Episode 104: Mad Gasser of Mattoon

CW: War, Needles, Loss of Bodily Control

In the town of Mattoon, IL, during the second World War, the sweet smell of paralytic gas floated into the bedrooms of sleeping victims. A series of attacks brought international attention to the town, with so many frightening attacks that even soldiers on the warfront wrote home about it. So what exactly happened in Mattoon in 1944?

Let’s start with the overview of what this case is. If you go to this link, you can read about it and also see some pictures!

What It Is

This link will take you to an historic newspaper about the gas attacks in Mattoon.

The Attacks

This link will take you to an ebook on the Internet Archives called Unexplained! The Mad Gasser is in there with pictures!

Unexplained!

M did a little quoting from this Atlas Obscura article, so here it is for your reading.

The Mad Gasser

This historic newspaper talks about some injuries caused by the Mad Gasser.

Injuries

This historic newspaper talks about the possibility that the Mad Gasser is actually a fake.

Is it fake?

This historic newspaper talks about the sheer number of people claiming to be victims of the Mad Gasser.

How many victims?

This is the Wikipedia article about Carbon Tetrachloride.

What is that chemical?

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