Listen Now: Hysterical

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Hysterical" Episode from Dying For Sex

Release Date: April 28, 2025
Host: Wondery
Guest Voices: Nikki Boyer, Dr. Jennifer McVig, Emily, Jessica, Mr. Mihalik, Lynn Belluccio

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1. Introduction to "Hysterical"

The episode begins with Nikki Boyer introducing "Hysterical," a podcast lauded as the Podcast of the Year at the Danbys. She teases a gripping narrative about a mysterious illness affecting high school girls in upstate New York, challenging perceptions of mental and physical health.

Nikki Boyer [00:00]: "When Molly's diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, she decides to do something bold..."

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2. The Mysterious Onset

A YouTube video from December 2011 introduces a teenage girl experiencing unexplained symptoms. Lacking social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram at the time, her plea for help highlights her confusion and desperation.

Teenage Girl [01:10]: "I'm 16, I am in 11th grade and I play softball like all the time."

She describes episodes of passing out during a concert and homecoming dance, accompanied by motor tics and vocal noises, escalating to more severe symptoms.

Teenage Girl [01:40]: "Recently, last August, I had passed out at a concert."

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3. Escalation of Symptoms and Community Response

As more teenage girls from Leroy Junior Senior High School exhibit similar symptoms, the community grapples with fear and skepticism. Initial disbelief leads to accusations of faking for attention, exacerbating the situation.

Jessica [05:31]: "Seriously, why would we fake this?"

Dr. Jennifer McVig, a neurologist at the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, identifies the pattern among her patients, suspecting a connection despite HIPAA restrictions.

Dr. Jennifer McVig [07:11]: "The vocalizations were so characteristic and so loud that I'm like, this is interesting."

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4. The Town of Leroy: A Character in the Story

Leroy, New York, serves as the backdrop, with its unique quirks and history tied to the local Jell-O factory. Lynn Belluccio, the town historian, provides insights into Leroy's culture and traditions, adding depth to the setting.

Lynn Belluccio [12:02]: "The family that the town is named after is Leroy Herman."

The mysterious illness disrupts the town's fabric, leading to distrust among residents and uncertainty about the future.

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5. Personal Accounts: Emily and Jessica

Emily and Jessica, two students from Leroy High, share their personal experiences with the outbreak. Emily recounts being labeled an outcast before joining the marching band, while Jessica reflects on her disdain for high school exacerbated by the crisis.

Emily [16:22]: "Everybody's known each other since kindergarten because nobody goes anywhere."

Their narratives illustrate the human impact of the mysterious illness, highlighting themes of isolation, fear, and the struggle for understanding.

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6. The Role of Educators and School Officials

Mr. Mihalik, the marching band teacher, describes the escalating severity of the symptoms and the challenges faced in managing the situation within the school environment.

Mr. Mihalik [21:00]: "These kids are just totally normal. And then next thing you know, they're going blah."

School officials attempt to quell fears by assuring parents of their efforts to investigate, yet the community remains on edge.

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7. Medical Investigation and Theories

Dr. McVig outlines the medical response, detailing the diagnostic procedures undertaken and the frustrating lack of immediate answers. The possibility of an environmental trigger, such as natural gas wells on school grounds, emerges as a potential cause.

Dr. Jennifer McVig [10:25]: "All three girls go to the same school. Go Knights."

The episode delves into historical experiments, like Adrian Upton's 1970s jello brain EEG test, to underscore the enigmatic nature of the brain and its vulnerabilities.

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8. Community and Psychological Impact

The community of Leroy experiences a palpable tension as rumors and fears spread. Accusations of mass hysteria clash with the undeniable physical symptoms exhibited by the affected girls, creating a complex interplay between psychological and physiological factors.

Jessica [28:05]: "It looked like Tourette's. But you don't catch Tourette's."

This section explores the societal tendency to dismiss unexplained phenomena, highlighting the stigma surrounding mental health and rare diseases.

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9. Conclusion and Ongoing Mystery

As the episode concludes, the mystery remains unresolved, emphasizing the persistent uncertainty and the ongoing search for answers. The narrative sets the stage for future exploration, promising deeper insights into the outbreak's origins and implications.

Jenny Ryan [26:36]: "There's a mysterious illness among some students in Leroy. It has families there both stumped and scared."

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Key Takeaways

• Unexplained Symptoms: The sudden onset of motor and verbal tics among high school girls raises questions about underlying causes.
• Community Dynamics: Leroy's tight-knit community struggles with fear, skepticism, and mistrust as the illness spreads.
• Medical Challenges: Healthcare professionals like Dr. McVig navigate the complexities of diagnosing and addressing a rare, mysterious condition.
• Environmental Factors: Potential links to local environmental issues, such as natural gas wells, suggest broader implications.
• Psychological Stigma: The episode highlights the challenges faced by individuals when symptoms are misunderstood or dismissed by peers and authorities.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Nikki Boyer [00:00]: "It's a wild, emotional and eye opening ride."
• Dr. Jennifer McVig [07:11]: "The vocalizations were so characteristic and so loud that I'm like, this is interesting."
• Jessica [05:31]: "Seriously, why would we fake this?"
• Mr. Mihalik [21:00]: "These kids are just totally normal. And then next thing you know, they're going blah."
• Jessica [28:05]: "It looked like Tourette's. But you don't catch Tourette's."

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Follow "Hysterical" on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge all episodes exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Start your free trial today!

Transcript

[Nikki Boyer]

Hey there, it's Nikki Boyer. So if Dying for Sex pulled you in with its unexpected twists and deeply personal journey, you won't want to miss Hysterical. Now named Podcast of the Year at the Danbys, it starts with a group of high school girls in upstate New York suddenly developing strange violent symptoms. Kicking off a mystery that challenges everything we know about our minds, our bodies and the stories we tell ourselves. Like Dying for Sex, it's about more than what's on the surface. It's a wild, emotional and eye opening ride. I'm about to play a clip from Hysterical, so take a listen and be sure to follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator]

In December of 2011, a young woman posted a video on YouTube.

[Teenage Girl]

Hi everyone, my name's and this is my first video.

[Narrator]

She's got shiny red hair with side bangs and she's wearing a white graphic hoodie. A poster for the metal band Avenged Sevenfold is tacked to her bedroom wall behind her.

[Teenage Girl]

So I'll start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I'm 16, I am in 11th grade and I play softball like all the time.

[Narrator]

When she made this video, there was no TikTok, there was barely an Instagram. She's not looking to monetize, not trying to influence what this 16 year old is looking for is a little help. She's been having strange symptoms that so far no one can seem to explain.

[Teenage Girl]

Recently, last August, I had passed out at a concert. I was headbanging and I thought, you know, I was just dehydrated and all that.

[Narrator]

By now you've noticed that her speech is a bit halting and her nervous teenage energy is more than just fidgeting.

[Teenage Girl]

And about a month after, I pass out again at the homecoming dance. That's awesome, right?

[Narrator]

It has pattern and repetition. Eyes twitching, hands in the air, fingers flying.

[Teenage Girl]

And a few days ago, my twitching has progressed into noises like through my nose or in my throat. And it's something that won't go away.

[Narrator]

The more she talks, the worse it gets. She's neck tilting now and jerking her head.

[Teenage Girl]

That's another thing I do a lot. Clap. We're still trying to get answers, so going back to the doctors again.

[Narrator]

Then she signs off her first missive of many to wait and see what kind of response she might get.

[Teenage Girl]

And if anyone wants to talk about this, or if anyone's starting it, I'll be willing to talk it at all.

[Narrator]

I recently googled the phrase eye twitch. The simplest of her symptoms Just to see. An eye twitch could be a symptom of dehydration or low electrolytes. An eye twitch could mean you have glaucoma or a disease like acanthamoeba keratitis. You don't want that one night twitch could be the first sign of a condition called Isaac syndrome, in which your muscles don't stop moving and appear to be constantly rippling under the skin, even when you're asleep. To be fair, Isaac syndrome is extremely rare. But as those sons of bitches at the NIH are quick to point out, there are over 10,000 rare diseases. Over 30 million Americans have been diagnosed with one. In other words, developing a rare disease. Not that rare. That's why it can be so scary when the symptoms you're experiencing all add up to a mystery. When that teenage girl sent her video out into the void, she wasn't sure she'd get anything back besides her own echo. But she does. She's about to find out. There are others. A strange illness has made at least a dozen teenage girls sick at the same high school. And those others are all clustered in one small place and also just came down with the same bizarre symptoms.

[Emily]

This is my 8th or 9th day.

[Narrator]

Straight tic gang doesn't stop.

[Teenage Girl]

I would go to art class. I used to go to two art classes every day.

[Narrator]

Now I'm not in school. And they are all going to discover this isn't just something they have. It might be something they caught. More cases of a mysterious illness have been confirmed. News4's Ed Drain a contagion caught from a friend or classmate or from a place by something in the water or the air or the ground. There. Famous environmentalist and activist Erin Brockovich is getting involved. I mean, we're looking at a myriad of environmental concerns. This one's just standing out like a sore thumb. And a whole town is going to start doubting their own doctors, their. Their own neighbors. Some will doubt their own kids.

[Teenage Girl]

A lot of them say that we're faking and.

[Jessica]

And that you're faking because you want attention.

[Teenage Girl]

Seriously, why would we fake this?

[Narrator]

Some will even doubt the brains inside their own heads. Am I going crazy?

[Jessica]

Is this really happening?

[Narrator]

Question is, what is this? No, no. I'm done listening to you.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

You are not doing your job. You are not doing your job.

[Narrator]

And can they stop it from Episode one Outbreak what was the first you heard that something was happening?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

I had a patient come in and I hadn't heard anything.

[Narrator]

If anyone should get credit for putting the pieces together, first that something strange was happening. It's Dr. Jennifer McVig. In the fall of 2011, McVigg was a young physician working at the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, New York. A neurologist, newly minted.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

I had just finished medical school and I was in fellowship, so I hadn't even sat for my boards yet. I was like, it was new, you know, it was all new. I was a physician, but, you know, just starting, and I look younger than my age and, you know, do people see that, you know, I'm new or they look at me and it's. It's funny.

[Narrator]

And just about a month into the new school year, in comes a teenage girl, a high school student presenting with unusual symptoms.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

You know, wakes up one morning in full blown vocalizations, motor tics, very prominent ones. And I thought, this is very odd.

[Narrator]

The patient had woken up from a nap with a stutter, a severe stammer, trouble speaking. Then it turned into head and facial tics and then vocal outbursts.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

But it was a very abrupt onset and odd. You know, you're sleeping one night, you wake up the next morning, and all of a sudden you have vocalizations as well as motor tics. It just really isn't the way that usually these things evolve or occur.

[Narrator]

But there it is happening anyway, and the patient is desperate to make it stop.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

So we do the metabolic workup, we send them for blood work, we do an eeg.

[Narrator]

When does patient number two come?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Shortly thereafter, I believe it's a couple weeks later. And again around the same age.

[Narrator]

Young lady, another high school student, female, Again, tics, spasms, blurting out sounds and words.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

So number two comes and I'm like, okay, well, we do have to treat every single case as an individual entity and as a physician. You can't just say, oh, I saw this the other day. Maybe we'll do the same thing. You know, you're going to miss something.

[Narrator]

But still, it's hard to ignore the similarities. Both young women, both presenting motor and verbal tics, both both very loud, and both very something else.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

The interesting part about it was that the vocalizations were very similar. Now, that doesn't usually happen, you know, if somebody has true Tourette disorder or even a simple or complicated tic disorder. You know, there's some common tics, there's a lot of blinking, there's a lot of head tilts.

[Narrator]

But with this new patient, a lot like that first patient who had come in a few weeks ago, the vocalization.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Was so characteristic and so loud that I'm like, this is interesting. So now there's two presenting similarly.

[Narrator]

Once his chance, interestingly.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Yep. And then I get number three.

[Narrator]

In walks a young woman, again, high school age, again, with severe motor tics, vocalizations like shouts and barks. And again, the onset is sudden, like zero to 60 overnight.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

So by the third one, I'm having concerns.

[Narrator]

Dr. McVig suspects that the three cases are connected. They must be connected, right? Easy to assume, harder to prove.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

It was tough for me because nobody's saying anything about anyone else. And for HIPAA reasons.

[Narrator]

HIPAA is the federal privacy law for health care.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

For HIPAA reasons, I can't be like, hey, do you know so and so? Because she just came here two weeks ago, I'll lose my license. And that's not okay.

[Narrator]

No, it's not okay.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

And that's how. A while to put things together because I couldn't say anything.

[Narrator]

And so she pokes around, but with a little more finesse.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

And then I started saying, well, what high school do you go to and where do you live? And then went back to the other two and looked at the zip codes and put two and two together.

[Narrator]

Her hunch is correct. All three patients come from the same zip code. 14482, about 50 miles east of Buffalo. More than that, all three girls live in the same small town, Leroy, New York. And more than that, all three girls go to the same school. Leroy Junior Senior High School. Go Knights. McVig goes to her boss to tell him that whatever is happening in this small town, it is growing very fast.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

I came in his office and I said, I need your help. And he goes, oh, you've got this. You know, this is what you've trained for. You've got this. And I was like, no, this shit's gonna hit the fan and all hell's gonna break loose. I'm not kidding. And sure enough, a week later, he's like, you were right. I can't believe this is happening.

[Jessica]

And I'm like, yeah.

[Narrator]

My first question is, is it Leroy or Leroy?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Ah, the Leroy Leroy. It's actually, well, it depends on who you talk to.

[Narrator]

Lynn Belluccio is the official town historian here. She's been writing a local history column in the Leroy Penny Saver for over 30 years. Or is it the Leroy Penny Saver? You gotta be at least a bit suspicious of a town that can't settle on the pronunciation of their own name. The town supervisor just walked in. How would he say it?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Probably Leroy.

[Narrator]

And how do you say it?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Leroy? Okay, let me and I will explain it. The family that the town is named after is Leroy Herman.

[Narrator]

Leroy was a speculator who bought up a ton of acreage here at the end of the 1700s. But sometime between then and and now, Leroy Leroy became the Timothy Chalamet of small towns in New York.

[Lynn Belluccio]

I'm blaming it on the cheerleaders.

[Narrator]

Why?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Because they want to say, let's go, Leroy. They don't want to say let's go, Leroy. Or if you're the opposing team, it would be destroy Leroy. So I'm blaming it on the cheerleaders.

[Narrator]

For what it's worth, I'm going to go with Leroy. Given the subject matter here, just the twists and turns of the story that you're about to hear, I suppose the play would be for me to make Leroy seem dark and troubled, A town with a horrible secret. But honestly, I've always kind of liked it around here. My parents grew up about 50 miles to the west, so I spent a good chunk of my life here in western New York wearing giant winter coats and giant knit hats with giant pom poms on top. My folks were the babies of the immigrant wave who came to work in the smoke belching factories here when manufacturing was king. And from my vantage point, this has always been a place where the bowling leagues are competitive, the Bills fans are drunk, and the Jello molds are perfectly set. Do you make Jello?

[Lynn Belluccio]

I love Jell O.

[Narrator]

Really? Yeah. Lynn is also the former director of Leroy's historical Jell O Museum. I made under the Sea Jello for Thanksgiving. That's you. We do it every Thanksgiving.

[Lynn Belluccio]

And that's your traditional.

[Narrator]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although I don't like Jell was invented in Leroy in 1897 and was made in the jello factory on the north side of town for most of the last century, employing 350 workers, mostly women. Old timers say you could tell what flavored Jell O they were making that day by the color of the creek running through town.

[Lynn Belluccio]

Our family Jell O recipe for Thanksgiving and Christmas is the Waldorf salad that's made in lime Jell O. And then it begs the question, is it a salad or is it a dessert? I figure if you put mayonnaise on it and if it's got celery in.

[Narrator]

It, there's mayonnaise in it.

[Lynn Belluccio]

No, you put mayonnaise on the top. A little dollop. And I hate mayonnaise.

[Narrator]

So wait, you put mayonnaise on the top of Jello?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Well, if it's salad, sure.

[Narrator]

The Jell O factory is still here, just a mile or so up from the high school. It's empty now, shut down in 1964. Factory shutting down is also the history of this part of the state, just like the rest of the Rust Belt. But while Leroy had its share of problems, they didn't seem like particularly unusual problems until the outbreak.

[Jessica]

Yeah, I grew up in Leroy my whole life.

[Narrator]

In the fall of 2011, Jessica was just starting her senior year at the high school. Oh, wait, hold on. You said Leroy?

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

You say Leroy?

[Jessica]

Yeah. Everybody who lives there says Leroy?

[Narrator]

That's not what I heard. But you're telling me that everybody who lives there.

[Jessica]

Everybody who lives there says Leroy. Anybody on the news reporting on it calls it Leroy.

[Narrator]

Really?

[Jessica]

Yeah, pretty much anyone under the age of, like, 60, I would say, calls it Leroy.

[Narrator]

All right, fuck it. I'm on Team Leroy. Funny enough, Jessica couldn't settle on her own name either. You go by Jessica now in high school, what did you go by?

[Jessica]

Jessica.

[Narrator]

Spelled Jessica, please.

[Jessica]

J, E, S, S, K, A. Because I was like, you know, just trying to be emo, like, scene, whatever. And all the scene girls were changing their names.

[Narrator]

Jessica would go on to be named most creative in the yearbook that year. By the way, she once dyed her hair with cherry Kool Aid powder.

[Jessica]

At one point, I dabbled with having three eyes in my name that didn't stick.

[Narrator]

So how would you spell it then?

[Jessica]

J, E, S, S, I, I, I, C, A. Yeah. So I'm glad I didn't stick with that one. And we went with Jessica. It was just more punk, you know.

[Narrator]

As far as high schools go, Leroy High looks nice enough. It's practically new. Although there are a few natural gas wells on school grounds. You don't see that every day. And apparently they built the school on wetlands. And in the few years since the building had gone up, there was already talk that it was sinking into the ground. It's got about 500 or so kids, grades seven through 12.

[Emily]

Everybody's known each other since kindergarten because nobody goes anywhere.

[Narrator]

This is Emily. She and Jessica sound a bit alike, but that's upstate, baby. Just roll with it. Right? Nobody leaves.

[Emily]

Yeah, no one wants to move into Podunk. Leave. Right. There ain't nothing to do. You want to go to the jello factory? That's about it.

[Narrator]

At the time all this happened, Emily was starting eighth grade at the school, just turning 13. Would you say you were popular in school?

[Emily]

Not at all. The furthest thing from it. Oh, yeah, Definitely. More so labeled as the outcast.

[Narrator]

So and what does that entail?

[Emily]

Like, we had booths in our cafeteria. So, like, your group of people sat at this booth, and then all the popular kids or whatever sat at, like, the giant tables that were in the middle. I was like, yep, you go be center of attention. Enjoy that. I'm gonna sit in the corner over here and eat my sandwich.

[Narrator]

She found her crew, though, in the marching band. Emily played the flute, and we do the band camp.

[Emily]

We run drills from 8 in the morning to, like, 4 in the afternoon, learning the entire set and everything, and our spots and where to go and the music, and it's. It's a wild time.

[Narrator]

Did you guys have, like, a fight song?

[Emily]

It's the super stereotypical. Like.

[Mr. Mihalik]

They called me Mr. Mr. Mihalik. Very often. As I got to know the kids more and they got older, the mister got dropped.

[Narrator]

When Emily was marching, it was under the iron fist of Mr. Mihalik, the band teacher.

[Mr. Mihalik]

I had a couple kids that would joke, and they would call me dad and the chorus teacher mom.

[Narrator]

The marching band was preparing for the state championship and had been grinding it out on the practice field behind the school for weeks. Now.

[Mr. Mihalik]

I basically lived at the school, so what I always wanted to do was marching band and have my own program and that. And it was a great place to be.

[Jessica]

Then I hated it.

[Narrator]

Jessica had a different take.

[Jessica]

I hated high school.

[Narrator]

You really did? Yes.

[Jessica]

I hated high school so much. Actually, the year that this happened was the only year I did, like. So.

[Narrator]

Yeah, nothing like a contagious illness to. Yeah.

[Jessica]

A national scandal to brighten your senior year, you know?

[Narrator]

So. Okay, 2011. Do you remember when you first saw, heard, or knew about people coming down with weird symptoms? Here's Emily.

[Emily]

So there was a girl in my class who had actually had it the entire time that I'd known her. Like, she is actually, like, diagnosed with Tourette's and everything.

[Narrator]

So even before any of this started, there had already been at least one person at the school with symptoms that didn't just look like Tourette's syndrome. It actually was Tourette's. What were her symptoms?

[Emily]

Very, very vocal. She was very vocal with her tics. It was like the little screeching noise. And sometimes she'd kind of flail a little bit to the point where we're like, are you having a seizure?

[Jessica]

No.

[Emily]

Okay, you're good.

[Mr. Mihalik]

They were little things. Motor tics or verbal tics.

[Narrator]

Mr. Mihalik, the band teacher, the girl with Tourette's, she was actually in the marching band with Emily for all Those hours of practice on the field, they.

[Mr. Mihalik]

Were easy to ignore. They were something that I was used to. They were something that I accommodated.

[Narrator]

So till then, at least, potentially disruptive symptoms, like you might see with Tourette's, weren't entirely foreign to Leroy High. But then the rumors started that there were others.

[Emily]

The first time I heard about it was from that girl.

[Narrator]

Here's Emily again.

[Emily]

She was like, oh, one of these older girls from one of the older grades has apparently got the same thing that I do. And I was like, oh, well, that's weird. And then I just went about my day.

[Narrator]

Here's Jessica.

[Jessica]

I was trying to think back on, like, when exactly I realized something was happening. But I remember being in my art class, and two of the girls were, like, two of the first ones to have it.

[Narrator]

By most accounts, these were the first girls to develop symptoms of the illness at Leroy High. A junior and a senior, both cheerleaders on the varsity squad.

[Jessica]

And I remember thinking, like, were they making it up? Like, what is going on?

[Narrator]

Like, people thought they were faking it.

[Jessica]

Yeah, everybody thought they might be faking it because it was just like, a bunch of the cheerleaders, like, girls who want attention. Typically, you know you're gonna be doing.

[Narrator]

This for attention, right?

[Jessica]

Yeah. And, like, everybody kind of just doubted it until it just kept happening.

[Narrator]

First two, then another, then two more.

[Mr. Mihalik]

You know, within a matter of days. It was something that was blowing up.

[Narrator]

Really?

[Mr. Mihalik]

Yeah. It came on pretty fast, Mr. Mihalik. The motor tics, the verbal tics, they were more dramatic than anything I'd ever seen. We heard a lot of, like, a yipping sound from some of the students or a screeching sound. I even heard sounds maybe that sounded like a cat meowing.

[Narrator]

And the symptoms seemed to be growing more severe.

[Mr. Mihalik]

That's when things got scary for everybody, because I was located down the hall from the nurse's office. So I certainly had times that I had to close the door because you would hear something happening out there that I knew would frighten the kids or somebody hitting themselves against the wall.

[Narrator]

Wow.

[Mr. Mihalik]

So it was frightening. It was frightening for the kids. It was frightening for me as a teacher.

[Narrator]

This is Jessica.

[Jessica]

And then my friend came to school the one day, and I was, like, at my locker, and she came up to me, and she was, like, stuttering super bad. I'm like, what are you doing? Like, stop around. Like, why are you talking like that? She's like, I can't. And she, like, could not talk. Like, was stuttering so bad that she could not even get out a word. She's, like, twitching. She's, like, crying at that point. Like, just trying to get out her words. And I'm like, holy, this is real. Like, what happened? Like, I had hung out with her the day before. Like, she was fine the day before. Like, the way she was stuttering. You cannot make that up. Like, that's. That's, like, happening in her brain.

[Narrator]

Emily has a similar experience.

[Emily]

So woke up 90% of my day, completely normal day.

[Narrator]

With one big difference. It isn't her best friend who catches it.

[Emily]

I go to lunch, and I was pretty fine then. I felt a little funny. I was like, I feel kind of off. You know? You have those off days. I go to my history class right after lunch, and I start feeling kind of finicky. I gotta move. I gotta, like, do something.

[Narrator]

You feel, like, the urge to move?

[Emily]

Yeah, it's like you feel, like, the urge to, like. You can't stop yourself from doing it. It was just one of those things. It was just. You had to do it. Little fidgets here and there.

[Narrator]

Were they all the same type of fidget? Or was.

[Emily]

Yeah, I think it was my arm and my head all at the same time.

[Narrator]

Emily's not sure what's happening, so she just tries to go about her day. But then in study hall, she says that she gets called to the nurse's office.

[Emily]

She's like, close the door. And I go, oh, God, that's not good. When the nurse tells you to close the door, that's not good. And the school counselor's in there as well. And I go, oh, I'm in trouble for something. They start talking to me about it. And they're like, some of your teachers have noticed that you have started showing these symptoms that all these other girls seem to be showing as well. And we just want to know, are you actually doing it, or are you just kind of, like, pulling our leg with this? And you're just doing it to fit in.

[Narrator]

So the suggestion was, are you faking it for attention?

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

Before this happened to you, were you thinking that other people were faking it?

[Emily]

Honestly, certain people. But just because I knew those people, and I was like, she seems the type that would be like.

[Narrator]

So you thought that some people were.

[Emily]

Yeah, but that, like, I figured out later on, I was like, oh, that's very real. You totally weren't. I'm so sorry that I thought that about you, because here I am, and we're in the same boat now, girly.

[Narrator]

In the same boat now, girly. Is a great way to put it. In fact, she has no idea how in the same boat now, girly we all might be.

[Teenage Girl]

My twitching has progressed into noises like through my nose.

[Narrator]

Because what's happening in Leroy, it might be connected to what's happening to the girl on YouTube hundreds of miles away.

[Teenage Girl]

It's something that won't go away.

[Narrator]

And what's happening to all of them might be connected to a sickness afflicting people today, right now, and spreading to places like Ohio and Massachusetts and Moscow and Stockholm and Tehran. A contagion that's been with us for centuries and one we still don't fully understand. There was a neurologist up in Canada in the 1970s and his name was Adrian Upton. Upton was teaching in med school at the time about the human brain and decided to try an experiment that was a little cheeky. Upton filled a bowl full of jello. He put it in the fridge, he let it set and then he flipped it over onto a plate making a lime flavored brain sized blob. Then he hooked the jello brain up to an EEG machine. That's the one that measures brain waves. A squiggly line means brain activity. It means life. No squiggles means no brain activity, no life. And when he connected the wires and nodes of the EEG machine to that jello brain. Squiggles faint but unmistakable. In fact, there was a trick to it. The machine was picking up stray electrical signals from around the room. But if you don't know the trick, what the fuck? My point here isn't that Jello can think. That would be silly. My point is that you should not eat Jello because it's alive. No, no, the point is this. This is for real this time. And it's something that's going to keep coming up over and over again in this series. The point is that the brain is a mystery, even when it's Lyme.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

There's a mysterious illness among some students in Leroy. It has families there both stumped and scared. Good evening, I'm Jenny Ryan.

[Narrator]

But just because it's a mystery, it doesn't mean it, it can't be solved. School officials sent home a letter today assuring parents that they are trying to get to the bottom of all of this. I'm Dan Taburski from Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. This is hysterical. Or is it? This season on Hysterical, I felt like.

[Jessica]

Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

[Narrator]

They thought it was all in my head and that I was making it up. I just said what do you think?

[Emily]

Do you think she's faking?

[Narrator]

And she's like, I don't know.

[Mr. Mihalik]

These kids are just totally normal. And then next thing you know, they're going blah. And their arms are swinging.

[Emily]

Everybody decided they were a detective and tried to figure it out.

[Narrator]

Leroy was the new date line. And everyone was trying to solve the murder. Oh, shit. Having those natural gas wells on my football field is not a really fucking smart thing to do now is it?

[Mr. Mihalik]

The doctors kept coming back to its mass hysteria.

[Narrator]

The idea that this is somehow psychogenic mass hysteria, that just doesn't apply to me.

[Teenage Girl]

People are just so tired of being called liars that they don't talk about it anymore.

[Jessica]

It looked like Tourette's.

[Narrator]

Yes, it really did.

[Jessica]

But you don't catch Tourette's.

[Narrator]

Hysterical is a production of Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Our lead producer is Henry Malofsky. Our associate producer is Marie Alexa Kavanagh. Producer, Sophie Bridges. Managing producer, Erin Kelly. Senior producer, Lena Masitzis. Additional production by Zandra Ellen. Diane Hodson is our editor. Our executive editor is Joel Lovell. Fact checking by Natsumi Ajisaka. Mixing by Hannis Brown. Our head of sound and engineering is Raj Makhija. Original music composed and performed by Dina Maccabee. Legal Services for pineapple street from Crystal 2 for Wondery, our senior producers are Lizzie Bassett and Claire Chambers. Coordinating producer, Mariah Gossett. Senior managing producer, Callum Plews. Hysterical is written and executive produced by me. I'm Dan Taburski. Our executive producers for Pineapple street are Max Linsky, Henry Malosky, Asha Saludja and Jenna Weiss Berman. Executive producers for Wondery are Morgan Jones, Marshall Luc and Jen Sargent. Thanks for listening.

[Nikki Boyer]

That was just the beginning. Follow Hysterical on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes exclusively and ad free right now on Wondry. Plus, start your free trial of Wondry in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.