American Hysteria

For part two of my conversation with Sarah, I finish telling her about a satanic panic era "memoir" published by Chick Publications in the early 1990s which culminates in the author's transformation into a real-life vampire only able to survive by drinking human blood. Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Listen to You're Wrong About wherever you get...

Over the next two episodes, I tell Sarah the story of another one of Jack Chick's occult experts using his "memoir" published by Chick Publications in the early 1990s which culminates in his transformation into a real-life vampire. We also discuss other memoirs of cultic abuse and participation written during the Satanic Panic and how they contributed to the hysteria. Become a Patron to support ou...

Who was Jack Chick, really? For the final episode in our series we will explore his childhood, his time in WWII, the comic moral panic happening at the beginning of his career, and how it all shaped the nightmarish world he would come to create through his work. We'll explore the negative impacts of his egregious messaging while at the same time looking at how beloved his lurid and campy cartoons...

An ex-druid grand priest for the illuminati, an undercover Jesuit agent of destruction, a woman married to the devil, and a doctor who battled demons and satanists alongside her – these are the people who brought Jack Chick the life stories he would use to create his tracts, comics, and books. For this episode, we are going to hear their sensational tales, explore their relationships to Jack, and...

Cartoons 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)...

Chick Tracts, what are they? You'll find out in our upcoming three-part series that covers a fundamentalist comic artist who was a hidden architect of the satanic panic, illuminati, and gay agenda hysterias. Jack Chick printed hundreds of millions of his bible tracts, small stapled together cartoon booklets full of blood sacrificing witches, evil secret societies, and sensationalized sin, based on...

Are we being invaded?? I sure thought so. Today we are talking quite animatedly to our official paranormal correspondent Jim Perry of the podcast Euphomet, a documentary series that explores the unknown and our relationship to it. This episode includes our thoughts on the recent unidentified aerial phenomena, the first UFO hysteria of the 1940s, and how our otherworldly encounters have something t...

In 2014, an urban legend formed around a cartoon cat chatbot when rumors spread across social media that a child predator was operating the app, actually visible in the reflection of her big blue eyes. We'll look at the moral panic that cropped up around Talking Angela, and take a look at how urban legends are often a patchwork of clumsy crowdsourced creativity taken far too seriously. Become a Pa...

For this episode we chat about the sensational tales of cyberspace, from Slenderman to the Momo suicide game, with the guys behind the new podcast Digital Folklore, an immersive experience that explores online culture, internet monsters, memes, and urban legends as an accessible and entertaining way to learn about academic folklore concepts. We'll get deep into what these new stories tell us about...

Nope, it's not an urban legend! Today we are talking to journalist and filmmaker Robin Washington who, like a huge number of boys in high school between the 1920s and 1970s, was required to swim naked during gym class. Not only has Robin created documentaries like the PBS film You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow!, he is also a founder of the Alliance of Black Jews. But Robin is here to talk to us spec...

In 1974, running naked in public became a major fad led by students on college campuses across the nation. This provocative prank was surprisingly well-received, considered a playful call back to the college fads of yore like the riotous panty raids that burned across campuses in the 1950s. We'll look at the most outrageous moments from these crazes and see how streaking was used to discredit the...

This episode will give context for our upcoming topic called The Streaking Craze using excerpts from previous shows including: Terrorism Pt. 1 Mind Control Teenage Sex For ad-free, early episodes and bonus content became a Patron at patreon.com/americanhysteria This episode was co-produced by Riley Swedelius-Smith Edited by Miranda Zickler Produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more abou...

Tickle Me Elmo, Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, Pokemon cards. These trendy toys all inspired parental parking lot brawls and suburban shadow economies. For our Christmas hangover, we revisit the outrageous toy riots that marked the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, many of which flared up around the holiday season. Includes a little interview with my Grannie about her experience securing a Tickle Me Elmo A...

Because so many Hallmark writers and directors also make horror movies, I called in podcasters Sarah Marshall and Alex Steed of 'You're Wrong About' and 'You Are Good' to discuss the similarities between these two seemingly polar opposite genres. Subscribe to You Are Good and You're Wrong About Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Follow American Hys...

They usually go something like this: A cranky career woman from the big city who has lost the true meaning of Christmas arrives in a small town where she falls in love with a handsome handyman or baker or Christmas tree farmer and together they vanquish whatever big business force threatens the idyllic community. The Christmas spirit leads her to let go of her own ambitions and embrace a more trad...

This episode gives context to our upcoming series on Hallmark Christmas Movies using excerpts from previous topics including The War on Christmas, The Gay Agenda, and Suburbia. Listen to The War on Christmas Listen to The Gay Agenda Listen to Suburbia Become a Patron at patreon.com/americanhysteria This Context Clues produced by Chelsey Weber-Smith and Riley Smith Learn more about your ad choices....

Colin Dickey is one of American Hysteria's biggest influences—our episodes called Talking to the Dead and Alien Abductions relied on his books Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places and The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained. His newest piece is called Land of Delusion and it explores two new bizarre conspiracy theories that center a...

Paranormal podcast host (and major buddy) Jim Perry of Euphomet returns to discuss a couple of the many experiences that have made it impossible for us to live purely skeptical lives: his time getting personal with a haunted doll and my time getting personal with the ghost that tried to burn my house down. As usual, expect lots of philosophical waxing from both of us about the mysteries of the sup...

Featuring poems, fiction, nonfiction, AND A GROUP SONG with work by Sarah Marshall (You're Wrong About, You Are Good), Alex Steed (You Are Good), BJ Colangelo (This Ends at Prom), Will Rogers (Guide to the Unknown), Carolyn Kendrick (You're Wrong About, You Are Good), Miranda Zickler (Kuinka), Riley Swedelius-Smith (American Hysteria), and Chelsey Weber-Smith (me duh) To get an mp3 of our Hallowee...

Here’s a preview from a podcast that's right up your dark alley! On Cautionary Tales, bestselling author Tim Harford finds the morals in moments from the greatest mistakes and tragic catastrophes of the past. This Halloween season, he’s exploring “Halloween sadism” – where a stranger puts something dangerous in the treats collected by children. Razor blades in apples. Rat poison in chocolate. That...

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! Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @Am...

To get you ready for our upcoming episode called Haunted Dolls, we have selected some excerpts on Furby urban legends, demon-possessed toys, and uncanny killer clowns. Listen to Furby here Listen to Satanic Panic pt. 1 here Listen to Phantom Clowns here Become a Patron at patreon.com/americanhyseria Produced by Chelsey Weber-Smith, Riley Smith, and Miranda Zickler Learn more about your ad choices....

Our most classic American urban legend is back with a vengeance, promising to ruin Halloween yet again. With an updated introduction to our 2018 episode, we'll explore the newest fearful iteration: Rainbow Fentanyl. Are drug traffickers really passing out a deadly drug disguised as colorful candy in order to get kids hooked? And if not, who stands to gain from reviving this debunked tall tale? For...

To get an extended director's cut of this episode, become a patron: patreon.com/americanhysteria For this Halloween Party, we are joined by our favorite undead friend Sarah Marshall, and she and I will answer some spooky questions asked by the waking nightmare that is our producer, Miranda Zickler. We scream like hovering banshees about horror movies, Halloween costumes, trick-or-treating, and eve...

Not unlike the bubble markets of Beanie Babies and Cryptocurrency, the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s was a chaotic craze that caused the largest migration in American history. This episode follows the ridiculous life of Carl Fisher, one of the most flamboyant gimmick artists in American history who helped convince thousands of people to spend their life savings of on his half-baked dream. Become...