As the social media and the news got word of the new cases of leprosy found in Florida, a slew of misinformation and stigmatization followed. José P. Ramirez Jr. is the author of the memoir Squint: My Journey With Leprosy (Hansen's Disease), which leads readers through the mystery illness that took over his life as a teenager in the 1960s, his diagnosis at age 20, and his years spent at the only facility for people with Leprosy in the United States, but it was far more than just a hospital. Today José will dispel myths and share his devastating and uplifting life story so we can better understand the disease that still strikes a biblically-inspired fear in Americans.If you have any questions or comments, you can email José at joseramirezjr@hotmail.comDonate to IDEA hereBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the social media and the news got word of the new cases of leprosy found in Florida, a slew of misinformation and stigmatization followed. José P. Ramirez Jr. is the author of the memoir Squint: My Journey With Leprosy (Hansen's Disease), which leads readers through the mystery illness that took over his life as a teenager in the 1960s, his diagnosis at age 20, and his years spent at the only facility for people with Leprosy in the United States, but it was far more than just a hospital. Today José will dispel myths and share his devastating and uplifting life story so we can better understand the disease that still strikes a biblically-inspired fear in Americans. If you have any questions or comments, you can email José at joseramirezjr@hotmail.comDonate to IDEA <a href="https://www.ideaadvocates.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Sound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Love in the Time of Leprosy with Advocate José Ramirez, Jr.

BJ Colangelo is an editor at Slash Film and the writer of “The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need,” a comprehensive look at the cultural movement of America's pinkest lady. On this episode, BJ will take us through the moral panics, conspiracy theories, and misunderstandings that have followed this controversial toy starting back in the 1960s and continuing into this very day.Read The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever NeedListen to This Ends at PromBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BJ Colangelo is an editor at Slash Film and the writer of “The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need,” a comprehensive look at the cultural movement of America's pinkest lady. On this episode, BJ will take us through the moral panics, conspiracy theories, and misunderstandings that have followed this controversial toy starting back in the 1960s and continuing into this very day. Read <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/1341484/an-exhaustive-guide-to-barbie-lore/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need</a>Listen to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-ends-at-prom/id1527896223" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This Ends at Prom</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Sound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Blame It on Barbie with Entertainment Journalist BJ Colangelo

This is a collaborative look at the panics around Furby with the podcast Unspookable, a show much like ours that takes a more kid-friendly approach to understanding urban legends. In honor of the return of Furby to toy stores in July 2023, we revisit some of the ridiculous myths and freaky stories around the hottest toy of the late 90s, and look deeper into what it says about human nature and America as a whole.Listen to our good buddies at UnspookableBecome a patron of our show!This episode was produced by Nate Dufort and Chelsey Weber-SmithHosted by Elise ParisianHead writing by Ellenor Riley-ConditThe AH theme song was composed by Hakan ErikksonThe special mashup theme song was created by Jesse Case  Special thanks to Jonah, Bella, Isabella, and Jon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a collaborative look at the panics around Furby with the podcast Unspookable, a show much like ours that takes a more kid-friendly approach to understanding urban legends. In honor of the return of Furby to toy stores in July 2023, we revisit some of the ridiculous myths and freaky stories around the hottest toy of the late 90s, and look deeper into what it says about human nature and America as a whole.Listen to our good buddies at <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unspookable/id1438566169" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Unspookable</a> Become a <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">patron</a> of our show! This episode was produced by Nate Dufort and Chelsey Weber-SmithHosted by Elise ParisianHead writing by Ellenor Riley-ConditThe AH theme song was composed by Hakan ErikksonThe special mashup theme song was created by Jesse Case  Special thanks to Jonah, Bella, Isabella, and Jon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Furby's Revenge

Jamie Loftus

Jamie Loftus is the author of the recent New York Times bestselling book 'Raw Dog: The Naked Truth about Hot Dogs.' Together we discuss some very weird hot dog-related urban legends and conspiracy theories as a companion to our episode about the cannibal pig people of Pig Hill. We'll also learn about the history and politics of this great American meat tube and most importantly, we  interrogate the aggressively gendered branding of gas station jumbo pickles.Get a copy of Jamie's book Raw DogBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie Loftus is the author of the recent New York Times bestselling book 'Raw Dog: The Naked Truth about Hot Dogs.' Together we discuss some very weird hot dog-related urban legends and conspiracy theories as a companion to our episode about the cannibal pig people of Pig Hill. We'll also learn about the history and politics of this great American meat tube and most importantly, we interrogate the aggressively gendered branding of gas station jumbo pickles. Get a copy of Jamie's book <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/raw-dog-the-many-histories-of-hot-dogs-jamie-loftus/18785131" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Raw Dog</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Sound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Hot Dog Urban Legends with Comedian Jamie Loftus

The inbred cannibal pig people who are said to inhabit Pig Hill in Meadville, PA attack teenagers who park on its lovers lane. But these are far from the only human-pig hybrids featured in American urban legends. For this episode, not only are we sharing different variations of the tale, but we are also digging deep into the weird history of pigs: Puritan bestiality trials, soldier-eating feral swine, hybrid animal experiments, the pigs who ruled the early cities, and what the history of the hog teaches us about suburbanization and the dehumanization of those the elite consider "unclean."If you have an urban legend you'd like us to explore, head to americanhysteria.com and leave us a message!Thank you to our listener Erin Hipple!Thanks to our author Nancy Williams!Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithVoice acting by Will RogersProducer: Miranda Zickler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The inbred cannibal pig people who are said to inhabit Pig Hill in Meadville, PA attack teenagers who park on its lovers lane. But these are far from the only human-pig hybrids featured in American urban legends. For this episode, not only are we sharing different variations of the tale, but we are also digging deep into the weird history of pigs: Puritan bestiality trials, soldier-eating feral swine, hybrid animal experiments, the pigs who ruled the early cities, and what the history of the hog teaches us about suburbanization and the dehumanization of those the elite consider "unclean." If you have an urban legend you'd like us to explore, head to <a href="https://www.chelseywebersmith.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">americanhysteria.com</a> and leave us a message! Thank you to our listener Erin Hipple!Thanks to our author <a href="https://nlwbooks.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Nancy Williams</a>! <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithVoice acting by <a href="https://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a>Producer: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Pig Hill | Urban Legends Hotline

Harmony Colangelo is one of the hosts of This Ends at Prom, a podcast that analyzes coming of age teen girl movies through a queer feminist lens, using her perspective as a trans woman and her wife’s experience as a cisgender woman. Today we are discussing the teen boy content of Jackass, how it affected our own journey with gender, how it changed the American culture of masculinity, what it says about Peter Pan Syndrome, and why we can’t get enough of these dirty and delightful boy-men.Listen to This Ends at Prom or wherever you get your podcastsBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harmony Colangelo is one of the hosts of This Ends at Prom, a podcast that analyzes coming of age teen girl movies through a queer feminist lens, using her perspective as a trans woman and her wife’s experience as a cisgender woman. Today we are discussing the teen boy content of Jackass, how it affected our own journey with gender, how it changed the American culture of masculinity, what it says about Peter Pan Syndrome, and why we can’t get enough of these dirty and delightful boy-men. Listen to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-ends-at-prom/id1527896223" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This Ends at Prom</a> or wherever you get your podcasts <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Sound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

My Pronouns are Jack/Ass with Podcaster Harmony Colangelo of 'This Ends at Prom'

In the year 2000, a group of rowdy skateboarders and loosely defined "performers" came to MTV with a pitch that would showcase their vulgar antics—outrageous stunts, shocking pranks, and gross-out humor. Tweens and teens from all over the nation became enthralled with Jackass, leading to some copycat incidents and a customary moral panic. For this episode, we will be exploring the roots of the show, the shockingly uncensored, purposefully offensive skateboard magazines and videos of the 80s and 90s that brought together the cast, and the death-defying 1970s daredevil who inspired a young Johnny Knoxville to risk it all for the footage. We'll look at what all this has to do with the psychology of Generation X, with our changing patterns of gender and sexuality, and see what meaning, if any, we can find in the meaninglessness of Jackass.Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer and Editor: Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the year 2000, a group of rowdy skateboarders and loosely defined "performers" came to MTV with a pitch that would showcase their vulgar antics—outrageous stunts, shocking pranks, and gross-out humor. Tweens and teens from all over the nation became enthralled with Jackass, leading to some copycat incidents and a customary moral panic. For this episode, we will be exploring the roots of the show, the shockingly uncensored, purposefully offensive skateboard magazines and videos of the 80s and 90s that brought together the cast, and the death-defying 1970s daredevil who inspired a young Johnny Knoxville to risk it all for the footage. We'll look at what all this has to do with the psychology of Generation X, with our changing patterns of gender and sexuality, and see what meaning, if any, we can find in the meaninglessness of Jackass. <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer and Editor: <a href="https://linktr.ee/mirandatheswampmonster" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Voice Acting by <a href="https://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Jackass

This episode will give context for our upcoming series on Jackass, an early reality show starring a group of skateboarders and unorthodox performers that filmed their stunts and pranks, becoming the outrageous superstars of the new millennium.Episodes used:InfluencersRotten.comHaunted AttractionsThe Streaking CrazeJoin our Patreon for ad-free early episodes and bonus content!This episode was produced by Riley SmithProduced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode will give context for our upcoming series on Jackass, an early reality show starring a group of skateboarders and unorthodox performers that filmed their stunts and pranks, becoming the outrageous superstars of the new millennium. Episodes used:Influencers<a href="http://Rotten.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rotten.com</a>Haunted AttractionsThe Streaking Craze <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Join our Patreon</a> for ad-free early episodes and bonus content! This episode was produced by Riley SmithProduced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Context Clues: Welcome to Jackass

Blake Pfeil

Blake Pfeil is the host of 'abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast,' a multimedia travelogue exploring abandoned spaces across the United States. Together, we discuss what our deep love of these American ruins means, how it relates to queerness, to addiction and recovery, capitalism and politics, and how these spaces can help us recultivate the empathy we need to find solidarity.Listen to abandoned: All-American Ruins wherever you get your podcasts or head to allamericanruins.comBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blake Pfeil is the host of 'abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast,' a multimedia travelogue exploring abandoned spaces across the United States. Together, we discuss what our deep love of these American ruins means, how it relates to queerness, to addiction and recovery, capitalism and politics, and how these spaces can help us recultivate the empathy we need to find solidarity. Listen to abandoned: All-American Ruins wherever you get your podcasts or head to <a href="https://www.blakepfeil.com/allamericanruins.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">allamericanruins.com</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Sound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Unabandoned with Podcaster Blake Pfeil of 'All-American Ruins'

Listeners like you can now share urban legends from your childhood and if selected, we will investigate your story in depth, sometimes even testing it out ourselves.Lauren's story: On a rural road outside Chicago, the ghosts of children killed in a school bus-train collision are said to push cars uphill, off the tracks, and out of harm's way, leaving their handprints in baby powder dusted on the bumper by local legend-tripping teenagers. So we investigated this urban legend, versions of which are told in small towns all over the country, by searching through old newspapers for related historical crashes, and then by unearthing reports of bizarre "mock accidents" that have occurred near Munger Road for decades. I even headed out all by myself to a rural road in Washington State said to be haunted by similar helpful ghosts, to see if there is any truth to this urban legend, or if it's all just an illusion.CW: Train accidents, deathIf you have an urban legend you'd like us to explore, head to americanhysteria.com and leave us a message!Thanks to Lauren and to Nick Smith, check out his film Munger Road on AmazonBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer: Miranda Zickler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listeners like you can now <a href="https://www.chelseywebersmith.com/urban-legends-hotline" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">share urban legends</a> from your childhood and if selected, we will investigate your story in depth, sometimes even testing it out ourselves.Lauren's story: On a rural road outside Chicago, the ghosts of children killed in a school bus-train collision are said to push cars uphill, off the tracks, and out of harm's way, leaving their handprints in baby powder dusted on the bumper by local legend-tripping teenagers. So we investigated this urban legend, versions of which are told in small towns all over the country, by searching through old newspapers for related historical crashes, and then by unearthing reports of bizarre "mock accidents" that have occurred near Munger Road for decades. I even headed out all by myself to a rural road in Washington State said to be haunted by similar helpful ghosts, to see if there is any truth to this urban legend, or if it's all just an illusion. CW: Train accidents, death If you have an urban legend you'd like us to explore, head to <a href="https://www.chelseywebersmith.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">americanhysteria.com</a> and leave us a message!Thanks to Lauren and to Nick Smith, check out his film <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Munger-Road-Bruce-Davison/dp/B0098R6NTI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Munger Road on Amazon</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Munger Road | Urban Legends Hotline

American Hysteria explores how fantastical thinking has shaped our culture – moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, fringe beliefs, and national misunderstandings. Poet-turned-podcaster Chelsey Weber-Smith tells the strangest stories from American history and examines the forces that create the reality we share, and sometimes, the reality we don't.

Well thought out, great listening. I look forward to each episode.

Amazing

I very much enjoy the content and the clear, succinct way this podcast is delivered.  I feel more knowledgeable after listening.

Excellent and Informative

American Hysteria

For this episode, we'll explore the mother-of-all conspiracy theories, the Illuminati, an alleged secret society and their evil world domination plan known as the New World Order. Chelsey takes a stroll down memory lane with friend Austin Smith, to a time when they believed in the Illuminati and found what seemed like proof. We’ll explore the history of the theory itself, why some people are more prone to believing than others, and how at the heart of the theory lies a dark ideology that has affected our culture into the present.Check out A Culture of Conspiracy by Michael Barkun for further readingAmerican Hysteria is written and produced by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice acting by Will RogersThanks to my guest, Austin Smith, check out his new book of poemsBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this episode, we'll explore the mother-of-all conspiracy theories, the Illuminati, an alleged secret society and their evil world domination plan known as the New World Order. Chelsey takes a stroll down memory lane with friend Austin Smith, to a time when they believed in the Illuminati and found what seemed like proof. We’ll explore the history of the theory itself, why some people are more prone to believing than others, and how at the heart of the theory lies a dark ideology that has affected our culture into the present.Check out A Culture of Conspiracy by Michael Barkun for further readingAmerican Hysteria is written and produced by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice acting by Will RogersThanks to my guest, Austin Smith, check out his <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13241.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">new book of poems</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

The Illuminati

This is a surprise early Season Three premiere! Merry Whatever y'all! Learn about the history of America's relationship to Christmas, and the several wars that have been fought in the name of and against this always controversial holiday, as well as some of the darker sides and forgotten traditions that may change your perspective on the season of giving for good.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda ZicklerShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a surprise early Season Three premiere! Merry Whatever y'all! Learn about the history of America's relationship to Christmas, and the several wars that have been fought in the name of and against this always controversial holiday, as well as some of the darker sides and forgotten traditions that may change your perspective on the season of giving for good. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by <a href="https://www.kuinkatheband.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Show art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

War On Christmas Special

This episode is part one of our two-part series on perhaps the most mystifying moral panic in US history, the 1980s and early 90s 'Satanic Panic.' For this episode, Chelsey covers the rise of organized Satanism beginning in the late 60s, as well as the adversarial countercultures of the hippies and the metalheads, and their apparent Satanic crimes that would be hailed as proof of their evil, as well as proof that teens, as well as children, were in serious moral peril. Satan was allegedly hypnotizing the youth with secret messages in backwards rock songs, teaching them occult magic in Saturday morning cartoons, and causing suicides through a popular role-playing game, all while helping religion blur into politics for good. For part two Chelsey will cover what came next, a serious investigation into an imagined network of Satanic cults ritually abusing children in daycare centers all over the country. Chelsey will try to understand this shocking decade in history, why it happened, and the cultural issues it was really about. Part two is coming after the holidays.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is part one of our two-part series on perhaps the most mystifying moral panic in US history, the 1980s and early 90s 'Satanic Panic.' For this episode, Chelsey covers the rise of organized Satanism beginning in the late 60s, as well as the adversarial countercultures of the hippies and the metalheads, and their apparent Satanic crimes that would be hailed as proof of their evil, as well as proof that teens, as well as children, were in serious moral peril. Satan was allegedly hypnotizing the youth with secret messages in backwards rock songs, teaching them occult magic in Saturday morning cartoons, and causing suicides through a popular role-playing game, all while helping religion blur into politics for good. For part two Chelsey will cover what came next, a serious investigation into an imagined network of Satanic cults ritually abusing children in daycare centers all over the country. Chelsey will try to understand this shocking decade in history, why it happened, and the cultural issues it was really about. Part two is coming after the holidays. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will Rogers <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Satanic Panic: Part One

It has been said that the apocalypse is as American as apple pie, and for our season finale we are exploring different versions of the end of the world, the hyper-religious, the new age, and the scientific, as well as Chelsey’s personal experience with the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse. The stories we tell about the end of time tend to involve not only a series of cataclysmic, devastating events, but also the saving of an elect few, and the punishing and death of the rest. While none of the end times predictions have come to pass, major leaps in technology have opened us up to both the potential nuclear war and the potential for climate disaster, terrifying realities that prove more difficult to face than our fantasies. What comes next is up to us. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It has been said that the apocalypse is as American as apple pie, and for our season finale we are exploring different versions of the end of the world, the hyper-religious, the new age, and the scientific, as well as Chelsey’s personal experience with the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse. The stories we tell about the end of time tend to involve not only a series of cataclysmic, devastating events, but also the saving of an elect few, and the punishing and death of the rest. While none of the end times predictions have come to pass, major leaps in technology have opened us up to both the potential nuclear war and the potential for climate disaster, terrifying realities that prove more difficult to face than our fantasies. What comes next is up to us.  American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research assisted by Riley SmithShow art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by Will Rogers <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

The End of the World

For our season finale, I am going to step into the unknown recesses of the mind, especially my own. I’ll share my upsetting brush with a self-actualization program that taught me that life is empty and meaning when I was ten-years-old. I’ll give a partial history of psychology’s changing ideas about how we think about thinking. Then we’ll look at the Cold War beginnings of this concept called brainwashing when American POWs suddenly became communist sympathizers, and how the US government tried their hand at the same thing. After that, we’ll check out the human potential movement and the new age philosophies that helped influence the Manson Family’s murders. Moving into the 1970s, we’ll follow a kidnapped heiress turned domestic terrorist, and see how the mass deaths at Jonestown influenced her fate. We’ll meet the man who invented cult deprogramming, paid for by families to abduct their wayward loved ones back. At the close, I’ll share more about my modern-era spiritual journey and how it’s informed my own mental health. Does life have meaning? Who knows, and who cares. Come hang out for more more special episode, and let’s get weird, man.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda ZicklerShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For our season finale, I am going to step into the unknown recesses of the mind, especially my own. I’ll share my upsetting brush with a self-actualization program that taught me that life is empty and meaning when I was ten-years-old. I’ll give a partial history of psychology’s changing ideas about how we think about thinking. Then we’ll look at the Cold War beginnings of this concept called brainwashing when American POWs suddenly became communist sympathizers, and how the US government tried their hand at the same thing. After that, we’ll check out the human potential movement and the new age philosophies that helped influence the Manson Family’s murders. Moving into the 1970s, we’ll follow a kidnapped heiress turned domestic terrorist, and see how the mass deaths at Jonestown influenced her fate. We’ll meet the man who invented cult deprogramming, paid for by families to abduct their wayward loved ones back. At the close, I’ll share more about my modern-era spiritual journey and how it’s informed my own mental health. Does life have meaning? Who knows, and who cares. Come hang out for more more special episode, and let’s get weird, man. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by <a href="https://www.kuinkatheband.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Show art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Mind Control

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Lifestyle-brand ‘Goop’ and the expensive products it peddles are just the newest in a long line of medical quackery leading back to the 1800s. America has a long history with selling and buying Snake Oil, bogus cures to any ailment you can imagine, starting with the cowboy showman of the wild west, who sold to the masses through traveling vaudevillian performances. In addition to fake cures, historical American doctors and scientists also have a dark history of identifying and pathologizing both biological and mental illnesses that simply didn’t exist, ones that said much more about the culture’s values than it did about the people who were said to be ill. At the same time, the rich were being diagnosed in spades with a disorder known as Americanitis, leading to much more luxurious treatments. American alternative medicine, as dubious as it may be, formed as citizens rightly grew suspicious of the flawed medical establishment. Though fake cures are not grounded in science, researchers are actually finding that alternative medicine does work to help relieve us of our pain, just not in the ways you might think.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Lifestyle-brand ‘Goop’ and the expensive products it peddles are just the newest in a long line of medical quackery leading back to the 1800s. America has a long history with selling and buying Snake Oil, bogus cures to any ailment you can imagine, starting with the cowboy showman of the wild west, who sold to the masses through traveling vaudevillian performances. In addition to fake cures, historical American doctors and scientists also have a dark history of identifying and pathologizing both biological and mental illnesses that simply didn’t exist, ones that said much more about the culture’s values than it did about the people who were said to be ill. At the same time, the rich were being diagnosed in spades with a disorder known as Americanitis, leading to much more luxurious treatments. American alternative medicine, as dubious as it may be, formed as citizens rightly grew suspicious of the flawed medical establishment. Though fake cures are not grounded in science, researchers are actually finding that alternative medicine does work to help relieve us of our pain, just not in the ways you might think. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithShow art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Quackery

Pornography has existed all over the world for all recorded time, and now porn websites are visited by an estimated 60 million Americans every month. With each new technological advancement, porn soon follows, and each generation subsequently fears for our vulnerable women and our uncontrollable men. For this episode, we’ll spend most of our time in the 1970s, also known as the “Golden Age of Porn,” when America was introduced to Andy Warhol’s Blue Movie, Deep Throat, Playboy, and Hustler. We’ll explore the subsequent feminist and fundamentalist fallout and the war on porn in the 1980s, spurred on by a surprising gruesome advocate. Porn has long been charged with corrupting the youth as well as normalizing, glorifying, and even causing sexual violence. Today we ask the question: What does porn do to us, or more accurately, what can porn make us do? American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda ZicklerShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pornography has existed all over the world for all recorded time, and now porn websites are visited by an estimated 60 million Americans every month. With each new technological advancement, porn soon follows, and each generation subsequently fears for our vulnerable women and our uncontrollable men. For this episode, we’ll spend most of our time in the 1970s, also known as the “Golden Age of Porn,” when America was introduced to Andy Warhol’s Blue Movie, Deep Throat, Playboy, and Hustler. We’ll explore the subsequent feminist and fundamentalist fallout and the war on porn in the 1980s, spurred on by a surprising gruesome advocate. Porn has long been charged with corrupting the youth as well as normalizing, glorifying, and even causing sexual violence. Today we ask the question: What does porn do to us, or more accurately, what can porn make us do?  American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by <a href="https://www.kuinkatheband.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Show art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Pornography

For the season two premiere, we are exploring the rich American history of Spiritualism, a massive 80-year trend of popular culture lasting from the Civil War to the Jazz age in which mediums began speaking to, and then speaking for, the spirits of the dead. A sudden craze of magical, fun, gross, and sexy parlor room séances swept the nation, materializing during the awe-inspiring age of invention and scientific inquiry. But the movement also had a political side; for the first time women were given a voice for social and political change, a voice that just happened to be channeled from beyond the veil. How they used that otherworldly voice, however, was both revolutionary and problematic, much like the progressive movements we experience today. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the season two premiere, we are exploring the rich American history of Spiritualism, a massive 80-year trend of popular culture lasting from the Civil War to the Jazz age in which mediums began speaking to, and then speaking for, the spirits of the dead. A sudden craze of magical, fun, gross, and sexy parlor room séances swept the nation, materializing during the awe-inspiring age of invention and scientific inquiry. But the movement also had a political side; for the first time women were given a voice for social and political change, a voice that just happened to be channeled from beyond the veil. How they used that otherworldly voice, however, was both revolutionary and problematic, much like the progressive movements we experience today.  American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research assisted by Riley SmithShow art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Talking to the Dead

Monsters come from the darkness, from the depth of lakes and swamps, from the shadows of forests and hills, and live too in the dark parts of all of us. However, this episode is less about Bigfoot and more about the idea of the monstrous, and how it has been used as a tool to demonize black folks since the first slave ships landed in America, both through folktales and famous works of fiction. We also explore how Darwin's theory of evolution affected white Americans and led to the actual creation of human zoos that displayed African people as both the missing link and blood-thirsty monsters. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monsters come from the darkness, from the depth of lakes and swamps, from the shadows of forests and hills, and live too in the dark parts of all of us. However, this episode is less about Bigfoot and more about the idea of the monstrous, and how it has been used as a tool to demonize black folks since the first slave ships landed in America, both through folktales and famous works of fiction. We also explore how Darwin's theory of evolution affected white Americans and led to the actual creation of human zoos that displayed African people as both the missing link and blood-thirsty monsters.  American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithShow art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Monsters

The purse-carrying, tutu-wearing purple Teletubby Tinky Winky was outed as a homosexual in 1999, capping off a decade of conspiratorial anti-gay writings and videos that influenced politics straight up to supreme court. Accused of using kids shows and public schools to influence impressionable minds and recruit new young homosexuals, the gay militants were secretly powerful agents of a massive conspiracy to bring down traditional American values and take over the country. The creation of the Gay Agenda theory borrowed from a long history of devastating misinformation and a concerted effort to rid America of this apparent moral disease without mercy, a process that began as the first puritans encountered tribal communities with ways shockingly different than their own, and began their own anti-gay crusade that has lasted centuries.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The purse-carrying, tutu-wearing purple Teletubby Tinky Winky was outed as a homosexual in 1999, capping off a decade of conspiratorial anti-gay writings and videos that influenced politics straight up to supreme court. Accused of using kids shows and public schools to influence impressionable minds and recruit new young homosexuals, the gay militants were secretly powerful agents of a massive conspiracy to bring down traditional American values and take over the country. The creation of the Gay Agenda theory borrowed from a long history of devastating misinformation and a concerted effort to rid America of this apparent moral disease without mercy, a process that began as the first puritans encountered tribal communities with ways shockingly different than their own, and began their own anti-gay crusade that has lasted centuries. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will Rogers <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

The Gay Agenda

In 1996, Scream taught American teenagers the first rule to surviving a horror movie. Never, ever have sex. Classic slasher movies have their roots in an urban legend we all heard growing up: a guy and a girl are parked on a deserted lover’s lane making out while a hook-handed killer is on the loose. The 2000s gave us urban legends about dangerous teen sex games, Rainbow parties and sex bracelets, as well as bans on high school dances over grinding and twerking, and with the recent outrage over teen sexting, it seems that kids these days are out of control. But since the invention of the American teenager, rumor and outrage has swirled around this reckless developmental stage. Through looking at the start of teenage culture in the 1920s, when risqué dance trends and controversial make-out parties scandalized the nation, we’ll find the roots of these modern moral panics, and see how our battles around sex education have left them in an uneducated limbo, creating suburban legends to make sense of their parents’ utter horror at their private lives.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1996, Scream taught American teenagers the first rule to surviving a horror movie. Never, ever have sex. Classic slasher movies have their roots in an urban legend we all heard growing up: a guy and a girl are parked on a deserted lover’s lane making out while a hook-handed killer is on the loose. The 2000s gave us urban legends about dangerous teen sex games, Rainbow parties and sex bracelets, as well as bans on high school dances over grinding and twerking, and with the recent outrage over teen sexting, it seems that kids these days are out of control. But since the invention of the American teenager, rumor and outrage has swirled around this reckless developmental stage. Through looking at the start of teenage culture in the 1920s, when risqué dance trends and controversial make-out parties scandalized the nation, we’ll find the roots of these modern moral panics, and see how our battles around sex education have left them in an uneducated limbo, creating suburban legends to make sense of their parents’ utter horror at their private lives. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will Rogers <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Teenage Sex

*Please be aware that this episode talks about child sexual abuse* We recommend listening to part one of Satanic Panic first. In 1980s America, when 60% of people believed that devil worship was a serious problem, two new characters, Stranger Danger’s murderous pedophile and the Satanist, blurred into a new villain and psychological archetype: The Satanic pedophile. In part one, we saw how Satanic hysteria was sown through pop culture, sensational media, and religious hucksters, causing the widespread fear of Satan’s influence over children and their behavior. We touched on the cultural anxieties that were raging during this time, with women beginning careers and leaving kids in daycare for the first time in history, and the Moral Majority pushing fundamentalism into the political sphere. For part two, Chelsey covers ‘satanic ritual abuse’, the belief that Satanic cults were using daycare centers as fronts to physically, sexually, and emotionally abuse children in horrifying religious rituals allegedly described by the children themselves. This moral panic has been called the Salem Witch Hunt of our modern era, including the longest and most expensive trial in US history, with some of the accused wrongly imprisoned for twenty years. Chelsey will try to understand this shocking moment in our recent history, how something like this could have happened, and the cultural issues it was really about.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

*Please be aware that this episode talks about child sexual abuse* We recommend listening to part one of Satanic Panic first. In 1980s America, when 60% of people believed that devil worship was a serious problem, two new characters, Stranger Danger’s murderous pedophile and the Satanist, blurred into a new villain and psychological archetype: The Satanic pedophile. In part one, we saw how Satanic hysteria was sown through pop culture, sensational media, and religious hucksters, causing the widespread fear of Satan’s influence over children and their behavior. We touched on the cultural anxieties that were raging during this time, with women beginning careers and leaving kids in daycare for the first time in history, and the Moral Majority pushing fundamentalism into the political sphere. For part two, Chelsey covers ‘satanic ritual abuse’, the belief that Satanic cults were using daycare centers as fronts to physically, sexually, and emotionally abuse children in horrifying religious rituals allegedly described by the children themselves. This moral panic has been called the Salem Witch Hunt of our modern era, including the longest and most expensive trial in US history, with some of the accused wrongly imprisoned for twenty years. Chelsey will try to understand this shocking moment in our recent history, how something like this could have happened, and the cultural issues it was really about. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will Rogers <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Satanic Panic: Part Two

When a security camera caught footage of a 31-year-old Florida resident eating the face of a homeless man, the news and social media dubbed him the Miami Zombie, and it was widely speculated that he was under the influence of a new synthetic drug called Bath Salts, a claim that was later found to be false. Hysterical drug rhetoric has long talked of zombies and monsters and aggressors with superhuman strength and an imperviousness to police bullets, and panic around drug use has long been manufactured by politicians with specific groups in mind, to dehumanize those who appear to cause a threat to the established social order, marking them inhuman groups in need of social control and even long-term imprisonment. Many of us were drafted into the War on Drugs as kids and teens through faulty programs implemented by D.A.R.E. police officers, and taught to mimic this unreasonable rhetoric that has caused irreparable harm to many American communities and continues to do so to this day.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersThanks to Sarah Deutsch for advisingBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a security camera caught footage of a 31-year-old Florida resident eating the face of a homeless man, the news and social media dubbed him the Miami Zombie, and it was widely speculated that he was under the influence of a new synthetic drug called Bath Salts, a claim that was later found to be false. Hysterical drug rhetoric has long talked of zombies and monsters and aggressors with superhuman strength and an imperviousness to police bullets, and panic around drug use has long been manufactured by politicians with specific groups in mind, to dehumanize those who appear to cause a threat to the established social order, marking them inhuman groups in need of social control and even long-term imprisonment. Many of us were drafted into the War on Drugs as kids and teens through faulty programs implemented by D.A.R.E. police officers, and taught to mimic this unreasonable rhetoric that has caused irreparable harm to many American communities and continues to do so to this day. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersThanks to Sarah Deutsch for advising <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Drugs

Despite how these last few years have felt, schools are still statistically the safest place our kids and teenagers can be. Our evolving archetype of the goth mass shooter that was born out of the Columbine massacre isn’t accurate to who those young men really were, nor what they hoped to to achieve. From the Reagan and Bush era wars on crime and drugs came another kind of juvenile threat known as Superpredators, as The Central Park Five case demonized black kids as a violent mob wrecking havoc all over the nation, eventually leading social scientists and politicians to predict that their numbers would explode into the hundreds of thousands. With this in mind, when we demand political actions again extremely rare, though devastating, event of the school mass shooting, the angry young white men we have come to view as the most common perpetrators are not the ones stopped by the rising presence of school police. Today I ask the question: When we panic about school shootings on both the left and the right, who are the invisible victims of our collective outrage? *Note: This episode states the chance of a K-12 student being killed by a school shooter as 1 in 614 million. This is the risk faced each day, not for an entire lifetime. My apologies for not making this clear. Thanks to statistician Chandler Piché for reaching out.*American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda ZicklerShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite how these last few years have felt, schools are still statistically the safest place our kids and teenagers can be. Our evolving archetype of the goth mass shooter that was born out of the Columbine massacre isn’t accurate to who those young men really were, nor what they hoped to to achieve. From the Reagan and Bush era wars on crime and drugs came another kind of juvenile threat known as Superpredators, as The Central Park Five case demonized black kids as a violent mob wrecking havoc all over the nation, eventually leading social scientists and politicians to predict that their numbers would explode into the hundreds of thousands. With this in mind, when we demand political actions again extremely rare, though devastating, event of the school mass shooting, the angry young white men we have come to view as the most common perpetrators are not the ones stopped by the rising presence of school police. Today I ask the question: When we panic about school shootings on both the left and the right, who are the invisible victims of our collective outrage?  *Note: This episode states the chance of a K-12 student being killed by a school shooter as 1 in 614 million. This is the risk faced each day, not for an entire lifetime. My apologies for not making this clear. Thanks to statistician Chandler Piché for reaching out.* American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by <a href="https://www.kuinkatheband.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Show art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Dangerous Teens

In a real sense, germs are our only modern predator and they are invisible and impossible to detect; what could be scarier? America has adjusted to the threat of germs by not only working toward cures and vaccinations, but by making uncleanliness in general a cultural symbol meant to separate social others from the affluent. Anxieties about race and immigration, about gender and sexuality and class, played out in the way products were marketed, as well as in how public policy and public opinion were formed, leading to several needless quarantines and travel bans throughout history. American’s obsession with cleanliness has become a kind of religious ritual, and scientists and psychologists now believe that the fear of germs may influence all our political and moral opinions without us evening knowing it. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch assisted by Riley SmithShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a real sense, germs are our only modern predator and they are invisible and impossible to detect; what could be scarier? America has adjusted to the threat of germs by not only working toward cures and vaccinations, but by making uncleanliness in general a cultural symbol meant to separate social others from the affluent. Anxieties about race and immigration, about gender and sexuality and class, played out in the way products were marketed, as well as in how public policy and public opinion were formed, leading to several needless quarantines and travel bans throughout history. American’s obsession with cleanliness has become a kind of religious ritual, and scientists and psychologists now believe that the fear of germs may influence all our political and moral opinions without us evening knowing it.  American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research assisted by Riley SmithShow art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Germs

Welcome to our season three premiere! Whether we’re conscious of it or not, hamburgers have always been an American symbol, a metaphor for our special brand of cognitive dissonance as well as our obsession with masculinity, dominance, and conquering. We have heard a lot about the horrors of factory farming, but this episode hopes to look at our relationship to meat and animals in a different way. We’ll look at the plains of the west where colonizers killed millions buffalo to make way for the cows we know today, the cowboy fantasies enshrined by Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows, the beef scandals that have rocked our nation since the 1800s, the fast food chains that put a smiling face back on meat, and the War on Burgers that conservative forces are invoking today. we’ll see how our long term attachment to our culinary contribution to the world is really a kind of long term hysteria, an attachment to an original manifest destiny, a story that has long disguised hard truths with happy meals.Please consider donating to the One Spirit Lokota nonprofitAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda ZicklerShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our season three premiere! Whether we’re conscious of it or not, hamburgers have always been an American symbol, a metaphor for our special brand of cognitive dissonance as well as our obsession with masculinity, dominance, and conquering. We have heard a lot about the horrors of factory farming, but this episode hopes to look at our relationship to meat and animals in a different way. We’ll look at the plains of the west where colonizers killed millions buffalo to make way for the cows we know today, the cowboy fantasies enshrined by Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows, the beef scandals that have rocked our nation since the 1800s, the fast food chains that put a smiling face back on meat, and the War on Burgers that conservative forces are invoking today. we’ll see how our long term attachment to our culinary contribution to the world is really a kind of long term hysteria, an attachment to an original manifest destiny, a story that has long disguised hard truths with happy meals. Please consider donating to the <a href="https://www.onespiritlakota.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">One Spirit Lokota</a> nonprofit American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by <a href="https://www.kuinkatheband.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miranda Zickler</a>Show art by <a href="https://roache.bigcartel.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roache</a>Voice Acting by <a href="http://www.talkbomb.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Will Rogers</a> <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Burgers

AFTER SHOCK: This 1970s rockstar biopic of a man whom we can all agree should be deeply reviled isn’t a new or shocking concept in America, the country with the world record for serial killers in the last 100 years. Zac Efron's sculpted and lovable Ted Bundy personifies an ongoing American obsession with this allegedly handsome killer turned celebrity, a man who confessed to 30 murders and brutal sexual assaults. What does it mean that these boogeymen for which we carry pepper spray, check our backseats, and deadbolt our doors have also become our sex symbols and household names? And what of women who love serial killers? How different are we from them when we cannot seem to look away?American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and co-writing assisted by Riley SmithBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AFTER SHOCK: This 1970s rockstar biopic of a man whom we can all agree should be deeply reviled isn’t a new or shocking concept in America, the country with the world record for serial killers in the last 100 years. Zac Efron's sculpted and lovable Ted Bundy personifies an ongoing American obsession with this allegedly handsome killer turned celebrity, a man who confessed to 30 murders and brutal sexual assaults. What does it mean that these boogeymen for which we carry pepper spray, check our backseats, and deadbolt our doors have also become our sex symbols and household names? And what of women who love serial killers? How different are we from them when we cannot seem to look away? American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by <a href="https://clearcommo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Clear Commo Studios</a>Research and co-writing assisted by Riley Smith <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Ted Bundy

For most of us living in the US, clowns have become much more associated with horror than the laughter of kids. The “killer clown” epidemic went viral in 2016, with reports across the nation of evil clowns trying to lure children into the woods, attacking adults, and threating harm to local schools, but as you might guess, they were all hoaxes or hysteria. However, it wasn’t the first time that America was invaded by Phantom Clowns. For this episode, I will trace the history of our relationship to the clown as a cultural archetype, explore a strange theory of creepiness known as the uncanny valley, and try to understand why these particular creatures emerge from the woods when they do.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most of us living in the US, clowns have become much more associated with horror than the laughter of kids. The “killer clown” epidemic went viral in 2016, with reports across the nation of evil clowns trying to lure children into the woods, attacking adults, and threating harm to local schools, but as you might guess, they were all hoaxes or hysteria. However, it wasn’t the first time that America was invaded by Phantom Clowns. For this episode, I will trace the history of our relationship to the clown as a cultural archetype, explore a strange theory of creepiness known as the uncanny valley, and try to understand why these particular creatures emerge from the woods when they do. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosShow art by RoacheVoice Acting by Will Rogers <a href="https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Become a Patron</a> for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/amerhysteria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmerHysteria</a>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americanhysteriapodcast/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@AmericanHysteriaPodcast</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Phantom Clowns

The best podcast episodes of the most interesting stories and things. From skyping someone while they're in space, to tracking down and meeting a telephone scammer in person, to the story of a Galapagos. These episodes will keep you and all your friends entertained and captivated for hours. Learn something new in every episode! Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Episodes: Interesting Stories & Things

The best philosophy podcast episodes. Asking questions about how to live a better life, what it means to be and do good, to the idea of God. This topic includes episodes that bring about important questions that everyone should be asking themselves. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!