American Hysteria

Latest Episodes:

TALKING TO THE FUTURE: NUCLEAR SEMIOTICS May 13, 2024

Show notes

How do we warn people 10,000 years in the future about nuclear waste sites that will remain extremely dangerous for longer than human civilization has existed? When language, symbols, and technologies are lost to time, how can we get our message across? Atomic Priesthoods, Radiation Cats, Forests of Thorns, manufactured folklore, these are just a few of the unorthodox ideas of government-sponsored academics trying to answer this baffling puzzle.

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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 and his daughter Zoe

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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Context Clues: Going Nuclear May 06, 2024

Show notes

For some context for our upcoming series that we have not yet revealed, we will revisit excerpts from our past episodes: Horror Movies pt. 1, The End of the World, and Alien Abductions pt. 1 and 2. We encourage you to listen to the full episodes!

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-Smith

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

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Magical Overthinking with Amanda Montell Apr 29, 2024

Show notes

Amanda Montell is the host of the podcast Sounds Like A Cult as well as the author of the new book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, a collection of personal essays on various cognitive biases, those flawed ways of thinking that were very important for early humans but now cause all kinds of problems in our technologically advanced world. Amanda explains why these cognitive biases originally existed, how they manifest in the personal and political, and what we can do to understand, combat, and maybe even harness them to our advantage.

Get a copy of The Age of Magical Overthinking

Follow Amanda Montell and her new podcast Magical Overthinkers on Instagram

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

FRANCINE AND THE WOLVES OF WALL STREET with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About' Apr 22, 2024

Show notes

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

THE SOCIETY FOR INDECENCY TO NAKED ANIMALS Apr 01, 2024

Show notes

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

When Conspiracies Aren't Just Theories with Journalist Tom Risen Mar 25, 2024

Show notes

Journalist and author Tom Risen is here to tell me about some of the real conspiracies that the CIA and the FBI were involved in from the 50s to the 70s and how, in 1975, one senator finally took these agencies to task, revealing shocking truths that would be used for decades to make the conspiracy theories we know today seem far more plausible. Tom writes about government surveillance and spy agencies and is the co-author of the bestselling book 'The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy,'" which he wrote with his father, James Risen, another journalist who has spent decades covering intelligence agencies.

Get Tom's Book

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Head to americanhysteria.com to get merch and leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline!

Head to FACTORMEALS.com/americanhysteria50 and use code americanhysteria50 to get 50% off your first purchase

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bigfoot's Big Adventure with Author John O'Connor Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

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

GANG INITIATIONS pt. 2 Mar 04, 2024

Show notes

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

GANG INITIATIONS pt. 1 Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Context Clues: Ganging Up Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

'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