Mad Gasser of Mattoon

January 1, 2006 6:53 PM

In 1944, the town of Mattoon, Illinois found itself in a collective panic over the exploits of a "phantom anesthetist", who was breaking into houses and subjecting victims to a paralyzing gas. Was the Mad Gasser of Mattoon (pdf) real, or were the town's citizens suffering from mass hysteria?
posted by feathermeat (29 comments total)

Elsewhere in the 1940s...
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 7:07 PM on January 1, 2006

Maybe it's just me, but I don't have a lot of interest in a 62 year old story, real or imagined.
posted by skeeter1 at 7:30 PM on January 1, 2006

skeeter1 writes "Maybe it's just me, but I don't have a lot of interest in a 62 year old story, real or imagined."

I find skeeter1's opinion fascinating!
posted by mr_roboto at 7:34 PM on January 1, 2006

How can you pass up a criminal known as The Mad Gasser of Mattoon? I almost want to open a sock puppet account just to steal that handle.
posted by maryh at 7:36 PM on January 1, 2006

Ooh, fingers crossed it'll be not long now before skeeter1 posts his self-link fpp...
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 7:51 PM on January 1, 2006

excellent post.
posted by moonbird at 7:56 PM on January 1, 2006

Paging jdunn_entropy.
posted by Eamon at 8:01 PM on January 1, 2006

Why?
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 8:06 PM on January 1, 2006

feathermeat's 2nd link just described something I've often wondered about... why, when there's a stinkbomb of some sort in a public place, so many people fall ill. Apparently it's "anxiety hysteria"... people think something is poisoning them, so they get sick. Very interesting.
posted by BoringPostcards at 8:12 PM on January 1, 2006

I'd say this is a case of sleep paralysis.

posted by sacrilicious at 8:24 PM on January 1, 2006

i'm voting with sacrilicious. i suffer pretty regularly from sleep paralysis nightmares, and they almost always involve (at some point) me laying in bed unable to move while some awful presence is lurking around my room. Such dreams seem very real and waking up from them feels a bit like coming out of anesthesia. Those dreams also often incorporate something topical from my life. One report of a "phantom anesthetist" in the local paper might be enough to give others nightmares.
posted by es_de_bah at 8:53 PM on January 1, 2006

Or, as my link would suggest, a myth perpetuated by comic-reading little boys. Mystery solved! :D
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 8:55 PM on January 1, 2006

Well, they've recovered to become the Bagel Capital of the World. (Seriously - there are like three very hardworking Jewish families in town. OK, fine.) Those things cause food comas.
posted by sachinag at 9:01 PM on January 1, 2006

Not to mention mad gas.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Awesome at 9:15 PM on January 1, 2006

Well, it's not Mr. Gasser, but it'll do for now.
posted by maxsparber at 9:47 PM on January 1, 2006

Maybe it's just me, but I don't have a lot of interest in a 62 year old story, real or imagined.

Well piss off then.

(good post btw)
posted by Jase_B at 10:16 PM on January 1, 2006

Well said, Jase_B!

Anyway, if I ever start a band I think we'll call ourselves The Mad Gassers of Mattoon.
posted by kosher_jenny at 11:45 PM on January 1, 2006

What, you wake up with a makeover, a new wardrobe, and the whole place remodeled? You catch a very tastefully dressed burglar?

Oh. I thought it was an esthetic prowler on the loose.
posted by pracowity at 12:14 AM on January 2, 2006

The MGoM tale might just prefigure the flying saucer hysteria of 1947... mayhap the spacemen were on a test run?
posted by Scram at 1:33 AM on January 2, 2006

Really interesting post; really idiotic second comment.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:02 AM on January 2, 2006

I'm with sacrilicious. I've also suffered from sleep paralysis in the past. At the time, the only way I could rationalize it was by describing it as involuntary astral projection as that was the only thing similar to the phenomenon that I could find.

If someone had postulated the existance of a mad gasser at large, I'd have been pointing the finger at him as well.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:17 AM on January 2, 2006

Put me firmly down on the skeptical side of this one. The sweet smell described might be chloroform, but it is extremely difficult to give someone enough of any anesthetic to knock them out without injuring them in this type of uncontrolled circumstance. Witness the results of the terrorists in the Russian theater. Interesting story, though.
posted by TedW at 8:31 AM on January 2, 2006

During 1990, an episode of "vanishing" genitalia caused widespread fear across Nigeria.
posted by mek at 8:34 AM on January 2, 2006

Could have been worse.
posted by rodii at 10:18 AM on January 2, 2006

I useta bounce in Mattoon. Some of those folks are pretty weird. Kinda like the show Rosanne on Ketamine.
Tall haggard looking guy came into the bar wearing a skin tight dark suit with a metallic helmet. Apparently the bar was built on the site of the old Atlas Imperial Diesel Engine Company. Fortunately I had my trusty Field Guide to North American Monsters with me and I knew exactly how to handle the Mad Gasser. Well, really, a couple Hell's Henchmen and I just stomped the crap out of him. But he'd been operating since the 40's and was pretty old.
There was no real trouble in the place until the Enfield (Illinois) Horror walked in...hopped....whatever. Only 4'6, but three legs, pink eyes, fast as lightning, shrieks like a wildcat and he's bulletproof. Him and the phantom kangaroos from Plano really hate MCs I guess.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:35 AM on January 2, 2006

Thanks for that last link, Smedleyman. Who knew Alton was one of the most haunted small towns in the country? My grandparents used to live there, and the place always gave me the creeps. Next time I'm in Chicago I'm signing up for one of those tours.
posted by maryh at 11:46 AM on January 2, 2006

Gas hysteria?
posted by autojack at 7:32 PM on January 2, 2006

Group with Spring Heeled Jack, Mothman, etc.
posted by bonefish at 12:02 PM on January 3, 2006

Not to mention mad gas.

You have just made one of the funniest and best-timed quips ever. Congratulations to you!

(Now, to go clean the coffee off my monitor...)
posted by nlindstrom at 2:20 PM on January 4, 2006