
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.
| Publishes | Weekly | Episodes | 274 | Founded | 7 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Category | Society & Culture | |||

Have you ever wondered if the person you are arguing with in a social media comment section is really a person at all? Perry Carpenter is a cybersecurity expert, author of FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and... more
Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...For our Halloween special, we are going to trace the history of the slumber party ritual known as Bloody Mary in which a young summoner stands in the dark in front of a mirror to call up a dangerous, blood-so... more
Sarah Marshall is here to teach me about the confounding phenomenon of Spontaneous Human Combustion in which a person is found almost totally incinerated with no explanation, seeming to have burst into flames from within. From the Victorian era to th... more
This is a rerelease of our 2023 Halloween special about the 12 Ft Skeleton Halloween craze and the strange history of our relationship to skeletons, both real and fake, stretching back hundreds of years. On 10/14 you can hear me on You're Wrong About... more
People also subscribe to these shows.





Content is great. The solo delivery is awful. Much better when there are guests. Solo delivery is unlistenable.
I want to love this so bad, but the way the host reads the scripted content is so difficult to get through, as it’s so slow and emphasises every second word performative. It’s just too distracting. When she’s interviewing or speaking with guests it’s way better and so enjoyable! It’s so well researched and fun content wise, I’m sad I can’t get through it. Maybe just not for me.
I absolutely love this podcast! The topics are so interesting as well as the conversations. I find it so comforting and truly get so excited when a new episode comes out. I feel like Chelsey and I are very similar in our interests and the past few episodes have been so good… love love love!
what an adorable, curious, insightful weirdo!!!! <3 <3 <3
Very entertaining deep dives across a variety of weird, spooky, kooky, wild topics, and fun guests too
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #190 | |
Apple Podcasts | #226 | |
Apple Podcasts | #249 | |
Apple Podcasts | #230 | |
Apple Podcasts | #248 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
Exploring the intersection of fantastical thinking and American culture, this podcast investigates moral panics, urban legends, hoaxes, crazes, and fringe beliefs. With a blend of storytelling and insightful analysis, the host captures bizarre and compelling narratives that reveal how these phenomena influence societal perceptions and behaviors. Topics like the infamous Houdini, disturbing children's media on platforms like YouTube, and iconic cultural figures like Ann Landers are addressed with a mix of humor and critical reflection. The show's unique approach lies in its comprehensive examination of the unwritten rules of societal norms, making it a thought-provoking listen for those intrigued by the quirky and often overlooked truths of ... more
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for American Hysteria. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to American Hysteria and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for American Hysteria, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for American Hysteria, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers American Hysteria has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with American Hysteria:
1. You're Wrong About
2. You Are Good
3. Maintenance Phase
4. If Books Could Kill
5. Sounds Like A Cult
American Hysteria launched 7 years ago and published 274 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for American Hysteria from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of American Hysteria. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on American Hysteria include:
1. Liz Gotauco
2. George Civeris
3. Christine Laskowski
4. Lerone A. Martin
5. Adam Mahoney
6. Joshua Belhumeur
7. Malcolm Critcher
8. Gabe Lenners
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.