298: Examining Urban Legends and the Satanic Panic (with Sarah Marshall)

From the Satanic Panic to the urban legends of our youth, we talk to podcaster Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About to get her takes on creepiest and coolest ways urban legends have changed the world.    Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of QAnon, Satanic Panic, pedophilia, sexual abuse, child abuse, animal death, bugs, racism, gore, poisoning, anti-semitism, grooming, transphobia, and homophobia.     Guest Sarah Marshall is a writer, podcaster, and media critic focused on setting straight our collective memory—or at least getting to the bottom of why we believe and in turn define ourselves by popular narrative and myth. She is the co-host of the popular modern history podcast You’re Wrong About, which has been highlighted in the New Yorker, the Guardian and Time Magazine. Her writing has appeared in the Believer, Buzzfeed and the true crime collection Unspeakable Acts. She loves Portland, Oregon, Philly and Las Vegas in that order, and it has been rumored that she is writing a book about the Satanic Panic.    Housekeeping - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. - Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books   Sponsors - Calm is the #1 app to help you reduce your anxiety and stress and help you sleep better. Get 40% off a Calm Premium subscription at calm.com/spirits. - Brooklinen delivers luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters, & blankets straight to your door. Go to Brooklinen.com right now and use promo code “spirits” to get $20 off when you spend $100 or more, PLUS free shipping. - BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits   Find Us Online If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books. Transcripts are available at http://spiritspodcast.com/episodes. To buy merch, hear us on other podcasts, contact us, find our mailing address, or download our press kit, head on over to http://spiritspodcast.com.   About Us Spirits was created by Julia Schifini, Amanda McLoughlin and Eric Schneider. We are founding members of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio. Our music is "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.