Podcast
American Hysteria
Hosted by chelsey weber-smith · EN
American Hysteria explores how fantastical thinking has shaped our culture – moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, fringe beliefs, and national misunderstandings. Poet-turned-podcaster Chelsey Weber-Smith tells the strangest stories from American history and examines the forces that create the reality we share, and sometimes, the reality we don't.
39episodes
Episodes
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The Art of (Psychological) War with Annalee Newitz
Jan 2601:19:39Tap to summarizeAnnalee Newitz is the author of Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, which traces the way disinformation, propaganda, and violent threats have evolved from military weapons deployed against foreign adversaries into tools of domestic culture war. For this episode, Annalee gives us a primer on the ways psychological warfare has long propped up the American colonial project, including the many men who have been the masters of its weaponized storytelling. In addition to providing historical context, I hope this conversation can remind us that while fighting against the world we do not want, we can also hold inside ourselves the world we envision, the one we are fighting for. Get a copy of Stories Are Weapons and Automatic Noodle Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts Get some of our new merch at americanhysteria.com, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families. Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith Additional editing by Kaylee Jasperson Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Celebrity Clone Conspiracies with 'No Such Thing' Podcast
Jan 1900:58:32Tap to summarizeFor this collaboration with the podcast No Such Thing, we covered the tales of nefarious forces secretly replacing famous people with clones. We’ll learn about different clone conspiracies and their origins, hear from an expert on the real science and ethical concerns behind cloning, and chat about where these outlandish tales fit into the larger infrastructure of American conspiracy theories. No Such Thing is a show where three best friends and journalists settle their dumb arguments — and yours — by actually doing the research. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts Get some of our new merch at americanhysteria.com, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families. Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith Additional editing by Kaylee Jasperson Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Titanic in Real Time
Aug 11Tap to summarizeThis is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. Our associate producer (and my brother) Riley Swedelius-Smith is here to tell us the absolutely wild and little-known story of how news of the Titanic shipwreck traveled to shore as the tragedy was all unfolding. We can use your support right now! Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts Get some American Hysteria merch at americanhysteria.com and support The Sameer Project Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith Song by Emily Westman Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Hoax Spectacular! with You're Wrong About
Mar 31, 2025Tap to summarizeThis is a very special episode I did last year with the podcast You’re Wrong About in which Sarah Marshall and I swapped stories about some of our favorite historical hoaxes and pranks in honor of April Fools Day. Listen to You're Wrong About wherever you get your podcastsBecome a Patron to support our show and get ad-free early episodes and bonus contentOr subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple PodcastsLeave us a message on our Urban Legends HotlineCarolyn Kendrick produced this episode for YWAProducer and Editor: Miranda ZicklerAssociate Producer: Riley Swedelius-SmithHosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →CHICK TRACTS (part one)
Mar 20, 2023Tap to summarizeCartoons of satanic witch cults, Illuminati world domination, demonic homosexuals, and the pressing choice of hell or salvation were the horror hallmarks of Baptist indie comic artist Jack Chick's sensational world, his stories told through small booklets that his fans were instructed to leave anywhere a stranger might stumble across them. With a billion of these (often unintentionally hilarious) melodramatic little comics sold throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and into the present day, Chick Publications has played no small role in the creation of the most famous moral panics, conspiracy theories, and urban legends in American history. For part one, we will totally submerge you in his strange reality using some of the most outrageous examples of his work.Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer: Miranda ZicklerVoice acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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ALIEN ABDUCTIONS (part two)
Dec 20, 2021Tap to summarizeFor part two of our series, we will look at skeptics' explanations for the alien abduction phenomenon to see what factors they believe may be creating these visions: repressed memory hypnotherapy, sleep paralysis, and cultural fears. We will also ask what deep human needs may be expressing themselves through these stories of 21st century secular supernaturalized trauma.Become a Patron today to get access to our follow-up talk show 'Hysteria Home Companion' and much moreCheck out Guide to the Unknown on Apple Podcasts Head to truebill.com/americanhysteria to start saving money today American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosCo-Researched by Riley SmithProduced by Miranda ZicklerVoice acting by Will RogersFollow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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ALIEN ABDUCTIONS (part one)
Dec 13, 2021Tap to summarizeFor part one of our two-part series, we will learn about the lives of some of the most influential abductees and the people who've studied them in order to set the stage for part two, in which we will use every intellectual tool at our humble human disposal to try to better understand what on earth, or off of earth, is going on.Become a Patron today to get access to our follow-up talk show 'Hysteria Home Companion' and much moreHead to truebill.com/americanhysteria to start saving money today American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosCo-Researched by Riley SmithProduced by Miranda ZicklerVoice acting by Will RogersFollow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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TRUE CRIME
Oct 19, 2020Tap to summarizeTo this day, glossy tabloids show the face of a six-year-old pageant girl murdered in a wine cellar in 1996, and 20 years later, an NBC special about the unsolved case still pulled in more viewers than the Emmys. Over the last few years, America has experienced a serious boom in True Crime entertainment; endless docuseries, TV shows, films, podcasts, and books, but our fascination with crimes that have nothing at all to do with us is a part of American history, and in fact, a part of human history as well. On this episode we will explore our most sensational boogiemen: uncaught sadistic geniuses, sociopathic hippy cults, allegedly handsome men with broken arms calling you into their cars, and silent killers slipping into your window at night. But we will also chart our historical reactions to this content, our intrinsic desire to become armchair sleuths and what that says about the psychology and biology of this thing called Justice, and how the public fear of these rare, sensationalized murders has aided Law and Order policies by making us all into future victims. Please consider donating to the Insight Prison ProjectAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda Zickler Voice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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POISONED HALLOWEEN CANDY
Nov 12, 2018Tap to summarizeThis episode takes a look at our history with candy, the desire and the panic, and explains why sweets have always been a source of fear for parents. Starting with the strange 1800s religious beliefs of Dr. Harvey Kellogg, about candy leading to sexual deviancy, we'll move through the goofy urban legends of the 1970s, to the 80s and 90s when people allegedly began finding dangerous objects in their foods, like syringes in Pepsi cans and poison in Halloween candy.American Hysteria is written and produced by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Rod RodriguezShow art by RoacheVoice acting by Lily Orrey and Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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