The best kind of celebrity interview is one where you find out that the person who made a thing you love also thinks in a way that you love.

Nothing is more foreign than when Ariel says in The Little Mermaid, I want to be where the people are.

I don't want to be where the people are. I just don't.

I'm Rachel Martin. Listen to the Wildcard

podcast, only from NPR. This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And my guest today is writer, producer,

and podcaster Dan Tiberski. He's the creator of several award-winning audio documentaries

of the past decade, like Miss missing Richard Simmons, which explored the sudden

disappearance of the late fitness icon, and running from cops, which was a look into the

long-running reality show and its impact on law enforcement and public perception.

Tiberski's latest project, Hysterical, was recently honored as podcast of the year at the Ambys. It's a seven-part series

that unpacks a strange and fascinating medical mystery, a sudden outbreak in 2011 of ticks

and spasms among high school girls in Leroy, New York. In December of 2011, a young woman posted a video on YouTube.

Hi, everyone.

My name's .

And this is my first video.

She's got shiny red hair with side bangs,

and she's wearing a white graphic hoodie.

A poster for the metal band, Avenged Sevenfold,

is tacked to her bedroom while behind her.

So I'll start off by telling you a little bit about myself.

I'm 16. I'm in 11th grade. And I play softball, like all the time.

When she made this video, there was no TikTok. There was barely an Instagram.

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