American Hysteria Podcast

American Hysteria is scripted podcast that covers an alternative history of the United States through the lens of the false things we fear and believe—moral panics, urban legends, conspiracy theories, irrational fears, and fantastical thinking. Through exhaustive research, queer/nonbinary host Chelsey Weber-Smith examines the damaging stories we tell and how they appear again and again in new and different forms. Often sparked by anxieties around race, gender, sexuality, class, American Hysteria tries to get at the roots of what makes humans fear the wrong things using psychology, biology, history, and sociology.

 The podcast unearths forgotten oddities of colonial American history, and examines culture wars and pop culture events we see through to present day. Season one topics included Stranger Danger, The Illuminati, Satanic Panic, the Gay Agenda, Drugs, and the End of the World. Season two focuses more so on the bizarre beliefs that have shaped our society, like the popularization and intersectional politics of Talking to the Dead and medical Quackery, how the fear of Germs affect our political views, and how the monstrous has been used to other black folks from the days of slavery to the drug wars of the 1980s. Chelsey attempts to understand how and why these panics and fantastical ideas are able to take hold, and the real social and political issues they have long worked to cover up. Grounded in creative nonfiction, Chelsey attempts to communicate complex ideas in both funny and serious ways, often using old PSAs, movie clips, commercials, and music to give depth and color to each topic. The show also charts their journey from former fantastical thinker and conspiracy theorist to a "flexible skeptic" through the process of making the show. American Hysteria is a quirky and inviting production that kindly encourages critical thinking and hopes to educate as much as it entertains.