This is the story of an unknown assailant who terrorized the small town of Mattoon, Illinois in the summer of 1944. The mysterious figure, dubbed the "Mad Gasser" by the local press, was said to be responsible for a series of nocturnal attacks in which a strange
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon was the name given to an event of alleged mass hysteria in which a person or people allegedly committed a series of apparent gas attacks in Mattoon, Illinois, during the mid-1940s. More than two dozen separate cases of gassings were reported to police over the span of two weeks, in addition to many more reported sightings of the suspected assailant. The gasser's supposed victims reported smelling strange odors in their homes which were soon followed by symptoms such as paralysis of the legs, coughing, nausea and vomiting. No one died or had serious medical consequences as a result of the gas attacks.