American Hysteria

Latest Episodes:

Blame It on Barbie with Entertainment Journalist BJ Colangelo Jul 24, 2023

Show notes

BJ Colangelo is an editor at Slash Film and the writer of “The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need,” a comprehensive look at the cultural movement of America's pinkest lady. On this episode, BJ will take us through the moral panics, conspiracy theories, and misunderstandings that have followed this controversial toy starting back in the 1960s and continuing into this very day.

Read The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need

Listen to This Ends at Prom

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American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

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Furby's Revenge with "Unspookable" Podcast Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

This is a collaborative look at the panics around Furby with the podcast Unspookable, a show much like ours that takes a more kid-friendly approach to understanding urban legends. In honor of the return of Furby to toy stores in July 2023, we revisit some of the ridiculous myths and freaky stories around the hottest toy of the late 90s, and look deeper into what it says about human nature and America as a whole.

Listen to our good buddies at Unspookable

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This episode was produced by Nate Dufort and Chelsey Weber-Smith

Hosted by Elise Parisian

Head writing by Ellenor Riley-Condit

The AH theme song was composed by Hakan Erikkson

The special mashup theme song was created by Jesse Case

Special thanks to Jonah, Bella, Isabella, and Jon

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Hot Dog Urban Legends with Comedian Jamie Loftus Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

Jamie Loftus is the author of the recent New York Times bestselling book 'Raw Dog: The Naked Truth about Hot Dogs.' Together we discuss some very weird hot dog-related urban legends and conspiracy theories as a companion to our episode about the cannibal pig people of Pig Hill. We'll also learn about the history and politics of this great American meat tube and most importantly, we interrogate the aggressively gendered branding of gas station jumbo pickles.

Get a copy of Jamie's book Raw Dog

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American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

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THE CANNIBAL PIG PEOPLE OF PIG HILL Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

*Urban Legends Hotline* The inbred cannibal pig people who are said to inhabit Pig Hill in Meadville, PA attack teenagers who park on its lovers lane. But these are far from the only human-pig hybrids featured in American urban legends. For this episode, not only are we sharing different variations of the tale, but we are also digging deep into the weird history of pigs: Puritan bestiality trials, soldier-eating feral swine, hybrid animal experiments, the pigs who ruled the early cities, and what the history of the hog teaches us about suburbanization and the dehumanization of those the elite consider "unclean."

If you have an urban legend you'd like us to explore, head to americanhysteria.com and leave us a message!

Thank you to our listener Erin Hipple!

Thanks to our author Nancy Williams!

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American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Voice acting by Will Rogers

Producer: Miranda Zickler

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My Pronouns are Jack/Ass with Podcaster Harmony Colangelo of 'This Ends at Prom' Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

Harmony Colangelo is one of the hosts of This Ends at Prom, a podcast that analyzes coming of age teen girl movies through a queer feminist lens, using her perspective as a trans woman and her wife’s experience as a cisgender woman. Today we are discussing the teen boy content of Jackass, how it affected our own journey with gender, how it changed the American culture of masculinity, what it says about Peter Pan Syndrome, and why we can’t get enough of these dirty and delightful boy-men.

Listen to This Ends at Prom or wherever you get your podcasts

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American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

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JACKASS Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

In the year 2000, a group of rowdy skateboarders and loosely defined "performers" came to MTV with a pitch that would showcase their vulgar antics—outrageous stunts, shocking pranks, and gross-out humor. Tweens and teens from all over the nation became enthralled with Jackass, leading to some copycat incidents and a customary moral panic. For this episode, we will be exploring the roots of the show, the shockingly uncensored, purposefully offensive skateboard magazines and videos of the 80s and 90s that brought together the cast, and the death-defying 1970s daredevil who inspired a young Johnny Knoxville to risk it all for the footage. We'll look at what all this has to do with the psychology of Generation X, with our changing patterns of gender and sexuality, and see what meaning, if any, we can find in the meaninglessness of Jackass.

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American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Voice Acting by Will Rogers

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Context Clues: Welcome to Jackass May 29, 2023

Show notes

This episode will give context for our upcoming series on Jackass, an early reality show starring a group of skateboarders and unorthodox performers that filmed their stunts and pranks, becoming the outrageous superstars of the new millennium.

Episodes used:

Influencers

Rotten.com

Haunted Attractions

The Streaking Craze

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This episode was produced by Riley Smith

Produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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Unabandoned with Podcaster Blake Pfeil of 'All-American Ruins' May 15, 2023

Show notes

Blake Pfeil is the host of 'abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast,'a multimedia travelogue exploring abandoned spaces across the United States. Together, we discuss what our deep love of these American ruins means, how it relates to queerness, to addiction and recovery, capitalism and politics, and how these spaces can help us recultivate the empathy we need to find solidarity.

Listen to abandoned: All-American Ruins wherever you get your podcasts or head to allamericanruins.com

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American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

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THE GHOST CHILDREN OF MUNGER ROAD May 08, 2023

Show notes

*Urban Legends Hotline* Lauren's story: On a rural road outside Chicago, the ghosts of children killed in a school bus-train collision are said to push cars uphill, off the tracks, and out of harm's way, leaving their handprints in baby powder dusted on the bumper by local legend-tripping teenagers. So we investigated this urban legend, versions of which are told in small towns all over the country, by searching through old newspapers for related historical crashes, and then by unearthing reports of bizarre "mock accidents" that have occurred near Munger Road for decades. I even headed out all by myself to a rural road in Washington State said to be haunted by similar helpful ghosts, to see if there is any truth to this urban legend, or if it's all just an illusion.

Listeners like you can now share urban legends from your childhood and if selected, we will investigate your story in depth, sometimes even testing it out ourselves.

CW: Train accidents, death

If you have an urban legend you'd like us to explore, head to americanhysteria.com and leave us a message!

Thanks to Lauren and to Nick Smith, check out his film Munger Road on Amazon

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American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Producer: Miranda Zickler

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INTERVIEW WITH THE EX-VAMPIRE (pt. 2) with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About' Apr 17, 2023

Show notes

For part two of my conversation with Sarah, I finish telling her about a satanic panic era "memoir" published by Chick Publications in the early 1990s which culminates in the author's transformation into a real-life vampire only able to survive by drinking human blood.

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Listen to You're Wrong About wherever you get your podcasts

American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

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