Ep 207: The Mad Gasser of Mattoon

Do you smell that? Shut the windows and change your mask filters, the Mad Gasser of Mattoon is prowling the podcast! A WWII-era midwestern mystery, the Mad Gasser of Mattoon held a small town in a gaseous grip of fear for 2 weeks with no explanation and few suspects. Panic took hold as locals tried to figure out what was happening in their small Illinois community. To this day, no one knows exactly who perpetrated a series of alleged gas attacks, nor has anyone found out why. Join David as he relates not only the timeline of the 'phantom anesthetist,' but also similar attacks in different parts of the country throughout the years. Were they connected somehow or just coincidence? He also looks at what police and scientists have found, and whether or not anything has actually been explained over the years. Don't let the fumes get to you in this episode of Blurry Photos! Music Ghostpocalypse - 8 Epilog, Ghostpocalypse - 6 Crossing the Threshold, Some Amount of Evil, Malicious, Villainous Treachery - Distressed, Danse Macabre, Myst on the Moor - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Sources

• Gas Attacks in America: http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2011/06/mad-gassers-of-america/
• An Overview: http://io9.gizmodo.com/did-mattoon-have-a-mad-scientist-or-a-mad-population-1510479349
• Vitelli, R. "The Mad Gasser of Mattoon." JREF Swift Blog. James Randi Educational Foundation, 23 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2016. http://archive.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1279-the-mad-gasser-of-mattoon.html
• Maruna, S. The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: Dispelling the Hysteria. Jacksonville: Swamp Gas Books, 2003.
• Johnson, D. "The Phantom Anesthetist of Mattoon: A field study of mass hysteria." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 1 Jan. 1945, Volume 40, Number 1: 175-186. http://ergotism.info/en/hysteria/mass_hysteria_mad_gasser_jasp_1945_40.pdf