American Hysteria

Latest Episodes:

We're Baaaaack: 'Haunted House Attractions' Coming October 18th Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

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!

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#ELSAGATE Aug 16, 2021

Show notes

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 order to generate clicks. But is that their only goal? Some believe in a larger conspiracy to harm our children, but one thing is for sure: our algorithms are out of control.

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

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

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Research by Riley Smith

Produced by Miranda Zickler

Follow American Hysteria on social media:

Twitter: @AmerHysteria

Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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

Rewind: The Mandela Effect Aug 09, 2021

Show notes

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 enormous world all their own. Next week, we'll look at the #Elsagate controversy of 2017, when scores of uncanny valley-esque hauntingly inappropriate videos were discovered on YouTube Kids. We'll try to get to the bottom of whether it is a mass conspiracy to hypnotically groom children or the result of an algorithm we no longer control. That's next Monday!

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

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: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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

Talking to Strangers with Comedian Chris Gethard (Part Two) Jul 19, 2021

Show notes

(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: Half my Life

Listen to Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

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: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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

Dangerous Attractions with Comedian Chris Gethard (Part One) Jul 12, 2021

Show notes

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 hold dear. Part two is out next week.

Watch Chris Gethard: Half my Life

Listen to Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

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: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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

Gender Lies and Liberation with Trans Historian Susan Stryker Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

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 long broken up our potential solidarity.

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

Go to brickhousesleep.com and get 15% off your first order at checkout with promo code HYSTERIA

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: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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

GENDER REVEAL PARTIES Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

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 strange divination methods once used to guess the biological sex, and take a look at the idea of rituals around the mystery of pregnancy. Of course, we’ll also ask questions about the regressive nature of this blue and pink gender binary, and I will share a little about my own childhood growing up as a non-binary kid, a word I wouldn’t know for two decades.

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

Go to brickhousesleep.com and get 15% off your first order at checkout with promo code HYSTERIA

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

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Research and co-writing by Riley Smith

Co-produced and edited by Miranda Zickler

Voice acting by Will Rogers

Follow American Hysteria on social media:

Twitter: @AmerHysteria

Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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

Rewind: Talking to My Christian Friends About Gay Stuff Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

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 talk about their changes of heart as young Christians, what the the Bible says about homosexuality in its historical context, and how the philosophy of queerness just might help save the Christian faith.

Next week: Gender Reveal Parties

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

Head to brickhousesleep.com and use promo code HYSTERIA for 15% off your first order

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

THE GAY AGENDA (Pride Re-release) Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

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 Me

Head to tryfirstleaf.com/hysteria to get 6 bottles of wine for $29.95

Head to brickhousesleep.com and use promo code HYSTERIA for 15% off your first order

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

The Skeleton of Chelsey Weber-Smith May 10, 2021

Show notes

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 season everyone! We will be back soon.

Become a Patron to get access to Chelsey's other podcast Walk with Me

Head to tryfirstleaf.com/hysteria to get 6 bottles of wine for $29.95

Head to brickhousesleep.com and use promo code HYSTERIA for 15% off your first order

This episode was hosted by Miranda Zickler (listen to Shiny Little Corners now!)

Follow American Hysteria on social media:

Twitter: @AmerHysteria

Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast

Find our merch at americanhysteria.com

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