I'm Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one heroes, legends, histories, and mysteries podcast.

This is your host, John Haggardorn.

We have a special guest with us today, an author who's given us a brand new book called

American Scary, a history of horror from Salem to Stephen King and beyond. And it's a fascinating

look at the human psyche. I'm going to share the fly leap with

you before I make the introduction. From the acclaimed author of American comics comes a sweeping

and entertaining narrative that details the rise and enduring grip of horror on American culture,

from the taught terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe to the sharply chilling films of Jordan Peel.

Americans are held captive by horror stories.

They flicker on the screen of a darkened movie theater and are shared around the campfire.

They blare out in tabloid true crime headlines and in the worried voices of local news anchors.

They are consumed

virally on the phones in our pockets. Like the victims in any slasher movie worth

its salt, we can't escape the thrall of scary stories. In American Scary,

Noted Cultural Historian Jeremy Dauber pulls from a hugely popular Columbia University class on

the history of horror to take the reader to the startling origins of American fear.

Dauber draws a captivating through line that ties historical influences ranging from the

Salem witch trials and enslaved person narratives directly to the body of work we met

more we more closely

associate with horror today, the weird tales of H.P. Lovecraft, the lingering fiction of Charlie Jackson,

the disquieting films of Alfred Hitchcock, the up-all-night stories of Stephen King, and the

gripping critiques of Jordan Peel from the telltale heart to Megan.

...