Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Armchair Anonymous: Cedar Point

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

Dax and Monica talk to Armcherries! In today's episode, Armcherries tell us a crazy Cedar Point story.Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dan Shepard joined by Lily Padman and Erin Michael-Weekley. Hello baby.

Hello baby. This is a long time coming, crazy Cedar Point stories. Aaron, do you have a crazy one? A crazy one? Yeah, I don't have a crazy one. I just have the wet butt cuts. I mean, that story lives on forever. I will never not remember wiping my butt

with that brown paper towel. Yes, that you take out of the big machine. I would make us a piece of it and put it between my butt cheeks. To stay in there. Yeah. Yeah, you have to. I never had that any other place somewhere I wouldn't see the point.

I've been to Disneyland a bunch of times and I've never gotten a wet butt cut. It turns out it's not a good fix either. No, that rough recycled paper just tears up. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we don't have any wet-butt-cut stories, but we do have four Crazy Cedar Point stories. Please enjoy. The Shaw Festival presents Anything Goes, a dazzling production of Cole Porter's timeless

musical set on the SS American. Follow the antics of a nightclub singer as she navigates love triangles and hilarious hijinks on the high seas. Anything Goes on this ocean liner featuring spectacular tap dancing and hits like You're the Top. Don't miss Anything Goes at the Shaw. For tickets go to Shawfest.com. Hey, you gotta know I'ma keep on shining. Hello. How's it going? Good.

Now you have the Mandalorian and Stranger Things posters behind you, but they don't look issued by the studio. It's an artist I found on Etsy. And so I have a collection of Stranger Things, Mandalorian, and I have a Ted Lasso one. My whole office is filled with all kinds of nerdy stuff. I love comic books and superheroes. You can kind of see over here,

there's a whole bunch of Marvel and DC stuff. The Hall of Justice kind of photo there, it seems. We got Superman in the mix. Yes, you know like the famous picture of the construction workers on the beam? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. So if you look over, it's Marvel and DC guys, and then you can see I got Ninja Turtles

and everything over here. Oh, this is so fun. I like this. Where are you at? I feel like I need to ask you to guess. I weirdly saw some graphic when you signed on, it would be a cheat. Does it say Wyoming? It did say Wyoming, but my shirt might help.

We got a Michigan shirt on, that's a great start. Oh, I didn't even know that. You didn't know that was Michigan? Monica. I'm sorry. Actually, we should have been able to guess based on the prompt. Well, but that's a three state area, minimally,

and folks from Ontario, probably even, Canada. All right, where are you at in Michigan? I work for the city of Wyoming. Wyoming's just outside of Grand Rapids. I run the Wyoming Senior Center. Oh my gosh. For the ones that didn't make it down to Florida? We actually have all of our snowbirds coming back right now.

Everybody's showing up and telling me all their stories about warm weather and no snow, and it makes me envious. Okay, so you've got a Cedar Point story. I do have a Cedar Point story. So being from Michigan growing up here, Cedar Point was a regular vacation spot for us. I have a couple stories, so I could have told you how I got engaged at Cedar Point was a regular vacation spot for us. I have a couple stories. I could have told you how I got engaged at Cedar Point. Oh, I would have liked that. Romantic. I could tell you a time when we went in high school and Dax, are you familiar with the rip cord

ride there? No, what's the rip cord? It's kind of like a bungee jumping thing. Oh, we have that at Six Flags. I have a story about how you have to be 18 and older to do that. And so we were on this family vacation and my mom and aunt and uncles forbid all of us from going on it. And my dad, who can be a bit of a rascal, signed off on the waiver for all of us to ride it. Oh my God. At what age?

We were probably 16 and he got caught and he got the silent treatment the rest of the trip from the family. Oh, okay. But nothing from the brass at Cedar Point. No, no, nothing from that. But this story actually is about when I survived three tornadoes that hit Cedar Point. Okay.

Okay. Set the scene. What year? What month? The year is 1998, and it's summer. This particular trip was with my aunt and uncle, my sister, and four cousins. At the time, my sister was 11. Two of my cousins were 13. Me and another cousin were 14 and my oldest cousin was 17. So the plan for this trip is my aunt and uncle are taking all six kids to Cedar Point. The first day, they take us to the park. They are not ride people. So they're like, hey,

you guys go off. We're going to do the shows. We're going to eat some food, meet up with us at these times and don't get into too much trouble. So the second day it comes around, my uncle had decided they don't really want to do Cedar point for a second day. So they say, Hey, we're just going to drop you guys off at the park for the day. Are you guys staying at breakers? Where are you staying? We're staying at a campground outside of Cedar point.

We're not even on property. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So their plan is we're going to drop you off in the morning. We'll pick you up at night. I mean, it's the 1990s. Parenting was just a little different. However, I have a 10-year-old son now and I'm like, there's no scenario where I would just send him to Cedar Point with people

a few years older than him with no parental supervision and cell phones weren't a thing in 1998. We did get just dropped off. Yeah, and it worked out. Six flags, much safer. We do what boys and girls do at that age. We split off. We're like, hey, the boys, we're gonna go get into trouble and the girls are gonna go do their thing. So it's about lunchtime

and we decide we're gonna ride the power tower. Is that the old demon drop? It's kind of like the demon drop on steroids. One side of it will shoot you up really fast and then drop you down and keep shooting you up and dropping you down. The other side takes you up slowly and then drops you really fast. Like the demon drop. Okay.

Wonderful. So we're getting ready to get on that ride. We had rode the side that shoots you up really fast the day before, but today we're like, we need to get on the other side. The line's always longer. That's gotta be the better ride. I do remember it kind of be an overcast. We're getting strapped into the ride the whole time when you're in line, you're

trying to figure out when they drop. So you're counting, you're like 1,001, 1,002. Did they drop on four? Did they drop on five? We're talking about this the whole time. So we get launched up on the ride. We're starting to counting. We're looking at each other and also we all look over at Lake Erie and we just see three tornadoes coming off the water.

Oh, wow. Wow. And we're like at the highest spot in the park at this point. So we're like, this is probably the worst place to be for this. They're technically called water spouts because they're tornadoes that form over water. They're not far off. So we're at the top. We see these. We're like, oh, this is bad. And then it drops us. So we can't see them anymore. And then it shoots us back up and we see them again, and they keep getting closer. And this goes on like three or four times.

So everyone else is cheering because of the ride and my cousins and I, we're freaking out. We're gonna get hit by tornadoes. We've seen Twister, we know how this goes. And then what do you do? Cause everyone's screaming. This is like a comedy sketch. Everyone's crying wolf.

Yeah. I imagine those rides could take a pretty good tornado. It might be interesting to be up at the top strapped in, cause you can't get sucked into it. You're strapped in. And if the ride's not coming loose, this could be the one way to experience the eye of a tornado safely.

The wind would kill you. It was cool to see. I mean, I'm not going to lie, but also terrifying. Yeah, sure, sure. We get to the bottom and we're just like, we need to get out of these harnesses. The guy unhooks us and we run over to the ride operator and we're like, Hey, there's tornadoes coming off the water. You need to alert people now.

And the guy's like, keep the line moving. Sure. Good. This is the commitment you get at Cedar point. You got to keep those lines moving. We know what's coming. So we just take off running. And by the time we get just outside the ride All of a sudden all the sirens go off they come over the intercom and they're like seek immediate shelter

Inclement weather take cover where at Cedar Point. Are you gonna take cover bathrooms bathrooms? That's all you have So we knew the one bathroom wasn't far away So we just take off and like a dead sprint and I mean mean, winds are picking up. It starts raining crazy hard. You immediately are seeing garbage cans. I mean, they're getting tipped over umbrellas from picnic tables are flying around. Picnic tables are like it lifted up. Oh, wow. Wow. Wow. It gets really intense really fast.

We end up in the bathroom. Everybody's kind of like panicking and we're a bunch of boys. This is awesome. We're safe. Oh, I already forgot you were separated from the girls. Yeah, yeah, who knows? They're being blown all about the area. And no cell phones. So we're like hoping they're okay.

So things calm down, we come out of the bathroom, we come out of the men's side, and then just about the same time my sister and cousin come out of the girls' side. Oh my God, because Monica, Cedar Point is huge. I cannot put too fine a point on how big it is. Okay, wow, that worked out. So my younger sister, she was very upset obviously,

so I was working to calm her down through this whole scenario. The whole park is now shut down. It's flooded like crazy. The drainage system can't keep up with how much rain hit and it just didn't stop raining. We're walking around in like ankle deep water all day and I had these green Nike skateboard shoes on

and they dyed my feet green. Oh sure, sure, sure. I had like incredible halt feet. I didn't wear sandals for the rest of that summer because my feet were just bright green. But yeah, so we spent the rest of the day walking around and we couldn't call anybody. We couldn't leave the park. You just had to go to the assigned pickup time that evening. Right.

So we had some money in our pocket and we saw the one thing that was open and there was a guy drawing caricatures. My cousins and I all got caricatures drawn with tornadoes in the background. So I actually sent that picture to Emma. So I think you guys have a picture. Let's take a look. Oh, yes. You are such a sweet young man, it seems, from this character.

Braces. I have braces and a pretty epic bull cut. Yeah, and they went profile. My parents loved that so much that they actually framed it and hung it in my childhood bedroom so it's still there. That's nice. Yeah, there's some debris flying through the air. They really took their time on this. We were the only people at the park at that point, so he had all the time in the world.

Was the food still open? Very select food still open, so we were kind of scrounging for the rest of the the park at that point. So he had all the time in the world. Was the food still open? Very select food still open. So we were kind of scrounging for the rest of the day just to get by. And then the day went on and night hit and all of a sudden things dried up. So all the rides opened back up. Oh, what a blessing.

You just have to wait it out. Probably 90% of the people had left the park at that point. So we just ran ride to ride and got on every single ride that evening. And finally at the end of the night, my uncle come to pick us up and they're like, why is the parking lot so empty? Where the fuck were they when the tornado hit?

How could they have not been aware that the tornado had hit? The campground was probably like 20, 30 minutes away, not really by the lake at that point. They said, yeah, we noticed some rain. I mean, they weren't watching the news at the campground. No, definitely not. I think they were rolling around in that tent a little bit. Well, we don't know.

Yeah, I mean, what else are you gonna do all day long in a tent? Right? Wow, Chad, well, I'm pretty jealous of that. I certainly feel like I wish I would have seen a tornado at Cedar Point. You're combining two of the most exciting things in a young child's life all at once.

Natural disasters and roller coasters. If someone's top had been ripped off in the middle. I'm sure it was. That would have been like triple whammy. Unexpected nudity and a tornado. And poop pants. You think people poop their pants? Yeah, you love that.

Oh, I would love that. Yes, yes, yes. Not me pooping my pants though. Well, Chad, thank you for that. Makes me wanna really watch the Doppler radar and plan a trip when I think there's a high probability of a tornado. That's probably a good strategy. But could I give a couple of shout outs?

Yes, please. Shout out to all my family that were involved. So my sister, Sierra, my cousin, Todd, Brian and Katie, and then also my cousin, Joe. So unfortunately he just recently passed away from cancer. Oh, yikes. That's too young. Young age, he had colon cancer. He was a storyteller and a jokester.

He would love to know that so many people are hearing this story because whenever we got together, we always talked about our Cedar Point stories. Yeah, of course. Oh, that's sweet. And then also, like I told you, I run the senior center here in Wyoming. So my coworker and my wife are guarding the door

and they wanted to pop in to say hi real quick. Yes, of course. I like that the door needed here in Wyoming. So my coworker and my wife are guarding the door and they wanted to pop in to say hi real quick. Sure. Yes, of course. I like that the door needed to be guarded. Hi, so nice to meet you guys. I'm Kelly and this is Josh. Hi Kelly, hi Josh. I'm a therapist and I just love what you have done

for so many of my clients. You guys being so open, transparent, and creating just an awesome avenue for people to just be more open and share their story and struggle, so I love that. Oh, well thank you. Thanks for listening. Big fan, my wife is actually a bigger fan,

so she's gonna be super jealous today. Good, that's always the goal. Lord it over. Yeah. Nice meeting you guys, have a great rest of your day. Thanks guys, appreciate it. That guy you guys. Have a great rest of your day. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. That guy looked like Will Hunting a little bit. Oh, sure.

The other guy, the friend. You thought he looked like Matt Damon? No, Will Hunting. Specifically, not the actor. The vibe was kind of Will Hunting. Sure. Secret genius. You got a genius vibe? Secret genius.

Okay, listen, I had a thought during that. Yeah. Obviously I checked out, because this was a Cedar Point story. Yeah, sure. You're not gonna be with us for most of this. Do you think that people were more religious pre-cell phone?

Because you had to just pray. Instead of checking in on your sisters. Calling for help. Or calling for help, you're like, Jesus take the wheel, you know? It's a great theory, but I will say I've just read, there's a bunch of articles came out in the last few weeks about belief in Christianity, having plateaued off

and increased even a little bit. We had been in this really steady decline for a long time, and weirdly now it's kind of back, they're saying. Okay, but for a while it had decreased. Yeah. Since phones. So probably right, yeah. Wow. But I mean while it had decreased. Yeah. Since phones. So probably right, yeah. Wow. But I mean, it had been decreasing long before phones,

of course, but also yes, because of phones. And then a steep decrease. Yeah, it fell off a cliff, hockey stick curve. I am a secret genius. You are. I'm a Willy. You're Jill Huntington. I'm a, willamena hunting. We are supported by Airbnb.

Spring has sprung. Are you getting the travel itch? I certainly am. Me too. It's happening. I'm heading to Austin momentarily. So exciting. Stay tuned for more about Airbnb later in the show.

Some trips are better in an Airbnb. The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake presents The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Filled with breathtaking battles, mythical creatures, and unforgettable characters. This new adaptation of C.S. Lewis's classic will mesmerize the whole family. Don't miss this epic adventure,

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, this season at the Shaw Festival. For tickets, go to shawfest.com. At 24, I lost my narrative, or rather it was stolen from me. And the Monica Lewinsky that my friends and family knew was usurped by false narratives, callous jokes, and politics. I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours.

Something you possess is lost or stolen. And ultimately, you triumph in finding it again. So I think listeners can expect me to be chatting with folks, both recognizable and unrecognizable names about the way that people have navigated roads to triumph. My hope is that people will finish an episode of Reclaiming and feel like they filled their tank up.

They connected with the people that I'm talking to and leave with maybe some nuggets that help them feel a little more hopeful. Follow Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Reclaiming early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.

["Wonderful Wondery"] Here's Julie. Rob, that's you. Do you think in the future our faces will look like that? A purple square? Yeah, with the letter in it. I sure hope not. I think in a hundred years that's what faces will look like. When the robots and the humans start having sex. Oh, okay. Like Tower Babel.

I don't see that. Having sex with angels. Oh, wow. Yeah. Hello. Can you hear us, Julie? I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, wonderfully.

Look at your shirt. Oh, cute. Oh, it looks so cute. It really does. I just got it yesterday. It was very sim. I came back from an international trip and it was waiting for me at my door.

Oh, a welcome home present. Are you in Michigan? I am in Ohio. Okay, just as good. Where in Ohio? Northeast Ohio. I'm gonna be a little bit vague. Sure, sure.

Sure. Oh, good, good. We like that. And did you grow up in that area that you're currently in? I did not. I grew up in the Baltimore area. So I'm a transplant, but I've been here the last three years.

Oh, so this Cedar Point story took place in the last three years? It did. Oh, exciting. Hot off the presses. Please tell us. Let's hear it. It took place almost two years ago,

in the summer of 2023. My husband and I have two little girls. They are now six and seven, so they were four and five then. We decided to take them to Cedar Point for the first time. He had never been to Cedar Point. I had been once. I remember going on lots of fun roller coasters and we got there, did the check-in.

My five-year-old is very tall for her age, so she met the height criteria for some of the bigger roller coasters. Oh, wow, that's lucky at five. It's about four feet, so she just met the height requirement. So we were like, okay, yes, let's go to roller coasters. She'd never been on one before.

She said, yeah, I'll go. And I said, well, why don't you go on Millennium Force? I remember going on that one, I think I was there in 2011. It's really fun, you're gonna love it. So she's like, okay. I would have started on the blue streak or Gemini, but I don't know millennial.

That must have been after his time. Yeah, it might be past my time. He thinks he knows everything about Cedar Point. It ends in 99 probably. So Millennium Force is the 10th tallest roller coaster in the world. Oh, now we're talking. Looks like you're basically in the clouds

when you're up there. They didn't rename the Magnum to that? I have no idea. Okay, I won't get bogged down on that. I do know that I rode it when I was there in 2011. I don't think it has any upside downs, but it has the big drop. It goes straight up and then drops.

That's what I like. I don't need loopty loops, but I like a nice tall drop. In Six Flags, they have both. In one ride, they have both. Anyway, go on. So she was waiting in line. I think she got out of line once or twice. She kind of got freaked out, got scared, and we convinced her.

I was like, no, you'll be fine. Just go on. It'll be great. So she went on with her dad. I stayed behind with my four year old because obviously the four year old wasn't going to go on. So we just kept watching for them. I kept looking at all the rides, seeing if I could spot what she was wearing. Never saw her. It's kind of taken a long time, what's going on. Finally we see them coming around the bend and she just looks ghastly white.

Oh no. And I asked her, did you like it? Was it fun? She was like, it was scary. That's kind of all she said. I just looked kind of dazed and her dad just said she passed out four or five times on the ride. No. Four or five times. Oh my God. In this like minute ride. Yeah. So he said I kept looking over and she was just slumped over like eyes closed.

This is scary. Wow. I was kind of freaked out because I was like, does she need medical attention? But she was fine. She perked up. Gave her some juice. Cheese on a stick.

Went to look at the photos, you know, they take the photos that you get to look at after. You can see him, he's there. And then there's nothing next to him. Oh my God. I can't see her little body at all. She's kind of slumped. Oh no, this is horrifying.

Maybe they need not only a height limit, but maybe a weight minimum. So I think what happened was the G-forces just kind of overtook her body. Oh my God. So I think it was every time she went on the up, her blood pressure probably dropped and all the blood drained from her head.

Yeah, this is what happens when you're in the back seat of an F-16, you get a ride with like the Blue Angels. Everyone in back passes out because the pilots have developed their leg muscles so good. They force the blood up into the upper body. She needed a G-suit is what she needed. We gotta get her back. She doesn't need to go back.

Does she get lightheaded when she stands up? Doesn't seem to. I asked her yesterday in preparation, I said, what do you remember about it? She said, I just remember that I passed out a couple of times, but I remember being scared. So I think it's a combination of the adrenaline, the G-forces, and I said, would you go on it again?

She said, yeah, I wanna go, let's go. Oh wow. She's a trooper. It might be a few years before we go back on that one. No, I think it's time. Wow. She's a trooper. It might be a few years before we go back on that one. No, I think it's time. No. This summer. She needs to be bulked up a little bit.

I also love that your husband is looking happy in the pictures knowing that the daughter is like passed out. He was not scared. No, he wasn't. Kudos to him for maintaining his cool and remaining calm throughout the ride because I would have been freaked out. So that trip was our last to Cedar Point so far, but we will go back. The younger one needs now to get on

that. Yeah, we need to get her passing out on some roads. Yeah, yeah, right of passage. Later that day, we kept going through the park and then at some point it just started pouring down rain and then the power went out. We went into the store, we had promised the girls we would buy them stuffies on the way out and so none of the cash registers were working. We didn't have any cash so they might have walked away with a stuffy on that store. Uh oh!

It's for our shoplifting prom. Yes they did, we didn't know about it. Wow, the power went out? Yeah, power was out in the whole park. Did she hit any other coasters or that was it? That was it for the day. Yeah, that's smart. I would hit the Gemini if you go back.

That's a great ride. The big wooden roller coaster. The Gs are very manageable. I think we're gonna try that. So we have not gone back to Cedar Point, but we did go to Disney World. She did, I think it's like the Barnstormer or something, one of those smaller roller coasters, and that was fine.

She stayed conscious throughout that. She stayed conscious. Oh, congratulations, she's ready. Well, Julie. Yeah, thanks for telling us the story. Yeah. You've gotta go back, Dex, and try the Millennium Force. It is really fun.

I was just at Disneyland with my recently turned 12-year-old. There's a Guardians of the Galaxy ride, and it's like the Galaxy ride, and it's like the demon drop, but it bounces up and down. It goes up, you step for a second, then it drops. That I did one time, she talked me into a second time. I said, don't think it's a good idea. I went a second time and midway through, I was like,

nope, this was a big, big tactical blunder. Yeah. And then about 40 minutes to shake that off, where I just didn't feel right, you know? I can't do it anymore. I have trouble. I did a scopolamine patch. Have you ever used those? No, is that like Dramamine?

Kind of, it's just a patch that you put behind your ear, but it's anti-nausea, anti-motion sickness effect. Okay, I will do that before my trip. I did it before Disney, and I was able to go on the Avatar ride without a problem. Without it, I know I wouldn't have made it. Okay, wow. That's a great idea.

I even talked about taking Dramamine, but I didn't. All right, well, Julie, there's a lovely meeting you. You too, thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful summer with your chilis. You too, hopefully no more passing out on rides. Yeah, all righty. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Dex. What is it? I don't know how to tell you this. Go ahead. Wooden roller coasters are out. No. Monica, you're out of your depth right now. No, I'm not.

You're not an aficionado. Let me talk, okay? We have wooden roller coasters and Six Flags. It's part of it. You gotta ride them. It's nostalgic. But it's not it, you gotta ride them, it's nostalgic. But it's not the one you tell people to go ride. It is.

In the same way, Monica, I'm gonna compare it to like a 60s Mercedes. Yeah, it doesn't perform like the new one, but there's a nostalgia. I said nostalgia. There's a feel to those wooden roller coasters that is very specific. I maintain it's probably the best

wooden roller coaster ever made. Oh my God. Yeah, it's not painted like the Six Flags ones. It's a nice natural wood. You'd like it. Here is Catherine. Could be Catherine Hawn, Ohio native. Hello.

Can you guys hear me? Beautifully, is this Catherine? Yes. What state are you in? I'm actually in Santa Monica My old stomping grounds you guys always make jokes about the West Side I don't agree Yeah, tell us happy to have pushback make your case Well, I'm just more of an outdoorsy person

And so I like the closeness to the beach and the bike path is nice Obviously, it's not a great time to go to Malibu right now, but I like the closeness to that area. The congestion of the East side really stresses me out. Yeah, it's just more for me, that's all. I got it. I got it. Do you ever eat at Frito Misto?

It's Italian. That's the only place I crave when I go back to Santa Monica. Yeah, I've been like one time. It was good. Oh, get the pink pasta, add some goat cheese and pine nuts. I love goat cheese and pine nuts. Oh, it's incredible.

And the garganzola salad, don't miss that. So how did you end up at Cedar Point? You must not be from Santa Monica. No, I'm not from Santa Monica. I actually ended up at Cedar Point. I was on a mission trip with my youth group, which is not what you guys were expecting, I'm sure. Well, I do see a ton of church groups there when we go. So we basically were going to Cleveland

and we were helping a church plant and we were doing city beautification, like picking up trash, planting trees, and I was in high school at the time. And so our reward day, our off day, was we're gonna take all these high school kids to Cedar Point. Yes.

And I was not looking forward to it because I am terrified of roller coasters. Oh, OK. I hate heights, so it wasn't for me. And I just remember my friends were like, oh, come on, Catherine. Don't be scared. You've got to face your fears.

Like, just go on some rides. And I really, really didn't want to, but I'm also a teenager and was easily peer pressured into everything. We get there, and I go on my first ride. I remember it. It was green. It was called the Raptor.

Oh, okay. Do you know it? No, I think most of these that we're gonna hear about were built after my tenure. Do you know about the Gemini? I don't know about that one. It's wooden, that's probably why. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. What if your mind could trick your body into feeling sick? Or even worse? In Hysterical, I investigate the bizarre medical mystery that unfolds in a high school in upstate

New York. It starts with one girl developing strange, violent symptoms, and then another, and then another. Rumors begin to swirl. Is it something in the water, inside the school, or is it all in their heads? Hysterical is my search for answers. And along the way, I uncover surprising connections to unexplained incidents around the world. Events that challenge everything we think we know about our bodies and our minds. Named Podcast of the Year at the Gambys, Hysterical is a mind-bending, unforgettable ride.

Binge all episodes right now, exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Start your free trial of Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. I'm going to go on this ride called the Raptor and it's intense. It goes upside down and I'm not feeling so hot after the first ride. No, of course not. And I'm like, okay, this is not great. I just got to get through the day. Well, then I got peer pressured again to get on a stand-up roller coaster. Oh, I love those.

It's called the Mantis, and I don't even know if they still have it. I don't know if it's safe. So I go on that ride, and after that ride, I am feeling very, very, very bad. I was like, this is not good. You need to stand up for yourself and say no. Yes. We take a break. We're hungry. Because I'm an idiot and 17.

I order a burger, fries and a milkshake. Oh yeah. Uh-oh. Fill that tank up. I was like, oh, I'm starving. Like I'll eat. It'll be great. When we are at Cedar point, it is the dead of summer.

It is 93 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, sweaty, gross, not a fun time. So after lunch, I'm like, okay, mentally I'm done, I'm not doing this. Well, can I ask a quick question? Did any of the boys on the trip complain of a wet butt cut? Did you hear any murmurings of that? A lot of people were complaining

about their thighs rubbing together and just general back sweatiness. Yeah, the wet butt and the proceeding wet butt cut is pretty common for the young men. I don't know about the church group talking about wet butt cuts. Well, you never know. You never know, but I guess it's good you asked.

I just knew that was in the stew here, Monica. It's trying to paint a full picture of what they're dealing with, with the heat, the nausea. Very, very hot, not feeling great. So after lunch, we're walking around and I get in a group of people and my crush, and he's like, let's all go ride Millennium Force. Oh, we just heard about Millennium Force.

I'm like, okay, I have to do this because I can't embarrass myself in front of my crush. I have to go ride Millennium Force. Oh, the pressure on young people. This is really upsetting. I get on the ride, I'm sitting there. My entire youth group is in the line behind me. I'm one of the first groups to go.

My friend, Reagan, is sitting to my right. My friend, Emily, is in the line behind me. I'm one of the first groups to go. My friend Reagan is sitting to my right. My friend Emily is sitting in front of me. My friend Natalie is in line. As soon as the ride takes off, I'm like, oh no, this is bad. Where's the crush? He's in line. Not behind you, luckily.

No, he's not on the ride with me. Oh, thank goodness. So I don't even scream during the ride because I'm just so terrified. And usually I'm like a big screamer on roller coasters because I'm scared of them and don't even scream during the ride because I'm just so terrified. And usually I'm like a big screamer on roller coasters because I'm scared of them and don't like them. I'm afraid to open my mouth. Oh.

I make it through the ride and I pull into where they load the people on and off. And as soon as we click into place, I lean over and just puke everywhere. All over the platform? On the ride itself. Like I lean over my legs and puke everywhere. Oh, all over the platform? On the right itself. Like, I lean over my legs and puke everywhere. Oh, you filled the floor of the Millennial F...

Okay. Yes, I did. The whole youth group is in the line and sees this happen. My friend Reagan is trying to comfort me. My friend Emily is like, what's going on, because she heard it, but didn't see me because she's in front of me. She can hear the retching.

Yeah, so then I asked Natalie, I was like, well, what happened? What did you see? She was like, well, going on? Because she heard it but didn't see me because she's in front of me. She can hear the retching. That. Yeah. So then I asked Natalie, I was like, well, what happened? What did you see? She was like, well, I just remember you being scared and being really proud of you. Like, oh, she made it.

Like, she did a good job. And then she sees me throw up and she's like, oh, no. I start like hysterically crying because I'm just so embarrassed. I'm like, you guys made me do this. I didn't want to get on these rides. Like, I hate you guys. I was guilty of them. Okay.

You did not wanna take a cab. So a puke, a bawling, and then a lot of accusations. Blame. This guy must have wanted your number so bad. Irresistible. You think the story ends there, it doesn't. Oh. I get off the ride and I'm like having to be comforted.

And meanwhile, in the corner of my eye, I see the summer high school worker coming with like the broom and the sweet pan. Also, that's not gonna do it. Not gonna cut it, he needs a mop. He doesn't get paid enough to do that. I'm getting off the ride, I'm so embarrassed, I'm still crying and our adult leader,

her name's Miss Kelly, she came over to comfort me. I'm just trying to get out of there. I make it to the front of the ride. And reminding you guys, it's a 93 degree day, and I had just thrown up all of my fluids, all of my food I ingested that day, I collapsed right outside the front of the ride. Oh my.

Oh, this is a really bad day. Bad showing. It's probably the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me. I pass out. Okay, millennial force. Yeah, you gotta be a bad motherfucker to ride in Millennial Force.

There was another passing out situation. Yeah, it's common, because it's a crazy ride. So I pass out in front of the ride. I don't remember a lot of this part. I had to ask my friends, be like, can you fill in the gaps? They call an emergency cart, and I was out for most of this,

but I just remember waking up and I'm on this cart, and I'm very confused, and I look out the back, and I just remember waking up and I'm on this cart and I'm very confused. And I look out the back and I just see my friend, Emily, running behind the cart to keep up with me. And I'm just like, that's a friend. She's not letting me go through this alone. And Miss Kelly is in the front of the cart being like, I'm here for you. We've got you. Like, you're going to be okay. She thought maybe you were going to pass. Yeah. To be honest. Well, it was bad. Yeah. Yeah. I get taken to the roller coaster hospital at Cedar Point, and I'm in this hospital

makeshift bed. They're feeding me Gatorade and saltine crackers and water, and they let me call my mom. And my mom's like, Catherine, what is it? Why are you calling me? And I'm like, Mom, I passed out, and I threw up on a roller coaster, and I'm so embarrassed. I had to take an hour to recover because I was super dehydrated. So they had to like give me fluids. Any person in my situation at that point

would have been like, I wanna go. It's been a bad day. But again, because I'm with a youth group and there's a hundred of us, I have to wait for the bus to take us all home. Sure, sure. So I'm just stuck there. My friends had to take shifts to be with me, so they had to like miss time at the park

to just babysit me and make sure that I wasn't passing out again, which is so humiliating. And long story short, I made it through the day. I got put back on the bus. They put me in the back row, had me lay down, fed me some Dramamine, and put a trash can right by my seat, just in case. Very thoughtful, actually. Yeah, but the crush is there. Yeah, well, that's over.

That ship has sailed. Yeah, yeah. And it was like an hour drive back to our hotel. Oh! Did you marry your crush? Could this have been a meet-cute? No, he's a great guy. He married some other girl, and they're very happy.

Someone could keep her food down. Could handle her roller coasters. Someone that didn't throw up at Cedar Point and pass out in front of Millennium Force. Now, am I wrong? I feel like you can get out to the beach at Cedar Point. You wouldn't know. I would have gone and tried to hang out at the beach,

but I'm not sure if you can exit or not. They also never were gonna let her go off to the beach on her own. Yeah. Just part of a youth group. Rob, will you Google if you can access the beach from Cedar Point? This would be a TBD, don't worry,

I'm not gonna make Catherine hang around to find out, but that would have been a great place to recoup on the hot day. Get some fresh air. Yes, fresh sea air. I'm so sorry, what a terrible trip. So you don't love Cedar Point, I can't imagine. I don't, I've never been back,

and honestly after that, I've never been on a roller coaster since. Wow. Yeah, they're not for you. That's okay. They're not for you. You knew it. I did. That's why I was so frustrated because my friends just thought I was scared.

When in reality, it's like, no, I feel physically ill. And you know you're really susceptible to peer pressure, so you really can't put yourself in the situation again. We learned a lot of things on this day. Yeah, but I will say, I was 17 at the time. I've grown a lot since then. I'm a lot of things on this day. Yeah, but I will say I was 17 at the time. I've grown a lot since then. I'm a big fan of boundaries now. If it's a no, it's a no. Yeah. These are hard lessons to learn. Oh, well, Catherine. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, but it all worked out for you. Yeah, thank you guys so much. I was so excited. You guys were the first podcasts I ever listened to

back in like 2019, and I loved the honesty and the vulnerability that you guys have and now I work on a podcast. Oh incredible. What a story. Yeah full circle. Thank you guys have a good one. Okay bye bye. There is beach access.

A mile long beach is a perk for all park visitors. I was right. She could have gone out to the beach. She could have. Put her toes in the water, cooled herself down. Okay that would have been great. She has a time machine. She goes back.

I'm not going on the Millennium, whatever it was. Falcon? Force. Hello! Hi. Where are you at, Bill? I am on Long Island in New York. Oh, nice.

Oh. There's a popular Netflix murder doc about girls that were abducted in Long Island. Oh. Oh yeah, the serial killer. Oh my God. What if it was you? No, Bill's a good man. What if it was Raiden if you're a serial killer? Raiden. And are you from Long Island? I am.

And how'd you end up at Cedar Point? That's quite a hike. My cousin and close buddy of ours heard about Millennium Forest opening. Everybody's going to talk about Millennium Forest. Three out of four, yeah. It's been great because Dax doesn't know that one. I don't think that was around in my era. Yeah, it opened in 2000. My last trip there was around probably 2001.

It seems like you would have remembered this. I guess so, I'm gonna have to look at some photos. At any rate, you heard of the grand opening and at that time was it the tallest or something in the world? Yeah, that's what they were talking about. So we were like, all right, we gotta to go out there and we were planning the trip. It opened in spring.

We're like, all right, we'll go in the summer. It's a 10 hour drive. None of us had a car big enough that could fit the three of us, our camping gear, everything we needed. So we borrowed my aunt's minivan. That was nice of her. It was a Dodge Caravan, had the sliding doors on both sides. I do all the driving.

We find our campsite, we get there, we set up. A couple pulled up and they started setting up. They had Canadian license plates, were like, oh, these guys seem cool. So we started talking to them. They're there for the same reason as us. So we decide, all right, why don't we just all go together? Hang out, drink and having a good time the night before. My buddy Kenny, who was with us, he's an electrician and there was a light right above our campsite and he's like, oh, let me just go in there and I'll disconnect it so it's not too bright here. Sure. Normal.

We make it through the night. Next day, we all decide, all right, we're going to drive together. It was a little overwhelming. We get there, there's a lot of people. We walk in. You know how they have those photographers that snap everybody's pictures, try to sell you little souvenirs. The five of us, we get a group picture. We go around the park, ride a bunch of different roller coasters. And then we're like, all right, we're going to end the day on Millennium Force. We're waiting about a half hour or so. As we're boarding it, they have somebody on like a bullhorn, like, all right, everybody ready to ride the biggest roller coaster in the world? Everyone's like, yeah, the fastest roller coaster in the world. Yeah, the tallest roller coaster.

And then they're like, well, then you have to go to Japan because one just opened yesterday. That's two feet bigger. Three miles an hour faster. Why would they tell you that? Oh my God. So everybody like lets out this sigh and then they send us right off. Three miles an hour faster. Why would they tell you that? Oh my God. So everybody lets out this sigh and then they send us right off.

That is so Cedar Point. You wanna ride the second highest? You wanna ride the second fastest? Oh, fuck. So it was fine, it was a great time. We leave and we're driving back to the campsite. How far away is the campsite from Cedar Point? 10 minutes, if that. The caravan we were driving with to the campsite. How far away is the campsite from Cedar point? 10 minutes. Okay.

If that the caravan we were driving with the doors on both sides, they'd lock open and it's hot. So we're like, Oh, jeeps drive around with doors off all the time. Let's just lock these doors open and we'll drive. We hit a bunch of traffic. And then I see a car wash and I'm like, Oh, it's my aunt's car.

Let's go get it washed before we hit the road tomorrow. And I pulled down the center turning lane of the road and a little Chevy Beretta turns right into us. With the doors open. The passenger door open, my cousin sitting right next to that door. We ripped like the whole front end off this car and the door goes flying off my aunt's van. Oh boy. We come to a stop, the door sliding on the road behind us. Oh boy. Cops show up, they know the other car's at fault because they turned into the turning lane without anything. But they're like, we have a bunch of witnesses saying

you were driving with your doors open. They write me a ticket. And I ask them, I'm like, can I at least get the car back to the campsite and try to get the door back on on our own? So they're like, yeah. So we throw the door in our new friend's Ford Explorer, go back to the campsite after an hour or two of wrestling, we get the door back on the van.

It's all bent, the gaps in the door are huge. We duct tape the gaps on the door. We're like, all right, well, tomorrow we get to drive 10 hours with it like this. And that night it rained really hard. The campsite was right on Lake Erie. All the site's butt hours flooded out. So our new friends who were right on the lake at an air mattress was literally floating.

Oh my goodness. The next day, you know, we all help each other pack up, dry out and we head home. And the duct tape held up on all those highway speeds. Yeah, it held the whole ride home. Fortunately it didn't rain. What'd your aunt have to say when she saw the vehicle? We called her from the site.

Well, my cousin did, since it was his mom. She took it really well, and then when she saw the van, it was a little harder, but in the long run, she was just happy we were all okay. That's what she's gotta do. I know. Okay, wait, I think we have a photograph. Oh, this is the gang, the Canadians?

The Canadians, their names are Curtis and Kelly. We never heard from them again after that. 25 years later, we still talk about him. The little guy in the front is my cousin and the guy on the right is basically my Iron Weekly. Oh, lovely. I'm sorry you didn't get to go to the tallest fastest. Yeah, you have to go to Japan for that, I guess.

This year they're opening up another one that's supposed to be the biggest in the world. At Cedar Point. So we're trying to plan a new trip. Oh, great. Reunion. Okay, well that answers my question. You're definitely up to go back.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Takes me back, borrowing an aunt's van and the whole nine. Shenanigans. Yeah. My poor aunt. Yeah. All right, brother, well, nice meeting you.

Take care. Have a good rest of your day. All right, you too. Thanks so much. Bye. All right, well, so I'm just gonna say that after this, I stand firm. I position on Cedar Point.

Do you remember how offensive it was when David Ferrier did a whole episode on Disneyland with all of his judgments and he had never been. And I said, how could you do this piece and not go? And we went and what happened? Loved it. He loved it.

One of the favorite places he's ever been in his life. Well, he didn't say that. All I gotta say is before you, levy your verdict, you need to go to Cedar Point. I can't promise you that because I like to stick to my promises. We just talked about bucket lists.

Maybe you should add it to your bucket list. Oh my God, is that what I wanna do? A place you don't even wanna go. Exactly, add something to my list that I don't wanna do. That should be the requirement of any well-rounded bucket list. Is there something on there you don't wanna do, but you know you should?

Okay. Right? Do you think that's a good rule? That's more like volunteering at a hospital. Or going to Cedar Point in this case. Okay. All right. All right, love you. Love you.

Do you wanna sing a tune or something? We know a theme song. Oh, okay, great. We don't have a theme song for this new show So here I go, go, go We're gonna ask some random questions of the song for this new show. So here I go, go, go. We're gonna ask some random questions and with the help of Armchairy's,

we'll get some suggestions. On the flyer, I'm dish. On the flyer, I'm dish. Enjoy. Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts.

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