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This season will be further exploring each topic, hanging out with experts and enthusiasts

of all kinds, for more strange stories, social commentary, and the myths that make America tick.

I'm your host, Chelsea Weber-Smith.

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of three books. The award-winning, her body and other

parties, a collection of vibrantly haunting short stories that can lead to cathartic,

contemplative sobbing, and in the dreamhouse, a best-selling, heart-wrenching memoir,

an examination of queer relationship abuse, and most recently, a horror story in the

form of a graphic novel called The Low Low Woods. We could not be more stoked, because

here at American hysteria, we each consider Carmen to be one of the greatest writers

of our time. She's also taught several courses at the University of Pennsylvania, most relevant

today, a fiction course called The Art of Haunting. Today, we are a little overly excited

to talk about haunted house motifs in American horror movies, the emotional core of these

stories, and our own personal experiences with various kinds of ghosts, both the creepy

ones, and also the oddly, mercifully beautiful ones.

We are here with Carmen right now, and we are so excited to have her. We're also here with

Miranda, our producer. She's going to be contributing to this episode, because we've been watching

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