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American Hysteria
Author: chelsey weber-smith
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© 2024 chelsey weber-smith
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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.
199 Episodes
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Sarah Marshall joins me to chat about how, in 1968, one unsuspecting young woman’s bustline almost caused a stock market bust when thousands of Wall Street employees became obsessed with watching her walk to work. I also tell Sarah about an absurd 20-year-long craze called Girl-Watching that taught "genteel" men the "refined art" of covertly checking out women, as well as the avant-garde artist and feminist responses to the treatment of Francine Gottfried who would come to be known as the Wall Street Sweater Girl.
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Head to americanhysteria.com to get merch and leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In the late 1950s, an organization known as SINA started a campaign with the mission of clothing naked animals for the sake of decency. Today we will look at this bizarre moral crusade and its leader, whose life you'll have to hear about to believe.
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Find us on Instagram @americanhysteriapodcast
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline or get your mitts on some merch at americanhysteria.com
Sound Designer and Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Voice Actor: Will Rogers
Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
John O'Connor is the author of The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster, a cross-country adventure and investigation into the lore around Bigfoot as well as the personalities of those who spend their lives chasing this elusive creature.
Get John's book here
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Go to factormeals.com/americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 to get 50% off your order
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For the second part of this Urban Legends Hotline episode, we are continuing to explore various tall tales of ruthless gang initiations from the 1990s onward, as well as looking at the sweeping anti-gang laws of the 80s and 90s that had devastating effects on communities and categorized entire neighborhoods as gang associates, enacting severe punishments based on erroneous assumptions and outright lies.
Call for a Ceasefire and Help End Civilian Suffering
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Sound designer and associate producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Producer: Miranda Zickler
Voice Actor: Will Rogers
Written, produced and hosted by by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For this Urban Legends Hotline episode, we are answering a listener message about a story of street gangs initiating wannabes with frightening rituals including driving around with their headlights off and murdering the first good samaritan who gives them a courtesy flash. We'll explore several scares that have flared up due to different versions of this urban legend, as well as real crimes wrongfully blamed on these initiations, all leading to the feeling that street gangs were creeping into the suburbs, looking for human sacrifices.
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Sound designer and associate producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Producer: Miranda Zickler
Voice Actor: Will Rogers
Written, produced and hosted by by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Thank you to our sponsors:
Factor’s delicious, ready-to-eat meals make eating better every day easy. Head to factormeals.com/americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 to get 50% off.
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'Gang Initiations' is the topic of our upcoming series, and this episode will provide extra context using excerpts from three previous episodes—Urban Legends, Drugs, and Dangerous Teens.
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Thank you to our sponsors:
Factor’s delicious, ready-to-eat meals make eating better every day easy. Head to factormeals.com/americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 to get 50% off.
Sound design and co-production by Riley Swedelius-Smith
Produced and edited by Miranda Zickler
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Check out our new merch line Folk Devils United
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Live at SF Sketchfest, Sarah Marshall tells me about the urban-legendary alligators in the sewers of New York City. But of course, that's only one of the many manholes we open.
Make sure you listen to You're Wrong About!
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Check out our new merch line Folk Devils United
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today I'm joined by paranormal corespondent Jim Perry of the podcast Euphomet and Sapphire Sandalo of the podcast Stories With Sapphire as well as the TV shows Ghost Town Terror, Paranormal Caught On Camera, and Paranormal Nightshift. We'll discuss what it’s like to work on very different kinds of projects in the supernatural sphere and get a little behind the scenes look at classic reality ghost shows. We’ll talk about the dream of diversifying away from the formulaic industry of ghost bros and Christian-influenced endings to allow the paranormal to take different forms, understood in different ways by very different kinds of people.
Donate to PCRF
Learn more about Sapphire's work
Learn more about Jim's work
Go to Quice.com/hysteria to get free shipping and 365 day returns
Hosted Chelsey Weber-Smith
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associated Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode I tell podcaster Sarah Marshall a truly wild story I uncovered about the first recognized case of Munchausen Syndrome (Factitious Disorder) in the United States. An alleged professional wrestler and American folk anti-hero called the Indiana Cyclone faked symptoms of injury and illness while blowing through hospitals across the country from the 1950s to the 1970s, leaving a bizarre kind of terror in his wake.
Catch Sarah and I at SF SketchFest on Feb 2nd and Feb 3rd!
Make sure you listen to You're Wrong About and You Are Good (duh duh duh!)
Check out our new merch line Folk Devils United
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Hosted Chelsey Weber-Smith
Produced and Edited by Miranda Zickler
Music direction by Riley Swedelius-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pop culture correspondent and major Pro Wrestling fan BJ Colangelo and I discuss the quirky history of this manly soap opera, its changing landscape in terms of gender and sexuality, as well as the complicated psychology of kayfabe, in which staged performances are presented as genuine.
Read BJ's Review of The Iron Claw
Check out her podcast This Ends at Prom
Check out our new merch line Folk Devils United
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Hosted Chelsey Weber-Smith
Produced and Edited by Miranda Zickler
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The novelty pets known as Sea Monkeys have delighted and disappointed millions of American children since they were first marketed in the early 1960s, with the nostalgia-fueled craze returning decade after decade, even after the creator was linked to Neo-Nazi activities. Described in the highly exaggerated ad copy as the most lovable pets in America, these tiny, allegedly monkey-like aquatic creatures are actually nothing more than microscopic brine shrimp, usually used as fish food in pet stores. In this episode, we will look closely at the history of Sea Monkeys and their ingenious but controversial creator, and take you through the comic book ad copy that marketed junky novelty items directly to children using language both deeply misleading and hilariously hyperbolic.
Get our Folk Devils United merch here
Become a Patron or subscribe on Apple Podcasts to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Call our Urban Legends Hotline and share a teenage tale you heard growing up
This episode was written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Voice Acting by Will Rogers
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is a rerelease of last year's holiday special! Find our new merch at americanhysteria.com/merch
They usually go something like this: A cranky career woman from the big city who has lost the true meaning of Christmas arrives in a small town where she falls in love with a handsome handyman or baker or Christmas tree farmer and together they vanquish whatever big business force threatens the idyllic community. The Christmas spirit leads her to let go of her own ambitions and embrace a more traditional lifestyle and of course, someone's dad is always Santa. Sound familiar? We will explore the history of Hallmark, the formula that makes these cheesy productions so successful, the Christmas Movie Wars of the last few years, as well as the controversies over diversity and "family-friendly" entertainment.
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Co-produced and co-edited by Miranda Zickler
Co-researched and co-edited by Riley Smith
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Voice acting by Will Rogers
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is a story from a recent episode of our exclusive Patreon/Apple + talk show Hysteria Home Companion, where producer Miranda and I take turns sharing stories related to the topics we are covering. For this one that we felt was too good not to share far and wide, Miranda tells me the story of a mysterious hanging cadaver that once decorated a California dark ride and unravels the decades-long, Forrest Gumpian journey of one long dead man.
Become a Patron by heading to patreon.com/americanhysteria
Or subscribe on your Apple Podcast App
Producer/Edited by Miranda Zickler
Music by Emily Westman
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
(explicit content warning) This *Urban Legends Hotline* episode dives deep into the viral myth that 90s shock rocker Marilyn Manson had ribs surgically removed so that he could perform autofellatio. We'll look at two other famous and controversial artists who also had this rumor attached to them, learn about another related tale that went around during Victorian times, and see how the rib removal story became perhaps the most widely told pop culture urban legend of the Millennial generation.
Call our Urban Legends Hotline and share a teenage tale you heard growing up
Become a Patron or subscribe on Apple Podcasts to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
This episode was written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
To celebrate five long years of American Hysteria, our producer Miranda Zickler interviews Chelsey about the origins of the podcast and how their own life has impacted the content. Chelsey also answers questions that listeners have sent in over the years and gets into feelings around queerness, solidarity, faith, and death. And we celebrate you, our dear listeners, who have made all of this possible. Thank you <3
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
Produced, edited, and hosted by Miranda Zickler
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For our very special two-part Halloween conversation, Sarah Marshall and I are going to be sharing the less serious things that scare us: our favorite phobias, eerie feelings, and uncanny upsets. In this episode, I share the things that freak me out, from stilts and spiders to giraffes and medieval art. in order to hear all about what freaks Sarah out, head to the You're Wrong About feed, do not miss it my ghouls!
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline
American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Edited by Miranda Zickler
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Home Depot's 12 ft. Skeleton decoration first premiered in the fall of 2020 and sold out immediately, the nationwide obsession fueling an underground black market. Memes and tweets made 'Skelly' the hottest Halloween fad of the last three years, and for some reason, the internet's biggest crush. For this episode, we will not only explore how the craze around this big old bone daddy unfolded, but we will also take you through our centuries-long bizarro relationship with human skeletons, both the fake and the very real, and we will consider the role they have played in the development of dark humor, the kind that made Skelly a massive star.
Become a Patron or subscribe on Apple Podcasts to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Tell us your teenage tale on our Urban Legends Hotline!
Get your tickets for our live show with You're Wrong About
American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Voice Acting by Will Rogers
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our Halloween special will cover the 12 ft. Skeleton craze and the history of skeleton decorations in America. This episode will give some extra context using segments from:
Haunted Attractions
Death
Horror Movies pt. 1
Join our Patreon or subscribe on Apple+ for ad-free early episodes and bonus content!
Call into our Urban Legends Hotline and share your teenage tale!
This episode was produced by Riley Swedelius-Smith
Produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Please enjoy this rewind of last year's Halloween special called Haunted Dolls. Coming up next week we'll start our Halloween series called 'The 12 ft. Skeleton.' Then we'll be teaming up with our sibling podcast You're Wrong About for another Halloween special!
For this rewind, we'll see how possessed playthings have crept their way into the dark attic of America: Thomas Edison's little monsters, a demonic Raggedy Ann, a living ventriloquist dummy, a deadly voodoo curse, and an online market where you can buy yourself a soul trapped in the body of a doll.
Become a Patron and support our show! Or subscribe on Apple Podcasts!
American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Co-produced and co-edited by Miranda Zickler
Co-researched and co-editing by Riley Smith
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Voice Acting by Will Rogers
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Justin McHenry, author of the forthcoming book Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place, tells me an expansive tale of an alleged long lost continent first written about in early scientific works, then harnessed by esoteric eccentrics and new age mystics, mutating over the decades into fantastical fuel that is embedded in the strangest of conspiracy theories and cults to this very day.
Preorder Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Edited by Miranda Zickler
Sound design by Clear Commo Studios
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is a great episode
Behind the Bastards did a deep dive into Kellogg, as did Sawbones. It's even worse
Come on! please announce spoilers before they occur. I haven't seen the Blair witch project, now the twist is ruined. come on Chelsey, you are better than this. 😇
beautiful episode
The last 10 or so minutes of the episode are so very important
Why. Why with the voice. This show has topics that I’m so interested in but the choice to use the stilted, unnatural delivery is off-putting, annoying and purposeless. The unnatural pauses do not connect with natural written or spoken language flow and are so distracting. Every few months I come back and hope it’s changed and it never has and so I do not subscribe. Please stop it. The episodes with Sarah show that you can use a human, interesting vocal tone. The decision not to is baffling.
In the 1970s, the TV show Fantasy Island had an episode with a sinister dummy that comes to life. It's not quality tv.
ooph.
This was an excellent episode.
I loved my furby - I saved up my allowance for months to get it. I still have it, though it doesn’t work.
I found my first chick tract this weekend. I love this series
you are not crazy! we had the jingle for tiny Beany babies in Australia and it drove us nuts. haha
Omg the host does this slow voice acting that's so difficult to listen to.
kept waiting for the seance. Your shows are usually so good. This was just like listening in to a slumber party that I had no interest in
Thanks for Red River Valley. My roots are there. It made me cry to hear it.
anyone looking for "why are dads" it's now called "you are good"
listen to Qanon anonymous if you're interested in learning more about Qanon while also being wildly entertained! (it's not pro Q, no worries)
"let's make 2020 better than 2019" you have no idea what's in store.. don't know if that's funny or sad, so let's go with both 😂😭
AIDS Mary is probably more like typhoid Mary than bloody Mary.......
Best episode ever. I was raised IFB and was taught mostly the same extreme beliefs as WBC. I'm an atheist now and also a flaming part of the gay community. 🌈