American Hysteria

Mar 03 2025 240 ep. 46 mins 18.5k
American Hysteria Podcast artwork

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
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Erasing History with Philosopher Jason Stanley

Mar 03 2025 61 mins  
American philosopher Jason Stanley is the author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. For this episode, Jason helps us understand some of the attacks on educational institutes at home and abroad and how authoritarian movements purposefully repress and reject historical truths in favor of a different narrative that benefits their attempts at grabb

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive with 'You Are Good' Podcast

Feb 24 2025 91 mins  
RIP David Lynch, beloved director and otherworldly weirdo. The You Are Good feelings podcast about movies graciously invited me to talk about one of the most influential films and artists of my lifetime. Talking all things Lynchian with Sarah Marshall and Alex Steed, I tried to summarize this famously baffling plot of this film, mused about the concept of Duende, and cried on mic a

Invasion of the Drones with Podcaster Gabe Lenners

Feb 17 2025 60 mins  
Gabe Lenners is the host of the new podcast Obscurum: Invasion of the Drones, which explores a mysterious wave of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena that happened in Nebraska and Colorado back in 2019, an event that has a lot in common with the recent wave of supposed drones seen in New Jersey and surrounding states. For this episode, I don my flexible skeptic hat while Gabe tells me

The Jersey Devil

Feb 10 2025 55 mins  
This Urban Legends Hotline episode features listener Brandon's inquiry about the legend of the Jersey Devil, a cryptid that has haunted the Pine Barrens of New Jersey for three hundred years. We will explore the various historical events that produced this creature's folklore: a dime museum's elaborate hoax, a radical Puritan woman said to have birthed a monster, a bitchy Quaker fe

Context Clues: The Devil Went Down to Jersey

Feb 03 2025 53 mins  
The famous cryptid known as the Jersey Devil will be the focus of our upcoming Urban Legends Hotline investigation. This episode will provide some context using excerpts from previous topics we have covered. Full episodes to check out: The Cannibal Pig People of Pig Hill (2023) Fake News (2020) Urban Legends (2021) Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episod

You Just Lost The Game with 'Spirits' Podcast

Jan 27 2025 76 mins  
Julia Schifini and Amanda McLoughlin are the hosts of the podcast Spirits, a history and comedy show focused on mythology, folklore, and urban legends. Each week they pour a drink and deep dive into stories similar to the ones we cover here. On this episode, my new friends tell me the history of an early 2000s fad called The Game, one that you, dear listeners, have unfortunately al

Chicken Soup for the Soul pt. 2 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About'

Jan 20 2025 97 mins  
Sarah Marshall and I are back for a second helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, the 1993 best-selling collection of "inspirational" and "true" stories. In part two I tell Sarah about the pair of motivational wealth coaches who created the book and then explain what is currently happening at Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment as new leadership has led it down a dark and exploi

Chicken Soup for the Soul pt. 1 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About'

Jan 13 2025 84 mins  
Many of you will remember the 1993 best-selling book of inspirational stories, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and its bite-sized, sappy triumphs of the human spirit. But shining a modern light on this book today, the collection hits a little bit differently. For part one of this two-part series, I tell podcaster Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About the history of this iconic text and

(Throwback) An Irresistible Movement with Reproductive Justice Activist Loretta J. Ross

Jan 06 2025 53 mins  
Since the 1970s, Loretta J. Ross has been an instrumental activist in the fight for 'Reproductive Justice', a framework she and her colleagues created in 1994 that went beyond the pro-choice and pro-life debate. She has worked as the Director of the Women of Color Program for the National Organization for Women, the program director of the Black Women's Health Imperative the direct

In Pursuit of Pardons with Podcaster Shannon Lynch of 'The Alley: DC’s 8th and H Case'

Dec 30 2024 66 mins  
Shannon Lynch is the host of the podcast The Alley: DC’s 8th and H Case, a detailed look at the 1984 murder of DC resident Catherine Fuller and the eight young Black men who were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a crime they did not commit. In this episode, Shannon will take us through the crime, the flawed investigation and trial, as well as the suppression of evide