American Hysteria explores how fantastical thinking has shaped our culture – moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, fringe beliefs, and national misunderstandings. Poet-turned-podcaster Chelsey Weber-Smith tells the strangest stories from American history and examines the forces that create the reality we share, and sometimes, the reality we don't.
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American Hysteria explores how fantastical thinking has shaped our culture – moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, fringe beliefs, and national misunderstandings. Poet-turned-podcaster Chelsey Weber-Smith tells the strangest stories from American history and examines the forces that create the reality we share, and sometimes, the reality we don't.
Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, also known as Dear Abby, were newspaper advice columnists answering questions and printing statements from their 100 million readers from the 1950s to the early 2000s. The flamboyant, eccentric women behind the columns, Eppie Lederer and Popo Phillips, had a fiery rivalry as they fought for the top spot of the advice column industrial complex. On this episode, I dish about the lives of these (allegedly) one-of-a-kind housewife-oracles and explain how their very public opinions on hot-button issues affected American culture for half a century of colossal political change.
Get some of our new merch at americanhysteria.com, all profits this month go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food, supplies, and cash envelops to displaced families.
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Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Sound Designer and Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Voice Actor: Will Rogers
Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
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American Hysteria
American Hysteria explores how fantastical thinking has shaped our culture – moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, fringe beliefs, and national misunderstandings. Poet-turned-podcaster Chelsey Weber-Smith tells the strangest stories from American history and examines the forces that create the reality we share, and sometimes, the reality we don't.
