Wondery and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios Announce Hysterical, from Podcaster Dan Taberski

Today, Wondery and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios, a division of leading premium podcast network Audacy Podcasts, announce Hysterical, a seven-part investigative series hosted by Dan Taberski that explores a mysterious illness contracted by a group of upstate New York high school students in 2011. Taberski, the podcast heavyweight behind several award-winning and genre-defining series, attempts to uncover what really happened in this fascinating case, and in the process, discovers similarities to other more recent mysterious events. Hysterical debuts on Wondery+, and is available for Prime members on Amazon Music and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers on July 8. Hysterical will be available everywhere you get your podcasts starting July 22.

Hysterical forces listeners to grapple with the mysteries of their own minds and to reckon with a contagion thought to be long dead, but which may be the defining disorder of our time. It forces us to question our preconceived notions about sickness and health, about whose symptoms we take seriously, whose we dismiss, and why? Through the contemporary cases he selects, Taberski shines a light on our inescapable connectedness, and on the perils of assuming we are each an island unto ourselves.

The series begins by examining the outbreak of a puzzling illness in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In the process, he discovers similarities to more recent mysterious cases, such as Havana Syndrome and the outbreak of police officers across America apparently overdosing from exposure to fentanyl.

Taberski has built an award-winning career in podcasting by crafting a number of thoughtful, well-researched series that take a deeper look at cultural phenomena and revisit overlooked ideas. Hysterical continues this vision by weaving together multiple modern and historical touch points, leading listeners to a better understanding of these compelling and unusual cases.

Taberski is a writer, director, producer, and Peabody award-winning podcaster. His most recent documentary project was 9/12, an audio series about post-9/11 America. Taberski is also the host and creator of limited run podcast series The Line, Running From COPS, Surviving Y2K, and Missing Richard Simmons. Prior to his career in podcasting, Taberski created the hit kids show Destroy Build Destroy for Cartoon Network, was a former producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and worked on economic policy in the Clinton White House.

Hysterical is a Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios production, marking the studios’ sixth collaboration, following The Competition, Ghost Story, Will Be Wild, Persona, and 9/12. It is Pineapple Street’s fifth series with Taberski.