American Hysteria

Behind every manufactured boy band there is what the press calls a Svengali, a puppet master who assembles the group and styles everything about them. This episode will introduce us to the eccentric producers and talent agents who have long shaped pop music from behind the curtain.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and co-writing by Riley SmithCo-produced and edited by Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogers and by Riley SmithBecome a Patron and support our show!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hysterical fangirls have become so commonplace in popular music that we hardly pay attention to them anymore, no matter how loud they scream. But there was a time when the screaming, crying, fainting teenage fan was seen not only as a psychological puzzle but also as a major threat to the American empire. Today we’ll cover four eras of landmark swooning starting in the mid-1800s and heading through to Beatlemania, taking a look at the moral panics they inspired and the new power these teenage girls were able to create with just the power of their screams.Our next episode will pick up right after Beatlemania to explore how the music industry capitalized on fangirls’ tastes by manufacturing what we now know as Boy Bands.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and co-writing by Riley SmithCo-produced and edited by Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogersand by Riley SmithBecome a Patron and support our show!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.comHead to greenchef.com/hysteria130 and use code hysteria130 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To prepare for our series called Fangirls and Boy Bands, we are heading back to the fantastical realm of the teenager and the reactionary moral panics their sex lives have inspired since the days of the Puritans. In this episode, pay special attention to the invention of the teenager in the 1920s and 40s as well as the way the small revolutions that music and dance were able to incite, and then come back next week when we will break down the archetype of hysterical fangirl and see how these seas of swooners were seen as both ridiculous and extremely dangerous to the very fabric of America.Head to greenchef.com/hysteria130 and use code hysteria130Become a Patron and support our show!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.comAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and co-writing by Riley SmithCo-produced and edited by Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogersand by Lily Orrey  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

*Please listen to our Westboro Baptist Church episode first!!* Megan Phelps-Roper was born and raised in the WBC, a fervent believer and lover of cruel funeral pickets. But when she got on Twitter to preach the hatred of God, she was met with thousands of replies from thousands of different people, a few of whom would slowly help reveal to her the error of her ways.Make sure you read Unfollow by Megan Phelps-RoperBecome a Patron and support our show!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.comAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosProduced by Miranda Zickler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Westboro Baptist Church outraged both sides of the political spectrum throughout the 90s, 2000s and 2010s, picketing the funerals of AIDS victims and soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, touting their loud and always shockingly foul-mouth message that America was doomed because we had accepted homosexuality. Today we explore their most memorable “antics”, the life of their asshole leader and the family that makes up most of their following, trying our best to demystify one of America’s most infamous pop-culture supervillains.CW: homophobia, religious abuse, deathBecome a Patron and support our show!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.comAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and co-writing by Riley SmithCo-produced and edited by Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next week we will be covering the Westboro Baptist Church, the small family clan and hyper-Calvinist group who have long outraged both the left and the right with their severe anti-gay and anti-military funeral pickets. To put their story into context, this rerelease will illuminate the history of American mainstream Christianity and show what the major players of the Evangelical right were really up to behind closed doors as they criticized the publicly inflammatory tactics of the WBC.Become a Patron and support our show!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.comAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and co-writing by Riley SmithCo-produced and edited by Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will Rogers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a sneak peek of our new Patrons-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion, where we share with you all the hottest gossip from the cutting room floor. This week we’re talking about the outrageous celebrity alien encounters of Demi Lovato, Anne Heche, Elvis Presley, Fran Drescher, and Miley Cyrus.Head to patreon.com/americanhysteria to get access to Hysteria Home Companion and much more!Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith and Miranda ZicklerOriginal music by Emily Westman, check out her work at emilywestmanmusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're talking to podcaster Jim Perry, the host of Euphomet, a paranormal documentary series that explores the unknown and our relationship to it through the stories of supernatural Experiencers. But Euphomet is less interested in what is real and what isn't and more interested in the emotional side to the most unexplainable experiences, including our own.Become a PatronCheck out EuphometCheck out Guide to the UnknownAmerican Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosProduced by Miranda ZicklerFollow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this classic episode, learn about the battles fought for and against this controversial American holiday from the Puritans to the present as well as some of the forgotten traditions that may change your perspective on this "season of giving" for good.American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithProduced and edited by Clear Commo StudiosResearch and cowriting assisted by Riley SmithCo-Produced by Miranda ZicklerVoice Acting by Will RogersBecome a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly!Follow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For part two of our series, we will look at skeptics' explanations for the alien abduction phenomenon to see what factors they believe may be creating these visions: repressed memory hypnotherapy, sleep paralysis, and cultural fears. We will also ask what deep human needs may be expressing themselves through these stories of 21st century secular supernaturalized trauma.Become a Patron today to get access to our follow-up talk show 'Hysteria Home Companion' and much moreCheck out Guide to the Unknown on Apple Podcasts Head to truebill.com/americanhysteria to start saving money today American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-SmithSound design by Clear Commo StudiosCo-Researched by Riley SmithProduced by Miranda ZicklerVoice acting by Will RogersFollow American Hysteria on social media:Twitter: @AmerHysteriaInstagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcastFind our merch at americanhysteria.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices