Explore the curious world of mind games, from a letter full of white lies that complicates a relationship to a prank where a group pretends to be fans of a yet unknown band, leading to unexpected reactions. Discover the unsettling story of a family living in the same neighborhood as a notorious kidnapping case, revealing eerie encounters in their community. Each tale dives deep into the unexpected consequences of our playful motivations.
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Subway Prank That Escalates Quickly
Ira Glass recounts a vivid subway prank where multiple riders board without pants.
The scene culminates with someone selling pants to the now pantless crowd.
insights INSIGHT
Small Actions Reshape Social Norms
A playful mind-game scenario can rapidly escalate into surprising group behavior changes.
Small staged actions (like many people without pants) shift social norms on a transit car.
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Prologue: Host Ira Glass interviews Lori Gottlieb about the time she sent a letter to a writer in a magazine, a letter packed with white lies. (5 minutes)
Act One: Lori Gottlieb's story continues. One complication led to another, and before long, the writer seemed to be lying to her. Or maybe he wasn't. It was hard to tell. Years later, she still isn't sure what happened. (8 minutes)
Act Two: A group called Improv Everywhere decides that an unknown band, Ghosts of Pasha, playing their first ever tour in New York, ought to think they're a smash hit. So they study the band's music and then crowd the performance, pretending to be hard-core fans. Improv Everywhere just wants to make the band happy—to give them the best day of their lives. But the band doesn't see it that way. Nor does another subject of one of Improv Everywhere's "missions." (31 minutes)
Act Three: Scott Carrier and his family live in the same Salt Lake City neighborhood as Elizabeth Smart, the fourteen-year-old whose 2002 kidnapping made international news. Though Smart's picture was plastered everywhere throughout Salt Lake City and thousands of volunteers searched for her, her captors brazenly brought her back to the very neighborhood from which she'd been taken. They walked freely through the streets with her in broad daylight, yet no one recognized her. Scott talks with his neighbors and his son Milo—who had attended grade school with Smart—about what was going through their minds that prevented them from seeing what was right there in plain sight. (12 minutes)
This American Life