American Hysteria

Since 1965, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, has held an incredibly popular public event known as the Prison Rodeo where incarcerated men participate for cash prizes in contests so dangerous they have been banned from the professional rodeo circuit. Adam Mahoney is a reporter at Capital B and the author of a recent article titled The Wildest Show in the South: Spectacle and Suffering at America’s Biggest Prison. For this episode, Adam discusses with me the surreal reality of the Angola prison rodeo and his experience attending, gives me a background on the dark history of the penitentiary itself, and tells me the various perspectives of those involved in this shocking and deeply American spectacle. Read more of Adam’s work at capitalbnews.org [http://capitalbnews.org] Or follow him on Twitter @AdamLMahoney [https://x.com/adamlmahoney] Leave us a message on the Urban Legends Hotline at americanhysteria.com [https://www.chelseywebersmith.com/americanhysteria] ⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria] to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ [https://apple.co/3R9xBJe] Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster] Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/rileymsmith96] Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Over the last couple months, groups of Minecraft fans have been making TikTok videos of themselves wrecking havoc in theaters across the nation when their favorite moment of the new Minecraft movie plays. Culture writer and co-host of the podcast The Ends at Prom, BJ Colangelo, teaches me about wtf is going on and together we try not to moral panic while discussing what this new craze means. We’ll also talk about how the Minecraft mayhem compares (or doesn't care) to both The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the rebellious mayhem that we ourselves once wrought upon the nation.   Listen to This Ends at Prom [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-ends-at-prom/id1527896223] wherever you get your podcasts Follow @BJColangelo on TikTok and Instagram ⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠ [https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria] to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠ [https://apple.co/3R9xBJe] Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster] Associate Producer: ⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/rileymsmith96] Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

In 1973, mysterious communications from a young boy came over CB radios in the Southwest, leading to a massive search and rescue mission that generated far more questions than answers. For this episode, I tell American Hysteria Producer (and co-host of our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion) Miranda Zickler about the dubious case now referred to as Lost Boy Larry and go through the tangle of strange new information I feverishly uncovered deep in the archives of newspapers.com. This episode is a shortened version of our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. Head to patreon.com/americanhysteria [patreon.com/americanhysteria%20] or subscribe on Apple Podcasts⁠ [https://apple.co/3R9xBJe] to get access to Hysteria Home Companion as well as ad-free episodes. Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster] Associate Producer: ⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/rileymsmith96] Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

In 2009, the news reported live as a six-year-old boy careened through the air at 7,000 feet trapped inside a homemade balloon craft. Millions tuned into the harrowing saga, but once the balloon finally hit the ground, no little boy was found inside. Details then emerged that seemed to indicate it was all a hoax created by a family as part of a PR stunt for a reality TV show. On this episode, we explore the story of Balloon Boy, ask whether the event was indeed a hoax, and look at the early history of the hot air ballooning craze in the 18th and 19th centuries where hoaxes and wild spectacles were a foundational part of the emerging scientific field. Become a Patron⁠ [https://www.patreon.com/americanhysteria] to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ [https://apple.co/3R9xBJe] Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline at ⁠americanhysteria.com⁠ [https://www.chelseywebersmith.com/americanhysteria] Sound Designer and Associate Producer: ⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/rileymsmith96] Producer and Editor: ⁠Miranda Zickler⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster] Voice Actor: ⁠Will Rogers⁠ [http://www.talkbomb.com/] Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Right now we are seeing accusations of gang associations used to to justify abducting immigrants off the street and sending them to either US detention centers or the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador with no due process. We have included a new introduction for this rerelease of our two part Gang Initiation series from 2024 in hopes that we can illuminate how these types of accusations and their consequences are straight out of the American playbook. Head to immigrantjustice.org/know-your-rights [https://immigrantjustice.org/know-your-rights] Sound Designer and Associate Producer: ⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/rileymsmith96] Producer and Editor: ⁠Miranda Zickler⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/mirandatheswampmonster] Voice Actor: ⁠Will Rogers⁠ [http://www.talkbomb.com/] Written, Produced, and Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]