American Hysteria

Latest Episodes:

Burlesque This Mess with Comic Stripper Woody Shticks Mar 24, 2025

Show notes

Woody Shticks is a comic stripper and burlesque performer as well as the director, production manager, and co-star of our recent live stage show with You’re Wrong About. For this episode, Woody and I talk about our histories with and philosophies around modern burlesque, and I tell him about the drama surrounding the first burlesque troupe to make it big in the United States back in the 1860s. This sexier-than-usual episode will show that the radical joy of art forms like burlesque continue to speak hilarious truth to the boring ass powers that be.

Check out Woody's website

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Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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THONGS Mar 17, 2025

Show notes

Exposed thongs were all the rage in the early 2000s thanks to a handful of massive pop cultural moments, but as the craze reached the mainstream market and trickled down to teens and tweens, the skank-shaming heated up as did the moral panics and political backlash. Millennials, however, were far from the first generation to experience thong drama, and for this episode we will go back through the last ten decades to see how half of the time moral guardians have tried to legislate the thong out of existence and the other half of the time, the thong has been the thin black line that separated adventurous Americans from the long arm of the law.

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Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline 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

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Context Clues: Let Me See That Thong Mar 10, 2025

Show notes

Thongs and the battles waged on their backs will be the focus of our upcoming episode. This collection of excerpts from previous episodes will provide some extra context: Wardrobe Malfunction (2019), Teenage Sex (2019), and The Streaking Craze (2023).

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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

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

Erasing History with Philosopher Jason Stanley Mar 03, 2025

Show notes

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 grabbing more and more power away from the people.

Get a copy of Erasing History

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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

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive with 'You Are Good' Podcast Feb 24, 2025

Show notes

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 about the Unified Field. Whether you are a fan of David Lynch or not, I hope you enjoy this conversation that was very meaningful to me.

Listen to You Are Good

Find Magpie Cinema Club's cover of Crying and their other music here

Get a plot explanation for Mulholland Drive here

Produced by Miranda Zickler

Co-hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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

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

Invasion of the Drones with Podcaster Gabe Lenners Feb 17, 2025

Show notes

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 about his illuminating experience reporting from the ground, first seeing drones himself, and then interviewing locals about their bizarre and sometimes frightening encounters. We also discuss some of the explanations from different government officials about the 2019 phenomenon, what people believe these flying objects could be, and the similarities to our recent media circus in the sky.

Subscribe to Obscurum: Invasion of the Drones

Check out Gabe's website and connect!

Instagram: @gabelenners

X/Twitter: @gabelenners

TikTok: @gabelenners

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

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 JERSEY DEVIL Feb 10, 2025

Show notes

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 feud rife with satanic accusations, and the impoverished people of the Pine Barrens who helped cultivate the tale as a mode of protection.

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Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline at americanhysteria.com

Check out our main source for this episode: The Secret History of the Jersey Devil

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

Context Clues: The Devil Went Down to Jersey Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

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-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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

You Just Lost The Game with 'Spirits' Podcast Jan 27, 2025

Show notes

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 bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

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

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL pt. 2 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About' Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

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 manifestation and put it all in the context of what is currently happening with the Chicken Soup for the Soul company as well as American politics at large.

Resources for LA residents affected by the fires

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LA Mutual Aid

California Fire Foundation

California Community Foundation

Dream Center

Canine Rescue Center

Get tickets to our LA live show A Massive Seance with You're Wrong About

Check out a main source for this episode: Soup to Nuts by Amanda Chicago Lewis for Business Insider

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Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler