For this Urban Legends Hotline episode, we are answering a listener message about a story of street gangs initiating wannabes with frightening rituals including driving around with their headlights off and murdering the first good samaritan who gives them a courtesy flash. We'll explore several scares that have flared up due to different versions of this urban legend, as well as real crimes wrongfully blamed on these initiations, all leading to the feeling that street gangs were creeping into the suburbs, looking for human sacrifices.

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Sound designer and associate producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Producer: Miranda Zickler

Voice Actor: Will Rogers

Written, produced and hosted by by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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'Gang Initiations' is the topic of our upcoming series, and this episode will provide extra context using excerpts from three previous episodes—Urban Legends, Drugs, and Dangerous Teens.

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Sound design and co-production by Riley Swedelius-Smith

Produced and edited by Miranda Zickler

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

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Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline

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Live at SF Sketchfest, Sarah Marshall tells me about the urban-legendary alligators in the sewers of New York City. But of course, that's only one of the many manholes we open.

Make sure you listen to You're Wrong About!

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline

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Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

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Today I'm joined by paranormal corespondent Jim Perry of the podcast Euphomet and Sapphire Sandalo of the podcast Stories With Sapphire as well as the TV shows Ghost Town Terror, Paranormal Caught On Camera, and Paranormal Nightshift. We'll discuss what it’s like to work on very different kinds of projects in the supernatural sphere and get a little behind the scenes look at classic reality ghost shows. We’ll talk about the dream of diversifying away from the formulaic industry of ghost bros and Christian-influenced endings to allow the paranormal to take different forms, understood in different ways by very different kinds of people.

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Hosted Chelsey Weber-Smith

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Associated Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith

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In this episode I tell podcaster Sarah Marshall a truly wild story I uncovered about the first recognized case of Munchausen Syndrome (Factitious Disorder) in the United States. An alleged professional wrestler and American folk anti-hero called the Indiana Cyclone faked symptoms of injury and illness while blowing through hospitals across the country from the 1950s to the 1970s, leaving a bizarre kind of terror in his wake.

Catch Sarah and I at SF SketchFest on Feb 2nd and Feb 3rd!

Make sure you listen to You're Wrong About and You Are Good (duh duh duh!)

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Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline

Hosted Chelsey Weber-Smith

Produced and Edited by Miranda Zickler

Music direction by Riley Swedelius-Smith

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Pop culture correspondent and major Pro Wrestling fan BJ Colangelo and I discuss the quirky history of this manly soap opera, its changing landscape in terms of gender and sexuality, as well as the complicated psychology of kayfabe, in which staged performances are presented as genuine.

Read BJ's Review of The Iron Claw

Check out her podcast This Ends at Prom

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Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline

Hosted Chelsey Weber-Smith

Produced and Edited by Miranda Zickler

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Author of the book Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America, historian Wendy Woloson joins me to discuss the long-time American obsession with pointless, poorly-made products and novelty items like Sea Monkeys, X-ray specs, fake vomit, and exploding cigars. Today we will go into much more detail analyzing this definitively American crap and what it all means about our history and society.

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Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline

American Hysteria is produced and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Produced and Edited by Miranda Zickler

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The novelty pets known as Sea Monkeys have delighted and disappointed millions of American children since they were first marketed in the early 1960s, with the nostalgia-fueled craze returning decade after decade, even after the creator was linked to Neo-Nazi activities. Described in the highly exaggerated ad copy as the most lovable pets in America, these tiny, allegedly monkey-like aquatic creatures are actually nothing more than microscopic brine shrimp, usually used as fish food in pet stores. In this episode, we will look closely at the history of Sea Monkeys and their ingenious but controversial creator, and take you through the comic book ad copy that marketed junky novelty items directly to children using language both deeply misleading and hilariously hyperbolic.

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Call our Urban Legends Hotline and share a teenage tale you heard growing up

This episode was written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Research Assistant: Riley Swedelius-Smith

Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler

Voice Acting by Will Rogers

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This is a rerelease of last year's holiday special! Find our new merch at americanhysteria.com/merch

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 traditional lifestyle and of course, someone's dad is always Santa. Sound familiar? We will explore the history of Hallmark, the formula that makes these cheesy productions so successful, the Christmas Movie Wars of the last few years, as well as the controversies over diversity and "family-friendly" entertainment.

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American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Co-produced and co-edited by Miranda Zickler

Co-researched and co-edited by Riley Smith

Sound design by Clear Commo Studios

Voice acting by Will Rogers

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This is a story from a recent episode of our exclusive Patreon/Apple + talk show Hysteria Home Companion, where producer Miranda and I take turns sharing stories related to the topics we are covering. For this one that we felt was too good not to share far and wide, Miranda tells me the story of a mysterious hanging cadaver that once decorated a California dark ride and unravels the decades-long, Forrest Gumpian journey of one long dead man.

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Producer/Edited by Miranda Zickler

Music by Emily Westman

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