QUACKERY

QUACKERY

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Lifestyle-brand ‘Goop’ and the expensive products it peddles are just the newest in a long line of medical quackery leading back to the 1800s. America has a long history with selling and buying Snake Oil, bogus cures to any ailment you can imagine, starting with the cowboy showman of the wild west, who sold to the masses through traveling vaudevillian performances. In addition to fake cures, historical American doctors and scientists also have a dark history of identifying and pathologizing both biological and mental illnesses that simply didn’t exist, ones that said much more about the culture’s values than it did about the people who were said to be ill. At the same time, the rich were being diagnosed in spades with a disorder known as Americanitis, leading to much more luxurious treatments. American alternative medicine, as dubious as it may be, formed as citizens rightly grew suspicious of the flawed medical establishment. Though fake cures are not grounded in science, researchers are actually finding that alternative medicine does work to help relieve us of our pain, just not in the ways you might think. American Hysteria is written, produced, and hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Produced and edited by Clear Commo Studios Research and cowriting assisted by Riley Smith Show art by Roache Voice Acting by Will Rogers Become a Patron for extra episodes, interviews, and videos monthly! Follow American Hysteria on social media: Twitter: @AmerHysteria Instagram: @AmericanHysteriaPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episoder(288)

Mall Santas pt. 1 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About'

Mall Santas pt. 1 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About'

For this two-part holiday special, I tell Sarah Marshall all about the history of the American mall Santa Claus from the 1800s into the present day. For part one, we will learn about the eccentric men...

15 Des 20251h 25min

Three or More Is a Riot with Jelani Cobb

Three or More Is a Riot with Jelani Cobb

Jelani Cobb is the Dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and the author of the new book Three or More Is a Riot: Notes on How We Got Here: 2012-2025 which he is here to talk with me about t...

8 Des 202535min

The Rocky Horror Picture Show with 'This Ends At Prom'

The Rocky Horror Picture Show with 'This Ends At Prom'

In honor of my favorite movie's 50th anniversary, I wanted to share an episode about The Rocky Horror Picture Show with all of you unconventional conventionalists, one that I recently recorded with my...

1 Des 20251h 28min

Listen Now: American Scandal | The West Memphis Three

Listen Now: American Scandal | The West Memphis Three

On May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The tiny local police department launches an investigation but finds little physical evidence to lead them to a ...

26 Nov 20258min

THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (rewind)

THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (rewind)

Brace yourselves, we are marching along with the Macy's Parade to learn about the chaos energy that has always animated this cultural institution, from its explosive balloon disasters to its surprisin...

24 Nov 202553min

The Devil We Know with Sarah Marshall

The Devil We Know with Sarah Marshall

Sarah Marshall of You're Wrong About joins me to wade back into the tall tales that devil-spawned the friendship we have today. In honor of her brand new podcast miniseries from the CBC called The Dev...

17 Nov 20251h 28min

Disneyland’s Disastrous Opening Day with Riley Swedelius-Smith and Miranda Zickler

Disneyland’s Disastrous Opening Day with Riley Swedelius-Smith and Miranda Zickler

Our associate producer (and my brother) Riley Swedelius-Smith is here to tell our producer Miranda Zickler and me about the chaotic opening day of The Happiest Place on Earth way back in 1955. We’ll ...

10 Nov 20251h 17min

Bot Farms and the Troll Toll with Perry Carpenter

Bot Farms and the Troll Toll with Perry Carpenter

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 L...

3 Nov 20251h 14min

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