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PODCAST

American Hysteria

chelsey weber-smith

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.

society & culture

All Episodes

37:05

Haunting From the Heart with Renowned Scare Actor...

American Hysteria ·

2021/10/25

Today we talk to the wonderful Shar Mayer, a 45-year veteran of Scare Acting known in the haunt community as "The Mother of Monsters". Become a Patron, 'Hysteria Home Companion' starts Monday Learn more about Shar Mayer Watch Haunters: The Art of the Scare Check out Web Crawlers here American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Sound design by Clear Commo Studios Produced by Miranda Zickler Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram:

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48:45

Haunted Attractions

American Hysteria ·

2021/10/18

Today we'll be talking about the fake-blood-covered history of Haunted Attractions, their raucous origins wrangling violent pranksters, the gory charity haunts that once ruled the scene, and the extreme iterations that still scandalize and fascinate the nation. We ask the burning question: Why do some of us love to be scared? Become a Patron! 'Hysteria Home Companion' talk show coming this month! American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Sound design by Clear Commo

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36:05

Context Clues: Talking to the Dead

American Hysteria ·

2021/10/11

This ghostly re-release (with a new introduction) is here to help us fit next week's brand-new episode 'Haunted House Attractions' into a larger American haunted history. Re-listen or listen for the first time, you might be surprised by what the "other side" has to say. Become a Patron and support our show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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2:34

We're Baaaaack: 'Haunted House Attractions' Coming...

American Hysteria ·

2021/10/04

Join us October 18th for our spooky season premiere on Haunted House Attractions and learn a little more our show's new structure. Click here to become a Patron! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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47:18

#Elsagate

American Hysteria ·

2021/08/16

In 2017, YouTube Kids was embroiled in a major scandal when it was discovered that a dark underbelly of inappropriate cartoons, computer animations, and live action videos were lurking just under the surface of the supposedly safeguarded app. With themes of injections, sexuality, violence, scatology, and much more, we will explore these bizarre, uncanny valley videos made by mysterious content creators using low-budget methods and popular characters like Elsa, Spiderman, Peppa Pig, and Shrek in

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14:36

Rewind: The Mandela Effect

American Hysteria ·

2021/08/09

In preparation for our upcoming *Weirdest Episode of All Time*, we are rereleasing this minisode on a mysterious phenomenon where large numbers of people remember an event or cultural detail differently than it really was. From the spelling of 'Berenstain Bears' to the funeral procession of Nelson Mandela, people have explored these cognitive discrepancies through the lens of both mass psychology and of course, the multiverse theory. We'll see how the internet expanded these odd mis-memories into an

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29:03

Talking to Strangers with Comedian Chris Gethard...

American Hysteria ·

2021/07/19

(Make sure you listen to part one first!) Today, Chris shares his experience becoming a sudden villain in the fringe conspiratorial zeitgeist, and then we move gracefully on to sharing the value we have found in talking to strangers, him as a podcaster who has conversations on an anonymous hotline, and myself as a former hitchhiker. Chris hosts the podcast Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People, stars in a new stand-up special Half My Life, and is the author of Weird New York. Watch Chris Gethard:

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57:05

Dangerous Attractions with Comedian Chris Gethard...

American Hysteria ·

2021/07/12

Chris Gethard is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, actor, filmmaker and author of Weird New York as well as an editor at Weird New Jersey and Weird US, all of which cover local ghost stories, urban legends, and roadside attractions. Over the next two episodes we will be discussing the most dangerous waterpark in history, the last vestiges of American tourist traps, the outrageous 1980s and 90s childhood experience, what urban legends can tell us about cultural clashes, and much more of all that we

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48:09

Gender Lies and Liberation with Trans Historian Susan...

American Hysteria ·

2021/06/28

Susan Styker is the author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution as well as a filmmaker, distinguished professor, and longtime activist for the LGBTQ community. She began transitioning in the late 1980s, a very different era for gender nonconformity than the one we find ourselves in today. In this episode we discuss fragmentation within the wide rainbow umbrella, issues between feminists and transgender women, and how to deal with the generational and ideological gaps that have

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42:51

Gender Reveal Parties

American Hysteria ·

2021/06/14

Over the last ten years, Gender Reveal Parties have exploded, figuratively and literally. Parents, communities, and social media followers alike can witness the moment that parents and families find out the sex of their future baby, but lately, these parties have gotten so out of hand as to cause massive wildfires, explosions, damage to homes, injuries, and death. For this episode, we will try to figure out what in the world is going on here by exploring the history of gendered baby items, of the

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27:30

Rewind: Talking to My Christian Friends About Gay Stuff

American Hysteria ·

2021/06/07

Pride Rerelease! This is a listener favorite. Back in 2018, I had my two Christian friends on the show, who wished to remain anonymous, as they shared some pretty anti-establishment opinions. Brianna is a poet who got her masters with me at the University of Virginia, and her husband Patrick has a master’s degree in biblical and theological studies and teaches the bible at a private high school. Brianna and Patrick are dedicated to questioning and exploring their faith in big ways, and today we’ll

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36:41

THE GAY AGENDA (Pride Re-release)

American Hysteria ·

2021/06/01

Listen or re-listen to learn all about our panics surrounding what amounts to the queer illuminati and their evil plans to recruit children and overthrow the government, plus some queer history of the US dating back to precolonial indigenous tribes. We are leading up to our pride special coming later in the month on our new and dangerous American obsession, Gender Reveal Parties. Look for more Pride content all through June! Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with

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49:24

The Skeleton of Chelsey Weber-Smith

American Hysteria ·

2021/05/10

Finally, it is ME CHELSEY WEBER-SMITH as our interview guest, questioned lovingly by our producer Miranda Zickler. We will discuss season four, what I learned, what we didn’t cover and why, the power of the Rainbow Coalition solidarity, couples we would make out with in a haunted house, a dream dinner party with Mary-Kate and Ashley, the importance of Teen Dramas, and yes that’s right, I talk for too long about my spiritual journey and current relationship to the Great Unknown. Thank you for a great

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60:32

Urban Legends

American Hysteria ·

2021/05/03

The kids' book series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was based largely on urban legends, and when I read them for the first time I realized that I had heard them before, but as something true that happened to a friend of a friend. For our season four finale, I will be sharing my own journey with contemporary myths, from that first book series through the 1998 teen slasher Urban Legend, the landmark work of Mr. Urban Legend, and the man who finally got to the bottom of the most memorable story

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14:31

Rewind: The Momo Suicide Challenge

American Hysteria ·

2021/04/26

In preparation for our season finale next week on Urban Legends, we wanted to replay our deep dive into the 2018 viral internet urban legend about "Momo", a creepy humanoid figure with giant eyes, an uncanny too-wide smile, and grotesque chicken legs. Momo was somehow believed to be involved in mysterious texts that teens and kids were receiving on messaging apps, giving them escalating dangerous challenges sometimes ending in self-harm and suicide. Obviously, these kind of stories abound in the

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57:20

Horror Movies, pt. 2

American Hysteria ·

2021/04/19

The genres of modern scary movies known as slashers, meta-horror, torture porn, and social thrillers, each tell us about the anxieties of the generation in which they came to exist. Like part one, this episode explores the themes present in some of the most important films in the horror canon; themes of feminism and satanic ritual abuse, of Reagan-era morality and greed, of moral ambiguity in times of war, and those that are coming to define the smoldering culture wars we find ourselves in today

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36:52

Rewind: Monsters

American Hysteria ·

2021/04/12

We need a little extra time for Horror Movies II, so here is a re-release of a very related and very important episode. 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

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55:21

On Haunted Houses with Carmen Maria Machado

American Hysteria ·

2021/04/05

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of three books, the award-winning Her Body and Other Parties, a collection of vibrantly haunting short stories, In the Dream House, a bestselling memoir and examination of queer relationship abuse, and most recently, a graphic novel horror story called The Low Low Woods. She has also taught several courses at the University of Pennsylvania, most relevant today, a fiction course called The Art of Haunting. Today we are over the harvest moon to talk to Carmen about

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69:14

SATANIC PANIC EMERGENCY RE-RELEASE

American Hysteria ·

2021/03/30

Lil Nas X and the sexy-ass Satanic imagery featured in Call Me By Your Name has sparked a mini Satanic panic, especially after his Satan Shoes went viral, the ones that contain a drop of human blood. This two-part re-release of our Satanic Panic episodes dives deep into evil cartoons, toys, and games, heavy metal's backward messages, the suspicion of hypnotized teenaged devil worshippers, fake memoirs by alleged members of Satanic cults, and the unfortunate union between feminist and fundamentalist

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52:48

Horror Movies, pt. 1

American Hysteria ·

2021/03/29

Horror movies, consistently written-off by critics, exist unbound from mainstream respectability and because of this, they can often tell us the brutal truth. For this two-part series, we will be investigating what horror movies, their plots, their victims, and their villains reflect back to us about the dominant repressed fears of each generation. From the Big Bug movies of the atomic era, the earliest monster movies of post-WWI eugenics, the psychotherapy gender-panic of Psycho inspiration Ed

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