Listen Now: Hysterical
Digest
The podcast delves into a real-life medical mystery that began in 2011 at LeRoy High School, where a group of cheerleaders started exhibiting strange neurological symptoms. The episode explores the initial confusion and the search for answers as the symptoms spread and the community grappled with the unknown. The episode focuses on the community's efforts to understand the cause of the outbreak. Parents and school officials investigated potential environmental factors, while the girls and their families sought medical help. The episode highlights the frustration and fear that gripped the community as they struggled to find a diagnosis.
Outlines
The LeRoy High School Outbreak and the Search for Answers
This episode investigates a mysterious neurological outbreak at LeRoy High School in 2011, exploring the initial symptoms, the community's search for answers, and the impact on the affected students and their families.
Keywords
LeRoy High School
A high school in LeRoy, New York, where a mysterious outbreak of neurological symptoms occurred in 2011, affecting primarily female students. The incident gained national attention and became a subject of intense medical and social scrutiny.
Mass Hysteria
A psychological phenomenon characterized by the rapid spread of irrational fears, anxieties, and behaviors within a group or community. It often involves the belief in a shared threat or danger, even when there is no objective evidence to support it.
Neurological Symptoms
The physical manifestations of a disorder affecting the nervous system, including twitches, ticks, strange outbursts, and involuntary movements.
Environmental Factors
External elements, such as toxins, pollutants, or other environmental conditions, that may contribute to the development of health problems.
Medical Mystery
A perplexing medical case that defies easy diagnosis and explanation, often involving unusual symptoms or a lack of clear understanding of the underlying cause.
Q&A
What were the initial symptoms experienced by the LeRoy High School cheerleaders?
The cheerleaders exhibited a range of neurological symptoms, including twitches, ticks, strange outbursts, and involuntary movements. These symptoms were initially perplexing and difficult to diagnose.
How did the community react to the outbreak?
The community was initially confused and concerned. Parents and school officials investigated potential environmental causes, while the girls and their families sought medical help. The outbreak generated a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty within the community.
Show Notes
Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.
From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.
Follow Hysterical on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ at wondery.fm/Hysterical_FD.
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Table of contents
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