The Generation Why Podcast

Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.

From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.

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June 16th, 1991. Denver, Colorado. On Father’s Day 1991 an armed robber gained access to secured areas of Denver’s United Bank Tower and fatally shot four guards before stealing $200,000 in cash. Based on the shooter’s extensive knowledge of the bank’s layout and security system, the police suspected that the shooter was a former employee.

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November 19, 1996. Carthage Texas. There is no debate that Bernie Tiede shot 80-year-old Marjorie Nugent in the back four times and hid her body in a deep freezer for nine months. He admitted so in his confession to police and in his later trial. The question is why did he kill her? Did Bernie snap after years of mental abuse dealt out by a woman very few people seemed to like? Or did he play out a long-con to become the sole inheritor of her multimillion dollar estate?

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On December 11, 2017, a 21-year-old mother, Libby Caswell, was found dead in the bathroom of a motel in Independence, Missouri. Her boyfriend’s belt was fastened around her neck, and he had fled the scene after telling a 911 dispatcher that Libby had committed suicide. The police ruled her death a suicide, however, after obtaining autopsy reports, police reports and the opinion of experts, Libby’s mother believes otherwise.

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A young woman’s body was found on the side of the road in Choctaw, OK in 1990. Four years after her death, her son, Michael Hughes, was abducted from his elementary school by a man who claimed to be his father. Who was the young woman and what happened to her son? Her death and her son’s disappearance would lead to a string of disturbing discoveries over the following two decades.

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September 11th, 2009. Monrovia, California. Brian Randone called 911 because he found his girlfriend Felicia Tang unresponsive after a night of drug use. Officers responded to the call and found Felicia dead in the bathtub. She suffered over 300 injuries, but Randone maintained that she died from an overdose of GHB.

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March 18, 1990. Boston, Massachusetts. In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, a security guard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum buzzed in two men dressed as police officers. Those two men revealed themselves to be thieves, who quickly tied up both of the guards. They stole 13 pieces of art including works by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer. Despite a large reward offer from the museum and over 30 years of investigation by the FBI, none of the artwork has been recovered. How were these men able to pull off the largest art heist in the world?

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February 16, 1974. Fort Worth, Texas. Carla Walker and her boyfriend Rodney McCoy were kissing in a bowling alley parking lot after a school dance when they were attacked by an unknown man. Rodney was beaten into unconsciousness and Carla was abducted.

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In the summer of 2000, 31-year-old musician, David Anderson, went missing after a night out in New Hope, PA. He disappeared after crossing the bridge from New Hope to Lambertville. In 2013, 39-year-old bartender, Sarah Majoras, went missing after a night out in New Hope along the same route that Anderson had mysteriously disappeared from almost 13 years earlier. She was on route to the home she shared with her boyfriend, Adam Baker, who just so happened to be David Anderson’s roommate in the summer of 2000.

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December 6th, 2014. Courtland, Mississippi. Firefighters responded to a report of a burning vehicle on a rural road. They found 19-year-old Jessica Chambers nearby. She was still alive but severely burned. Jessica identified herself and told first responders that someone named “Eric” or “Derek,” set her car on fire. She died from her injuries the next day.

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