The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: An Invisible Terror Stalks Mattoon, Illinois — 1944
From Strange Epochs • Weird History · 42:30
Show by Strange History • Sleep Podcast
In September of 1944, residents of Mattoon, Illinois began reporting a prowler outside their windows — one who left no footprints, no face, and no trace. Only a smell. A sweet, sickening gas that paralyzed legs, caused vomiting, and sent families to the hospital. The local newspaper ran the story. Then more victims came forward. Then more. The town was terrified, the police were baffled, and the attacker was never caught — because some investigators came to believe there was never an attacker at all.Host Shawn Spainhour takes you into the anxious world of wartime small-town America — a community stretched thin by rationing, absent husbands, and factory fumes — and walks you through one of the most debated cases of mass psychogenic illness in modern history. Was the Mad Gasser real? A chemical leak? A copycat? Or something that spread not through the air, but through fear itself?Strange Epochs tells true stories from history's stranger corners. Each episode is written for deep listening — slow, atmospheric, and immersive. Whether you're behind the wheel, unwinding after a long day, or settling in for sleep, this show is built to pull you in and carry you somewhere else.Sources are listed in the show notes.Johnson, Donald M. The Phantom Anesthetist of Mattoon: A Field Study of Mass Hysteria. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Volume forty, nineteen forty-five.Maruna, Scott. The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: Dispelling the Hysteria. Swamp Gas Book Company, two thousand and three.Bartholomew, Robert E. and Goode, Erich. Mass Delusions and Hysterias: Highlights from the Past Millennium. Skeptical Inquirer, Volume twenty-four, two thousand.Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette. Anesthetic Prowler On Loose. September second, nineteen forty-four.Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette. Front-page coverage of the Mad Gasser incidents. September two through September fourteen, nineteen forty-four.Time Magazine. Mad Anesthetist of Mattoon. September eighteenth, nineteen forty-four.Daily Illini. Nocturnal Prowler Lists Thirty-Three Victims in Mattoon Scare. September twelfth, nineteen forty-four.Wikipedia contributors. Mad Gasser of Mattoon. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, two thousand and twenty-four.
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