Introducing: Hysterical

[0] When's the last time you've talked publicly about this?

[1] Publicly, when it happened?

[2] So it's been a while?

[3] It's been a while.

[4] In 2011, something strange began to happen at the high school in Leroy, New York.

[5] There was a lot going on with these girls having outbursts.

[6] Reporting more than a dozen girls at Leroy High School say they have an illness that causes severe tics and verbal outburst.

[7] I was like at my locker and she came up to me and she was like stuttering super bad.

[8] I'm like, stop fucking around.

[9] She's like, I can't.

[10] I felt like Linda Blair and the Exorcist.

[11] Wow.

[12] A mystery illness, spreading fast.

[13] And then next thing you know, they're going blah, and their arms are swinging.

[14] With a diagnosis, the state tried to keep on the down low.

[15] So by then, everybody thought I was holding something bad.

[16] Well, you were holding something back.

[17] Intentionally.

[18] Yeah, yeah.

[19] Well, yeah.

[20] And when it finally comes out, feels positively loony tunes.

[21] It's called mass hysteria.

[22] Especially for a woman.

[23] It's used when doctors don't know the diagnosis.

[24] Something's wrong here.

[25] Something's not right.

[26] Is this the largest mass hysteria since the witches of Salem?

[27] It's like, no, that just does not fit.

[28] It's just that's not it.

[29] I know it's not.

[30] Or is it something else entirely?

[31] What's the common denominator here?

[32] I remember hearing at some point, it must be a bad batch of tampons.

[33] Nationally known environmentalist Aaron Brockovich sent a team to Leroy yesterday.

[34] Leroy was the new dateline and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

[35] Something happened.

[36] And I think what happened to you happened to me. Who's susceptible?

[37] Just how often is this happening?

[38] And what do you do when they tell you it's all in your head?

[39] The idea that this is somehow psychogenic, psychosomatic, mass hysteria, I mean, that just doesn't apply to me. People are just so tired of being called liars that they won't talk about it anymore.

[40] I don't fault anybody for believing it at the time.

[41] I was one of them.

[42] I'm Dan Tiberski, and this is hysterical.

[43] A new limited series from Wondery, Pineapple Street Studios, and the team that brought you 912, running from cops and missing Richard Simmons.

[44] Like, am I going crazy?

[45] Is this really happening?

[46] Follow Hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[47] You can listen to Histerical early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.