In the spirit of American advice columnists Dear Abby and Ann Landers, I am joined by Sarah Marshall of the podcast You’re Wrong About to give our own unique advice to some of the funnier questions sent in to Dear Abby and Ask Ann Landers from the 1950s to the early 2000s.
Get some of our new merch at americanhysteria.com, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families.
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Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
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DEAR ABBY AND ANN LANDERS
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.
Listen to Magpie Cinema Club
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline at americanhysteria.com
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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Titanic in Real Time
This is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. Our associate producer (and my brother) Riley Swedelius-Smith is here to tell us the absolutely wild and little-known story of how news of the Titanic shipwreck traveled to shore as the tragedy was all unfolding.
We can use your support right now! Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Get some American Hysteria merch at americanhysteria.com and support The Sameer Project
Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Song by Emily Westman
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Polybius: The Arcade Conspiracy
This is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. I share the history of an 80s urban legend with our producer Miranda Zickler, one about a dangerous video game that appeared in Portland arcades with possible links to the mysterious government agents known as the Men in Black and then disappeared without a trace.
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Get some American Hysteria merch at americanhysteria.com and support The Sameer Project
Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Song by Emily Westman
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Not Just a Phase: Goths Through History with Christine Laskowski
Christine Laskowski shares her research into how an ancient barbarian people known as the Goths came to represent everything from edgy Hot Topic fashion and the band Joy Division to the Notre Dame cathedral and Flannery O'Connor's writing. Christine is the host of the podcast T&J, a limited series about 6th century Byzantium.
Listen to the T&J podcast on Apple / Spotify
Become a Patron to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content
Or subscribe to American Hysteria on Apple Podcasts
Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline
Producer and Editor: Miranda Zickler
Associate Producer: Riley Swedelius-Smith
Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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.
USA