Hysterical - Introducing: Hysterical

Episode Date: June 26, 2024

Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize. From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.Follow Hysterical on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When's the last time you've talked publicly about this? Publicly? When it happened. So it's been a while. It's been a while. In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York. There was a lot going on with these girls having outbursts. Reporting more than a dozen girls at Leroy High School say they have an illness that causes severe tics and verbal outbursts. I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

I'm like, stop f***ing around. She's like, I can't. I felt like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Wow. A mystery illness spreading fast. And then next thing you know, they're going, and their arms are swinging. With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low. So by then, everybody thought I was holding something back.

Well, you were holding something back intentionally. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah. And when it finally comes out, feels positively Looney Tunes. It's called mass hysteria. Especially for a woman. It's used when doctors don't know the diagnosis. Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Is this the largest mass hysteria since the witches of Salem?

It's like, no, that just does not fit. That's not it. I know it's not. Or is it something else entirely? What's the common denominator here? I remember hearing at some point, it must be a bad batch of tampons. Nationally known environmentalist Erin Brockovich sent a team to Leroy yesterday. Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder. Something happened. And I think what happened to you happened to me.

Who's susceptible? Just how often is this happening? And what do you do when they tell you it's all in your head? The idea that this is somehow psychogenic, psychosomatic, mass hysteria, I mean, that just doesn't apply to me. People are just so tired of being called liars that they won't talk about it anymore. I don't fault anybody for believing it at the time. I was one of them. I'm Dan Taberski, and this is Hysterical,

a new limited series from Wondery, Pineapple Street Studios, and the team that brought you 912, Running from Cops and Missing Richard Simmons. Like, am I going crazy? Is this really happening? Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Am I going crazy? Is this really happening?