Outbreak | 1

Summary

Hysterical
Episode 1: Outbreak
Release Date: July 22, 2024
Host: Dan Taberski
Produced by: Wondery | Pineapple Street Studios

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Introduction

In the gripping premiere episode of Hysterical, host Dan Taberski delves into a perplexing series of mysterious symptoms plaguing teenage girls at Leroy Junior Senior High School in upstate New York. Positioned as potentially the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials, the episode sets the stage for an investigative journey that questions the very nature of this phenomenon.

The Initial Case: Jessica's Plea

The story begins in December 2011 with Jessica, a 16-year-old high school junior, posting her first YouTube video seeking help for unexplained symptoms. “What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it ‘all in their head?’” Dan Taberski narrates, highlighting the era before social media platforms like TikTok existed (00:00).

Notable Quote:

“She’s not looking to monetize. Not trying to influence what this 16-year-old is looking for is a little help.” — Dan Taberski (01:26)

Jessica details her symptoms starting with fainting spells and escalating to severe motor and vocal tics. Her struggles go unnoticed initially, casting doubt on the legitimacy of her condition.

Jessica’s Account:

“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.” (02:39)

Emergence of Multiple Cases

Shortly after Jessica's plea, at least a dozen other teenage girls at Leroy Junior Senior High School begin exhibiting similar symptoms. These symptoms include stuttering, violent twitching, and uncontrollable vocal outbursts, creating a pattern that suggests a contagious phenomenon rather than isolated incidents.

Emily’s Experience:

“I felt a little funny. I was like, I feel kind of off. You know? You have those off days.” (25:20)

Emily, another student, recounts her sudden onset of symptoms during an ordinary school day, emphasizing the abrupt and severe nature of the illness.

Community Reaction and Skepticism

The sudden appearance of these symptoms stirs skepticism and fear within the community. Many accuse the affected students of faking their conditions for attention, reminiscent of historical mass hysteria events.

Community Doubt:

“A lot of them say that we're faking and that you're faking because you want attention.” — Jessica (05:30)

Lynn Belluccio, the town historian, recalls the initial disbelief:

“I remember thinking, like, were they making it up? Like, what is going on?” (23:21)

Dr. Jennifer McVig's Investigation

At the forefront of uncovering the truth is Dr. Jennifer McVig, a young neurologist at the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo. Faced with the challenge of connecting seemingly unrelated cases while adhering to HIPAA regulations, Dr. McVig begins to piece together the puzzle.

Dr. McVig's Insights:

“It must be something they caught. Easy to assume, harder to prove.” (11:03)

Through meticulous investigation, Dr. McVig identifies a common thread: all affected students reside in the same zip code (14482) and attend Leroy Junior Senior High School. This discovery marks the onset of a broader investigation into the root cause of the outbreak.

Personal Accounts: Emily and Jessica

The episode provides intimate glimpses into the lives of Jessica and Emily, illustrating the personal toll of the epidemic.

Jessica's Struggles:

“And about a month after, I pass out again at the homecoming dance. That's awesome, right?” (01:26)
“My twitching has progressed into noises like through my nose.” (27:34)

Emily's Transformation:

“The first time I heard about it was from that girl. She was like, oh, one of these older girls from one of the older grades has apparently got the same thing that I do.” (22:52)
“I’m in trouble for something. They start talking to me about it.” (26:14)

Initially skeptical of others faking symptoms, Emily comes to realize the authenticity of the condition as she herself becomes afflicted.

Theories and Connections

Dan Taberski explores potential causes behind the outbreak, ranging from environmental factors to psychological stressors. The narrative hints at deeper connections, suggesting that what’s happening in Leroy might be part of a larger, possibly global issue.

Exploring Mass Hysteria:

“The idea that this is somehow psychogenic mass hysteria, that just doesn't apply to me.” — Jessica (30:46)

Dr. McVig emphasizes the unique nature of the cases, noting the dramatic onset and severe symptoms that differentiate them from traditional diagnoses like Tourette's Syndrome.

Community and Historical Context

The episode paints a vivid picture of Leroy, NY—a small town with a rich history linked to the Jell-O factory. This backdrop provides a cultural and historical context that may influence the town’s response to the outbreak.

Leroy's Identity:

“Old timers say you could tell what flavored Jell O they were making that day by the color of the creek running through town.” (16:49)

The declining prosperity and remnants of the Jell-O factory symbolize the broader socio-economic challenges facing the community, potentially exacerbating the crisis.

Conclusion

As the first episode wraps up, Dan Taberski sets the stage for a deeper exploration into the mysterious outbreak. The narrative suggests that understanding the human brain's complexities is crucial to unraveling the truth behind the symptoms plaguing Leroy’s young women.

Closing Thought:

“The brain is a mystery. Even when it’s Lyme.” (29:25)

With personal stories, expert insights, and a community grappling with fear and disbelief, Hysterical invites listeners to question the thin line between psychological and physiological phenomena.

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Key Takeaways

• Mystery Illness: A cluster of severe motor and vocal tics among teenage girls at Leroy Junior Senior High School suggests a potential case of mass hysteria or an unknown contagion.

• Community Response: Initial skepticism and accusations of faking symptoms heighten the tension within the small town, complicating efforts to find a resolution.

• Investigative Effort: Dr. Jennifer McVig’s role is pivotal in identifying patterns and connecting cases, highlighting the challenges faced by healthcare professionals in such scenarios.

• Historical and Cultural Context: Leroy’s background, including its Jell-O factory heritage, adds depth to the narrative, potentially influencing the outbreak’s dynamics.

• Personal Impact: The stories of Jessica and Emily humanize the crisis, illustrating the profound personal and social ramifications of the outbreak.

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Notable Quotes

• “These kids are just totally normal. And then next thing you know, they're going blah. And their arms are swinging.” — Mr. Mihalik (30:21)

• “Is Leroy or Leroy?” (14:23)
  — Dan Taberski questioning the town's name pronunciation, reflecting on the town's identity.

• “The first girls to develop symptoms at Leroy High were a junior and a senior, both cheerleaders on the varsity squad.” (23:30)
  — Lynn Belluccio recalling the initial cases.

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Further Listening

Stay tuned for the subsequent episodes of Hysterical, where Dan Taberski continues to explore the interconnectedness of mysterious illnesses and their impact on communities. Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or your preferred podcast platform to stay updated.

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This summary has been crafted to provide a comprehensive overview of Hysterical Episode 1: Outbreak, encapsulating all key discussions, insights, and personal accounts while adhering to the guidelines for structure and content emphasis.

Transcript

[Dan Taburski]

Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad free. Join Wonder in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Dan. I have an exciting announcement to share with everyone. Hysterical has been named the Apple Podcast's show of the Year. It's a recognition given to just one show that demonstrates quality and innovation in podcasting. The editors over at Apple Podcasts called our show an impeccably crafted and creatively structured investigation that sets a new standard for immersive audio experiences. And if you can't tell by the sound of my voice, I'm blushing. We really are so honored and so appreciative for the recognition and that you are here to listen to the show that we're really proud of. Thanks for listening. Now onto the show. In December of 2011, a young woman posted a video on YouTube.

[Jessica]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Jessica]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Jessica]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

Straight tic gang doesn't stop.

[Jessica]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

More cases of a mysterious illness have been confirmed.

[Ed Drain]

News4's Ed Drain.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Jessica]

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

[Lynn Belluccio]

And that you're faking because you want attention.

[Jessica]

Seriously, why would we fake this?

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

Is this really happening?

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

And can they stop it from episode one, Outbreak.

[Kara Swisher]

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[Ed Drain]

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[Dan Taburski]

What was the first you heard that something was happening?

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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, McVig was a young physician working at the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, New York. A neurologist newly minted.

[Ed Drain]

I had just finished medical school and fellowship. 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, people see that, you know, I'm new or they look at me and it's funny.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Ed Drain]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

When does patient number two come?

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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 comment, there's a lot of blinking, there's a lot of head tilts.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

Was so characteristic and so loud that I'm like, this is interesting. So now there's two presenting similarly once his chance, interestingly. Yep. And then I get number three.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

HIPAA is the federal privacy law for healthcare.

[Ed Drain]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

No, it's not okay.

[Ed Drain]

And that's how it took me a while to put things together, because I couldn't say anything.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Ed Drain]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Ed Drain]

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. And I'm like, yeah.

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[Scott Galloway]

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[Ed Drain]

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[Dan Taburski]

My first question is, is it Leroy or Leroy?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Probably Leroy.

[Dan Taburski]

And how do you say it?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

I'm blaming it on the cheerleaders.

[Dan Taburski]

Why?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Because they wanted 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 De Stroy Leroy. So I'm blaming it on the cheerleaders.

[Dan Taburski]

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?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

I love jello.

[Dan Taburski]

Really?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Yeah.

[Dan Taburski]

Lynn is also the former director of leroy's historical Jello Museum. I made under the Sea Jell O for Thanksgiving. We do it every Thanksgiving.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

And that's your traditional?

[Dan Taburski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jell O was invented in Leroy in 1897 and was made in the Jell O 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.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

It, there's mayonnaise in it.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

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

[Dan Taburski]

So wait you put mayonnaise on the top of Jell o?

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Well, if it's salad, sure.

[Dan Taburski]

The jello 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.

[Lynn Belluccio]

Yeah, I grew up in Leroy my whole life.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Lynn Belluccio]

Yeah.

[Dan Taburski]

You say Leroy?

[Lynn Belluccio]

Yeah. Everybody who lives there says Leroy?

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Lynn Belluccio]

Lives there says everybody who lives there says Leroy. Anybody on the news reporting on it calls it Laroi.

[Dan Taburski]

Really?

[Lynn Belluccio]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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? Jess.

[Dr. Jennifer McVig]

Kah.

[Dan Taburski]

Spell Jessica, please.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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

[Dan Taburski]

So then I went, how would you spell it then?

[Lynn Belluccio]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Emily]

No one wants to move into Podunkley. Right. There ain't nothing to do. You want to go to the jello factory? That's about it.

[Dan Taburski]

At the time all this happened, Emily was starting 8th 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. So.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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. It's what I always wanted to do was marching band and have my own program and that. And it was a great place to be.

[Emily]

Then I hated it.

[Dan Taburski]

Jessica had a different take.

[Lynn Belluccio]

I hated high school.

[Dan Taburski]

You really did?

[Ed Drain]

Yes.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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

[Dan Taburski]

So. Yeah, nothing like a contagious illness to. Yeah.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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?

[Dan Taburski]

No.

[Emily]

Okay, you're good.

[Mr. Mihalik]

They were little things. Motor tics or verbal tics?

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Mr. Mihalik]

The field, they were easy to ignore. They were something that I was used to. They were something that I accommodated.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

Here's Jessica.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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

[Dan Taburski]

Like, people thought they were faking it.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

So you're gonna be doing this for attention, right?

[Lynn Belluccio]

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

[Dan Taburski]

First two, then another, then two more.

[Mr. Mihalik]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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 at times said 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.

[Dan Taburski]

Wow.

[Mr. Mihalik]

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

[Dan Taburski]

Is Jessica.

[Lynn Belluccio]

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. Fucking 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 of work. She's, like, twitching. She's, like, crying at that point. Like, just trying to get out her words. And I'm like, holy shit, 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.

[Dan Taburski]

Emily has a similar experience.

[Scott Galloway]

So.

[Emily]

Woke up 90% of my day, completely normal day.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Emily]

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

[Dan Taburski]

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?

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Emily]

Yeah.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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, girl.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

My twitching has progressed into noises like through my nose.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

It's something that go away.

[Dan Taburski]

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, 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.

[Ed Drain]

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

[Dan Taburski]

But just because it's a mystery, it doesn't mean 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.

[Lynn Belluccio]

Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Jessica]

Everybody decided they were a detective and.

[Emily]

Tried to figure it out.

[Jessica]

Leroy was the new Dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

[Dan Taburski]

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.

[Dan Taburski]

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

[Jessica]

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

[Lynn Belluccio]

It looked like Tourette's.

[Dan Taburski]

It really did.

[Lynn Belluccio]

But you don't catch Tourette's.

[Dan Taburski]

Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad free right now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] survey and if you have a tip about a story that you think we should investigate, please write to [e-mail] tips. 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 Tupia. 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 Malofsky, Asha Saludja and Jenna Weiss Berman. Executive producers for Wondery are Morgan Jones, Marsha Louie and Jen Sargent. Thanks for listening. Hi everyone.

[Scott Galloway]

This is Kara Swisher.

[Dan Taburski]

And I'm Scott Galloway.

[Scott Galloway]

And we want to tell you about Pivot, our twice weekly podcast.

[Kara Swisher]

That's right, Kara.

[Dan Taburski]

What a thrill. It's a chance for us to break down all the big things happening in tech business and politics.

[Scott Galloway]

Yes, and I keep you in check so people can make it through each episode, whether it's digging into constant changes in the world of AI and social media or trying to keep up with whatever the Elon is doing. We're here to give you our take on all of that.

[Dan Taburski]

Every Tuesday and Friday morning, we drop a new episode about some of the.

[Kara Swisher]

Major stories of the moment, and Scott.

[Scott Galloway]

Is a prediction machine gazing into his crystal ball to tell you about where it's all heading.

[Kara Swisher]

That's right.

[Scott Galloway]

So if that sounds like a good time for you especially. Mr. That's right. You can follow us on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes every week.

[Dan Taburski]

Boom.