This American Life (Unofficial)

This week: A show for Halloween. Stories of things that are supposed to be scary, but aren't.

Simulated worlds, Civil War reenactments, wax museums, simulated coal mines, fake ethnic restaurants, an ersatz Medieval castle and other re-created worlds that thrive all across America.

Radio producer Scott Carrier quit his job at a low moment in his life. His wife left him and took the kids. And he got a job interviewing schizophrenics for some medical researchers. After doing it a while, he began to wonder if he was a schizophrenic himself. And more stories.

Host Ira Glass and playwright David Hauptschein took out advertisements in Chicago inviting people to come to a small theater with letters they've received, sent, or found.

Evocative, funny, emotional stories collected over the last few months that haven't fit into any of our regular "theme" shows.

Unusual stories from the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago, with scenes and moments not documented elsewhere.

Host Ira Glass spent a Saturday night — from 9:00 p.m. until dawn the next morning — at one of the most frenetic, joyous, efficient, angry, boisterous hot dog stands in the nation: Chicago's own Wiener Circle.

Unusual stories about day-to-day life at the Republican Convention.

Stories of people whose lives are transformed by music.

Stories of obsession and compulsion. What happens when a little idea starts to control you. Co-hosted by Paul Tough.

Unusual perspectives on the presumptive Republican nominee.

Writer David Sedaris recalls the days when his mother and sister played armchair detective — until a very odd crime wave hit within their own home. Plus, host Ira Glass goes out on surveillance with a real-life private eye.

Stories about kids being mean to each other, including a mysterious handbook for bullies, a surprising experiment conducted by a teacher who wants to make kids be nice, and a story of youthful backstabbing told by David Sedaris.

Ira's own father, Barry Glass, co-hosts this special Father's Day show.

A set of documentary stories, radio essays and monologues about basketball, the Chicago Bulls, and their grip on Chicagoans' hearts and lives during the NBA playoffs.

Stories of girls who have to figure out how they're going to act when the ground rules are constantly shifting.

Stories of the people who fall for a life in the theater.

Stories of the difficult relationships between parents and their grown children, including two long stories from Sandra Tsing Loh about her father.

A show about something most people have gone through. Friends get together to start a business, start a church, do political action together. And after a while, they start fighting and split up. We hear three true stories.

Stories of hero worship, of people admiring someone from afar, and trying to get closer to them.

Men who had comfortable, decent lives, yet decided to do something wild and eccentric with their lives instead.

April first is the one day of the year when we're allowed to enjoy deceiving others. But April Fools' Day is for amateur deceivers. The real pros are the people who can't control their lying, who lie without even knowing what the truth is. Everyone's known someone like this, but it's a topic that's only rarely studied or discussed publicly. Journalist and former This American Life contributing edi...

Our first show as This American Life.

Stories of politics, the economy, and the big picture.

Writer Jack Hitt goes on a search for a mysterious neighbor from his childhood in Charleston, South Carolina, and stumbles onto an epic story of the Old South, the New South, gender confusion, Chihuahuas, and changing values in American journalism.