This episode explores the evolution of American's bogeyman, the Stranger, and reveals how rare these types of kidnappings really are. Through looking at the sensational child snatching crimes that have shaped our culture from the 1800s to the 1980s, and how we have responded to them in the media, in books, with PSAs and made-for-TV movies, host Chelsey Weber-Smith explains the problem with Stranger Danger and what this moral panic might be covering up.

American Hysteria is written and produced by Chelsey Weber-Smith

Produced and edited by Rod Rodriguez

Show art by Roache (xroache.com](xroache.com)

Thanks for Jake Weholt for the interview

Thanks to Corinne Manning for advising

Check out Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America by Paula Fass for further reading 

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