Hello, my booze and ghouls and non-dionaries. This is a re-release of one of my favorite episodes of all time, our 2023 Halloween special about the 12-foot skeleton craze, as well as the strange history of our relationship to skeletons, both real

and fake, stretching back hundreds of years. I also wanted to advertise a new ongoing series I'm

doing over on Patreon and Apple Plus, called Dispatches from the Field, where I talk at you about whatever I want

for however long I want in an unedited, uncensored stream of consciousness.

In our new episode called Chelsea's Lifelong Haunting, I tell you as many of my own ghost experiences as I can remember in

under an hour. Join at patreon.com slash American Hysteria or subscribe on Apple Plus. If you join us at

Patreon, you'll be able to join the conversation, and I think it's an all-around better experience.

Just my recommendation.

I also want to let you know that tomorrow Tuesday, October 14th, you can head over to the

podcast you're wrong about to hear my Halloween presentation on Midnight Ghost Shows,

a massively popular theatrical phenomenon that was paired with horror movies

from the 1930s to the 1960s. Imagine a combination of a spiritualist seance and a stationary

haunted house, a campy 4D performance of paranormal parlor tricks and gory skits beloved by a mostly teenage audience who often became a part of the show themselves.

Next week, you can expect another spooky episode with Sarah Marshall on spontaneous human combustion.

And then the week after that, we will present to you our American

Hysteria Halloween special.

But you'll have to wait until then to find out what kind of ghouls we will be invoking.

For now, please enjoy some time with the big bone daddy himself, the 12-foot skeleton. On this podcast, we explore fantastical thinking, moral panics, urban legends, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and crazes, examine the forces that shape our culture, and tell the stories that create the realities we share, and sometimes the realities we don't. I'm your ghost,

Chelsea Weber Smith, and this is American hysteria. I put my eyes on it. Something changed inside

me. Standing at 12 feet tall, these skeletons are everything this Halloween.

But when I first met the 12-foot skeleton from Home Depot, it was like, wow, this might actually be the one.

Go big this year with the 12-foot giant skeleton with Life Eyes technology.

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