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Hey, it's Dan Tversky. In

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2011, a group of girls at a

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high school in upstate New York began

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exhibiting a bizarre mix of neurological symptoms.

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Ticks, twitches, strange outbursts,

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all with no clear source.

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It started with one girl and that

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spread to another and another as desperate

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parents and school administrators looked for an

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answer. Was it mold in

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the school buildings? A contaminated water source?

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Or was the cause not coming from

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their physical environment at all? The

0:31

newest podcast from Wondery in Pineapple

0:33

Street Studios is hysterical, where I

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dive into one of the most

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confounding illness outbreaks in American history.

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A medical mystery that had ripple effects

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well beyond the tight-knit community where it

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began. And soon enough, the entire nation

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was trying to solve it, from Dr.

0:48

Drew to Aaron Brockovich. Believed

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by some to be the most severe

0:53

case of mass hysteria since the Salem

0:55

witch trials, hysterical is a podcast about

0:57

the desire to be believed. And

1:00

what happens when the world tells you it's all

1:02

in your head? I'm

1:04

about to play a clip for you from hysterical. Follow

1:07

hysterical on the Wondery app or wherever

1:09

you get your podcasts. In

1:12

December of 2011, a young

1:15

woman posted a video on YouTube. Hi

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everyone. My name's s***

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and this is my first video. She's

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got shiny red hair with side bangs and

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she's wearing a white graphic hoodie. A

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poster for the metal band Avenged Sevenfold is

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tacked to her bedroom while behind her. So

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

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I'm 16, I'm in 11th

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grade, and I play softball

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like all the time. When

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she made this video, there was no TikTok. There

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was barely an Instagram. She's not

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looking to monetize, not trying to influence. What

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this 16 year old is looking for is

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a little help. She's

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been having strange symptoms. So

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far, no one can seem to explain. Recently,

2:04

last August, I had

2:06

passed out at a concert. I was

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headbanging. And I

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thought, you know, I was just dehydrated and all that. By

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now you've noticed that her speech is a

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bit halting, and her nervous teenage energy is

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more than just fidgeting. And

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about a month after, I pass out again. At

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the homecoming dance. That's awesome,

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right? It

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has pattern and repetition. Eyes

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twitching, hands in the air, fingers

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flying. And a few days ago,

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my twitching has progressed

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into noises like through my nose or

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in my throat. And

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it's something that will

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go away. The

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more she talks, the worse it gets. She's

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neck tilting now, jerking her head.

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That's another thing I do a lot. Clap.

3:09

We're still trying to get answers, so going

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back to the doctors again. Then

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she signs off, her first

3:16

missive of many, to wait and

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see what kind of response she might get. And

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if anyone wants to talk about

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this, or if anyone's starting it, I'll

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be willing to talk. It, at

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all. I

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recently googled the phrase, eye twitch. The

3:47

simplest of her symptoms, just a C. An

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eye twitch could be a symptom

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of dehydration or low electrolytes. An

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eye twitch could mean you have glaucoma,

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or a disease like Acanthamiba carotidone. You

4:00

don't want that one. The

4:02

Night Switch could be the first sign of

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a condition called Isaac Syndrome, in which your

4:07

muscles don't stop moving and appear to be

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constantly rippling under the skin even when you're

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asleep. To be fair,

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Isaac Syndrome is extremely rare. But

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as those sons of bitches at the NIH are quick to

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point out, there are over 10,000 rare

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diseases. Over 30 million Americans

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have been diagnosed with one. In

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other words, developing a rare disease,

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not that rare. And that's why

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it can be so scary, when the symptoms you're

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experiencing all add up to a

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mystery. When

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that teenage girl sent her video out into

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the void, she wasn't sure she'd get anything

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back besides her own echo. But

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she does. She's

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about to find out there are others. A

4:51

strange illness has made at least a

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dozen teenage girls sick at the same

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high school. And those others

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are all clustered in one small place,

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and also just came down with the

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same bizarre symptoms. This is my eighth

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or ninth day straight to gang and

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doesn't stop. I would go to art

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class. I used to go to two

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art classes every day. Now

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I'm not in school. And they

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are all going to discover this isn't just something

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they have. It might be something

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they caught. More

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cases of a mysterious illness have been

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confirmed. News force Ed Drang. A contagion.

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Caught from a friend or classmate or

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from a place by something in the

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water or the air or the ground

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there. Famous environmentalist and activist Aaron Brockovich

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is getting involved. I mean, we're looking

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at a myriad of environmental concerns. This

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one's just standing out like a sore thumb. And

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a whole town is going to start doubting

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their own doctors, their own neighbors. Some

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will doubt their own kids. A

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lot of them say that we're faking and...

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And that you're faking because you want attention.

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Seriously, why would we fake this? Some

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will even doubt the brains inside their own

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heads. Am I going crazy? Is

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this really happening? Question is, what

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is this? No, no, I am done

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listening to you. You are not doing

6:09

your job. You are not doing your

6:11

job. And can they stop it

6:13

from spreading? Episode

6:18

one. Outbreak. Binge

6:35

all episodes of Hysterical early and

6:37

ad-free on Wondery+. Join

6:39

Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or

6:41

on Apple Podcasts.