event. “See you on the other side” is the tagline. People walking into his mouth and through a doorway into another world on promo poster for “Astroworld.”

Look at the depravity of the album art cover for Astroworld. https://t.co/u9itpCtzvI pic.twitter.com/fQmihpkjyq

— Henrik Palmgren ?? ? ?? (@Henrik_Palmgren) November 6, 2021