American Hysteria

Please enjoy this rewind of last year's Halloween special called Haunted Dolls. Coming up next week we'll start our Halloween series called 'The 12 ft. Skeleton.' Then we'll be teaming up with our sibling podcast You're Wrong About for another Halloween special!For this rewind, we'll see how possessed playthings have crept their way into the dark attic of America: Thomas Edison's little monsters, a demonic Raggedy Ann, a living ventriloquist dummy, a deadly voodoo curse, and an online market where you can buy yourself a soul trapped in the body of a doll.Become a Patron and support our show! Or subscribe on Apple Podcasts!American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithCo-produced and co-edited by Miranda ZicklerCo-researched and co-editing by Riley SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosVoice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin McHenry, author of the forthcoming book Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place, tells me an expansive tale of an alleged long lost continent first written about in early scientific works, then harnessed by esoteric eccentrics and new age mystics, mutating over the decades into fantastical fuel that is embedded in the strangest of conspiracy theories and cults to this very day.Preorder Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake PlaceBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentOr subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple PodcastsAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To unpack the movie trope of the Murderous Man in a Dress, prolific horror film analysts and writers BJ and Harmony Colangelo discuss with me all the complicated trans and drag “representation” in movies like Sleepaway Camp, Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, Dressed to Kill, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We’ll look at how these crossdressing killers have affected the psyche of Americans through the decades, whether there is anything redeemable about these characters, and what they have to tell us about the horrors of the present day.Listen to This Ends at PromPreorder 'Sleepaway Camp'Read Harmony's thoughts on The Silence of the LambsBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentOr subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple PodcastsAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For part two of our series, we are starting in the anti-gay moral panic of the 50s and 60s to see how the drag scene continued to transform underground, with female impressionists dazzling the starlets they tried to copy as closely as possible. We'll be introduced to a nationwide pageant circuit which allowed drag queens the opportunity to compete just like Miss America contestants, leading to a popular and well-reviewed documentary that revealed the controversial personal lives of these performers. Then we'll drop right into the Gay Liberation Movement where rifts between gay men, lesbian feminists, and drag queens led to a harsh animosity. Next we'll look at the southern tradition of Womanless Weddings that stretches back to the 1800s, where well-to-do men acted out every part of ceremony as a community wide ritual of hilarity. Finally, we'll travel all the way back to 16th century London where a moral panic around the theater's evil influence very much included the boys and men who dressed in woman's costumes to play their roles.Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentTell us your teenage tale on our Urban Legends Hotline!American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer and Editor: Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This series will cover the moral panics and cultural crazes that have long followed the controversial art form once called "female impersonation." For part one of our two part series, we'll start back in the 1800s to look at the earliest drag balls put on by formerly enslaved men as well as the police raids that made front page news. We'll learn about a famous Vaudeville star known for his hyper-feminine on-stage and hyper-masculine off-stage personas. We'll explore a time when gay was in, the 1930s Pansy Craze, and the political crackdown that inevitably followed. And finally, we'll cover the smash-hit drag musicals put on by the manly soldiers of WWII and the closeted GIs who may have woven in a secret campy code. Throughout, we'll start to analyze how the culture reacted to female impersonation based on the changing events of the decades, bestowing on these performers both massive success and frightening suppression, usually depending on who was performing and what their intentions were.Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentTell us your teenage tale on our Urban Legends Hotline!American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch Assistant: Riley Swedelius-SmithProducer and Editor: Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast episode provides historical context on the relationship between female impersonation and American masculinity. It explores the evolution of gender signifiers, the commodification of baby gender, 3D ultrasounds, drag queens in Vaudeville shows, exploitation and empowerment in trash talk shows, societal anxieties around transgender individuals, and the disturbing actions of Ed Gean. It also teases an upcoming series on early drag queens of America.

As the social media and the news got word of the new cases of leprosy found in Florida, a slew of misinformation and stigmatization followed. José P. Ramirez Jr. is the author of the memoir Squint: My Journey With Leprosy (Hansen's Disease), which leads readers through the mystery illness that took over his life as a teenager in the 1960s, his diagnosis at age 20, and his years spent at the only facility for people with Leprosy in the United States, but it was far more than just a hospital. Today José will dispel myths and share his devastating and uplifting life story so we can better understand the disease that still strikes a biblically-inspired fear in Americans.If you have any questions or comments, you can email José at joseramirezjr@hotmail.comDonate to IDEA hereBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BJ Colangelo is an editor at Slash Film and the writer of “The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever Need,” a comprehensive look at the cultural movement of America's pinkest lady. On this episode, BJ will take us through the moral panics, conspiracy theories, and misunderstandings that have followed this controversial toy starting back in the 1960s and continuing into this very day.Read The Only Guide To Barbie Lore You Will Ever NeedListen to This Ends at PromBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a collaborative look at the panics around Furby with the podcast Unspookable, a show much like ours that takes a more kid-friendly approach to understanding urban legends. In honor of the return of Furby to toy stores in July 2023, we revisit some of the ridiculous myths and freaky stories around the hottest toy of the late 90s, and look deeper into what it says about human nature and America as a whole.Listen to our good buddies at UnspookableBecome a patron of our show!This episode was produced by Nate Dufort and Chelsey Weber-SmithHosted by Elise ParisianHead writing by Ellenor Riley-ConditThe AH theme song was composed by Hakan ErikksonThe special mashup theme song was created by Jesse Case  Special thanks to Jonah, Bella, Isabella, and Jon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie Loftus is the author of the recent New York Times bestselling book 'Raw Dog: The Naked Truth about Hot Dogs.' Together we discuss some very weird hot dog-related urban legends and conspiracy theories as a companion to our episode about the cannibal pig people of Pig Hill. We'll also learn about the history and politics of this great American meat tube and most importantly, we interrogate the aggressively gendered branding of gas station jumbo pickles.Get a copy of Jamie's book Raw DogBecome a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus contentAmerican Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithEdited by Miranda ZicklerSound design by Clear Commo Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices