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 episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts Sound design and Production by Riley Swedelius...
Feb 03, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 already lost. Check out the Spirits podcast! Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bo...
Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 exploitative path (allegedly). We'll talk more about the book's messages of neoliberal mysticism and prosperity gospel man...
Jan 20, 2025•2 hr 38 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast 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 read her some of its most batshit stories, and together we discuss their confusing and downright damaging messages. I...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast 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 director of projects for the National Anti-Klan Network, and is an author and professor as well. Today Loretta will share ...
Jan 06, 2025•53 min•Ep 139•Transcript available on Metacast 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 evidence that could have exonerated these men decades ago in hopes that the more their story is heard, the more likely it i...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 138•Transcript available on Metacast Because so many Hallmark writers and directors also make horror movies, I called in podcasters Sarah Marshall and Alex Steed of 'You're Wrong About' and 'You Are Good' to discuss the similarities between these two seemingly polar opposite genres. Subscribe to You Are Good and You're Wrong About Get tickets for our Live Show called A Massive Seance in SF and LA Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Produced by Miranda Zi...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep 137•Transcript available on Metacast Remember the late '90s mystery show Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? where you had to figure out which stories were true and which were fake? For this episode I tell the wild life story of the mysterious man who provided the "true" stories which were certainly beyond belief. I'm joined by wonder-siblings Will Rogers (our voice actor!) and Kristen Rogers-Anderson of Guide to the Unknown, a podcast that explores urban legends, the paranormal, horror movies, haunted places, and creepy pop culture. W...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep 136•Transcript available on Metacast Patrick Scalisi and Valerie Ruby-Omen are the creators of the 2023 book Connecticut Cryptids: A Field Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Creatures of the Nutmeg State. Together they have documented Connecticut's most important cryptids, those elusive, folkloric creatures that have not been proven to actually exist but that pop up in different forms throughout time and all over the world. For this episode, Pat and Val tell me the wild story of the Glawackus, a 1966 hoax that got totally out of hand...
Dec 09, 2024•59 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast This is a special episode I did for the podcast 'You're Wrong About' in 2022, and I wanted to finally bring it to you directly since the deep snowfalls of winter are looming on the ever-distant horizon. This is the harrowing tale of a wagon train trapped in the Sierra Nevadas in the harsh winter of 1864-1865, famously forced to cannibalize one another to stay alive, but that is only a small fraction of an almost unbelievable story. This is probably the piece of American history that fascinates m...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep 134•Transcript available on Metacast For the 100th anniversary of the Macy's Parade, we are looking at the chaos energy that has always animated this cultural institution, from its explosive balloon disasters to its surprisingly unruly origins. Get tickets for A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show with You're Wrong About: linktr.ee/amassiveseance 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 or get your mi...
Nov 26, 2024•58 min•Ep 133•Transcript available on Metacast This episode will give some context for our upcoming episode about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, its unbelievable chaotic origins and its totally out of control early days. Excerpts will be included from our War on Christmas Special, Haunted Attractions, Early Drag Queens pt. 1, and Toy Riots. Get tickets for A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show with You're Wrong About: linktr.ee/amassiveseance Full episodes to check out: War on Christmas Special (2019) Haunted Attractions (2021) Early Drag Queens p...
Nov 18, 2024•47 min•Ep 132•Transcript available on Metacast Perry Carpenter is the author of the new book FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. For this episode, we are discussing what it means to live in a world where artificial intelligence is altering our reality more and more, how we can navigate a deeply uncertain digital future, and what it all has to do with human nature and the nature of folklore. Check out Perry book FAIK here Find The FAIK Files podcast on Apple and Spotify Find ...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep 131•Transcript available on Metacast This episode was originally released right before the 2020 presidential election and is even more relevant as we face the 2024 election. Political philosopher Jason Stanley, author of the book How Fascism Works, helps us understand how countries slide into authoritarian systems through conspiracy theories, demonization of others, the systematic erosion of truth, and the manipulation of anxieties around race and gender. Check out How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley as well as his new book Erasing ...
Nov 04, 2024•30 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast In the 19th century, America and Europe experienced a panic over premature burial, believing that anyone could be accidentally declared dead and entombed before their time was really up. Led by a movement of quacky Spiritualists, the panic culminated in the creation of safety coffins with mechanisms that promised to save anyone who awoke six feet underground. Mere decades later, burial artists began performing all over America as a part of advertising gimmicks. They spent months underground in d...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast This is a preview for "Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder." On April 22, 1987, 52-year-old Ruthie Mae McCoy called 911 to report that someone was trying to enter her Chicago housing project apartment through the bathroom medicine cabinet. Police thought she was imagining things, but when authorities finally checked on McCoy two days later, they found her dead with four gunshot wounds. From “48 Hours”, “Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder,” revisits ...
Oct 27, 2024•8 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast 'Buried Alive,' our upcoming Halloween special, looks at the American fear and fascination with premature burial. We'll explore the panic that swept the nation in the 1800s, leading to the creation of safety coffins for those potentially entombed too soon, and the spectacles drummed up by eccentric performers who competed to see who could stay buried alive the longest. This episode provides more historical context through excerpts from our previous episodes, Death, The 12 Foot Skeleton, and Quac...
Oct 21, 2024•50 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast What could possibly go wrong when two skeptical podcasters try to summon a ghost? Join Sarah Marshall of You're Wrong About and Chelsey Weber-Smith of American Hysteria for a historical, theatrical, ecstatic spectacular for the living and dead. Hold hands with your favorite disembodied voices for a spiritualist séance* featuring fireside conversation, mystifying tricks, special guests, and music from The Little Lies – the only Fleetwood Mac tribute band that may actually be ghosts. This winter, ...
Oct 18, 2024•2 min•Ep 126•Transcript available on Metacast Today Sarah Marshall transports us to the old world of British Hysteria to reveal the mysterious story of the Enfield Poltergeist and joins me at the seance table to discuss the great unknown and the ghosts we know. Donate to help those affected by the recent hurricanes: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief BelovedAsheville Central Florida Mutual Aid Listen to You're Wrong About and You Are Good wherever you get your podcasts Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus con...
Oct 14, 2024•2 hr 39 min•Ep 125•Transcript available on Metacast Generation Alpha has made the uncanny, creepy, and chaotic YouTube series 'Skibidi Toilet' into a viral YouTube sensation, so much so that a famous director may soon be taking it to the big screen, despite the fact that the phenomenon has been called both brainrot and dangerous to the youth. On this episode, we will explain what Skibidi Toilet is, hear about similar internet videos enjoyed by Millennials and Gen X, and learn about famous art movements like net.art, Dadaism, and Surrealism to see...
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast The human body is a miracle. But when it’s not working, it can be the stuff of nightmares. On this new series from master storyteller MrBallen, they’re sharing medical horror stories and diagnostic mysteries that are surgically calibrated to make your blood run cold. From bizarre, unheard-of diseases and miraculous recoveries to strange medical mishaps and unexplainable deaths — you’ll never hear the phrase “heart-stopping” in the same way again. MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries is a first-of-its-ki...
Oct 07, 2024•33 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast Our upcoming episode is about the massively successful and deeply uncanny YouTube series Skibidi Toilet, the first content that Generation Alpha's influence has made into a world-wide sensation. Billions of views on YouTube and TikTok are attributed to the original videos and the innumerable fan videos that followed, and soon we may see this bizarro phenomenon on the big screen with a famous director attached. Skibidi Toilet has been called both brainrot and dangerous to the youth, and in this C...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 122•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika is a Peabody Award-winning audio journalist and an assistant professor of journalism at New York University. His latest podcast, Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD “takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way.” With the national spotlight yet again on the corruption and esca...
Sep 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep 121•Transcript available on Metacast Brittany Spanos is a senior writer for Rolling Stone Magazine who has taught a course at NYU called Topics in Recorded Music: Taylor Swift, which analyzes "the culture and politics of teen girlhood in pop music, fandom, media studies, whiteness and power as it relates to her image." Today we are talking about conspiracy theories that come from within the hardcore Swiftie fanbase, and the ones that come from outside, often via the right wing media. Follow Brittany Spanos on Twitter and Instagram ...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 120•Transcript available on Metacast The life of the conspiracy theory that claims Elvis Presley faked his death is an almost unbelievable journey through gimmick-crazy hucksters and true blue believers, the tales turning the king of rock and roll into something more like a cryptid than a superstar, evidence caught in blurry photographs and in secret messages, all covered up by shadowy forces. This zany story shows how conspiracies theories are born, how they transform, and how they never seem to die, no matter what, much like Elvi...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 119•Transcript available on Metacast The idea that Elvis Presley did not die in August of 1977, that he instead faked his death, has become one of the most famous and enduring conspiracy theories of all time, essentially elevating the former superstar to the status of a cryptid. For this context clues episode, we are revisiting our 2022 episode called Fangirls which covers the rise of music fandom, including Elvis'. Next week we will explore the bizarre, fantastical creation of the Elvis is Alive movement and the many strange playe...
Aug 26, 2024•55 min•Ep 118•Transcript available on Metacast Our paranormal correspondent Jim Perry is back to tell us about his recent ghost hunt inside the Queen Mary ship, where he discovered that Walt Disney had installed some ghostly gimmicks decades ago, inadvertently creating a haunting that continued on long after Disney sold the vessel. We discuss what happens when horror entertainment influences our consciousness and helps to create our modern relationship to the paranormal. Listen to Euphomet wherever you get your podcasts Check out SpectreVisi...
Aug 12, 2024•58 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast For part two of our series, we are returning to the phenomenon called 'Tarantism' that began in the Middle Ages in southern Italy where the bite of a local spider caused bizarre and contagious symptoms almost like that of demonic possession and the only antidote was trance-like, vigorous dancing. Today we look at all the theories about what caused this dancing mania: Was it all truly a reaction to the venom? A religious possession? A full-blown hysteria? A feminist revolt? Or an archaic cult’s s...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast The phenomenon called 'Tarantism' began in the Middle Ages in southern Italy where the bite of a local spider caused bizarre symptoms almost like that of demonic possession. The only cure was to dance vigorously for hours or days with the dance itself seeming to become contagious. Was it all truly a reaction to the venom? A religious possession? A full-blown hysteria? A feminist revolt? Or an archaic cult’s secret rituals? Sarah and I try to figure it out over this two part series. Become a Patr...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast Rod Crawford is the curator of the arachnids and related research collections at Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. His website called Spider Myths debunks the many misconceptions about spiders, and for this episode, he joins me to discuss some of these urban legends and bogus facts. Many of them may surprise you! Check out Rod Crawford's website Spider Myths Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria...
Jul 22, 2024•46 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast 
