Remember the late '90s mystery show Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? where you had to figure out which stories were true and which were fake? For this episode I tell the wild life story of the mysterious man who provided the "true" stories which were certainly beyond belief. I'm joined by wonder-siblings Will Rogers (our voice actor!) and Kristen Rogers-Anderson of Guide to the Unknown, a podcast that explores urban legends, the paranormal, horror movies, haunted places, and creepy pop culture. We take a trip down memory lane to discuss this cheesy gem which was also an early inspiration for what would one day become American Hysteria.

Listen to or watch Guide to the Unknown

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Find us on Instagram @americanhysteriapodcast

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline or get your mitts on some merch at americanhysteria.com

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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Patrick Scalisi and Valerie Ruby-Omen are the creators of the 2023 book Connecticut Cryptids: A Field Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Creatures of the Nutmeg State. Together they have documented Connecticut's most important cryptids, those elusive, folkloric creatures that have not been proven to actually exist but that pop up in different forms throughout time and all over the world. For this episode, Pat and Val tell me the wild story of the Glawackus, a 1966 hoax that got totally out of hand.

Get a copy of Connecticut Cryptids

Get tickets to our live show called A Massive Seance with You're Wrong About

Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Find us on Instagram @americanhysteriapodcast

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline or get your mitts on some merch at americanhysteria.com

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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This is a special episode I did for the podcast 'You're Wrong About' in 2022, and I wanted to finally bring it to you directly since the deep snowfalls of winter are looming on the ever-distant horizon. This is the harrowing tale of a wagon train trapped in the Sierra Nevadas in the harsh winter of 1864-1865, famously forced to cannibalize one another to stay alive, but that is only a small fraction of an almost unbelievable story. This is probably the piece of American history that fascinates me more than any other, so I'm excited to share it with you.

Over the next couple months we will be real busy on tour with You're Wrong About for 'A Massive Seance' west coast live show tour, so we will be putting out some fun interview episodes before we get back to our regularly scheduled programming!

GET TICKETS FOR A MASSIVE SEANCE HERE

Dec 3 + 4 in Portland

Dec 11 in Seattle

Jan 11 in San Francisco

Jan 24 in Los Angeles

Thank you to You're Wrong About for allowing us to use this episode! Make sure you listen to their show if you don't already <3

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For the 100th anniversary of the Macy's Parade, we are looking at the chaos energy that has always animated this cultural institution, from its explosive balloon disasters to its surprisingly unruly origins.

Get tickets for A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show with You're Wrong About:

linktr.ee/amassiveseance

Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline or get your mitts on some merch at americanhysteria.com

Sound Designer and Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Voice Actor: Will Rogers

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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This episode will give some context for our upcoming episode about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, its unbelievable chaotic origins and its totally out of control early days. Excerpts will be included from our War on Christmas Special, Haunted Attractions, Early Drag Queens pt. 1, and Toy Riots.

Get tickets for A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show with You're Wrong About:

linktr.ee/amassiveseance

Full episodes to check out:

War on Christmas Special (2019)

Haunted Attractions (2021)

Early Drag Queens pt. 1 (2023)

Toy Riots (2019)

Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Thank you to our sponsor OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code AMERICAN at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod

Sound design and Production by Riley Swedelius-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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Perry Carpenter is the author of the new book FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions. For this episode, we are discussing what it means to live in a world where artificial intelligence is altering our reality more and more, how we can navigate a deeply uncertain digital future, and what it all has to do with human nature and the nature of folklore.

Check out Perry book FAIK here

Find The FAIK Files podcast on Apple and Spotify

Find the Digital Folklore Podcast here

Find Perry Carpenter on LinkedIn, Twitter, and 8th Layer Media

Check out Perry's new op-ed with The Hill about our post-truth era

Get tickets to our live show called A Massive Seance with You're Wrong About

Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Find us on Instagram @americanhysteriapodcast

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline or get your mitts on some merch at americanhysteria.com

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode was originally released right before the 2020 presidential election and is even more relevant as we face the 2024 election. Political philosopher Jason Stanley, author of the book How Fascism Works, helps us understand how countries slide into authoritarian systems through conspiracy theories, demonization of others, the systematic erosion of truth, and the manipulation of anxieties around race and gender.

Check out How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley as well as his new book Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future

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In the 19th century, America and Europe experienced a panic over premature burial, believing that anyone could be accidentally declared dead and entombed before their time was really up. Led by a movement of quacky Spiritualists, the panic culminated in the creation of safety coffins with mechanisms that promised to save anyone who awoke six feet underground. Mere decades later, burial artists began performing all over America as a part of advertising gimmicks. They spent months underground in decked-out coffins, and the public could pay a dime to look down a viewing chute and see these "living corpses." For this Halloween special, we'll look at the panic-turned-spectacle of the American fear of being buried alive.

Get tickets for A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show with You're Wrong About:

linktr.ee/amassiveseance

Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline or get your mitts on some merch at americanhysteria.com

Sound Designer and Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Voice Actor: Will Rogers

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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This is a preview for "Candyman: The True Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder." On April 22, 1987, 52-year-old Ruthie Mae McCoy called 911 to report that someone was trying to enter her Chicago housing project apartment through the bathroom medicine cabinet. Police thought she was imagining things, but when authorities finally checked on McCoy two days

later, they found her dead with four gunshot wounds. From “48 Hours”, “Candyman: The True

Story Behind the Bathroom Mirror Murder,” revisits the real-life account of McCoy's strange

death – one of the inspirations for the Candyman horror film – and the broader systemic issues

surrounding the tragic event. Hosted by journalist and Chicago native Dometi Pongo.

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'Buried Alive,' our upcoming Halloween special, looks at the American fear and fascination with premature burial. We'll explore the panic that swept the nation in the 1800s, leading to the creation of safety coffins for those potentially entombed too soon, and the spectacles drummed up by eccentric performers who competed to see who could stay buried alive the longest. This episode provides more historical context through excerpts from our previous episodes, Death, The 12 Foot Skeleton, and Quackery.

Get tickets for A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show with You're Wrong About:

linktr.ee/amassiveseance

Full episodes to check out:

Death

The 12 Foot Skeleton

Quackery

Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts

Thank you to our sponsor OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code AMERICAN at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod

Sound design and Production by Riley Swedelius-Smith

Edited by Miranda Zickler

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices