Nights of the Mad Gasser


The legendary "Mad Gasser of Mattoon" has long been one of the most puzzling cases in the history of modern paranormal lore. It has been referenced in numerous works on the paranormal, notably Jerome Clark's Unexplained! and Mike Dash's Borderlands. Not so well known is the fact that one of the well-known "mystery men" of the 1940s was at one point reportedly involved in the case.


The Phantom Anesthetist
On the night of August 31, 1944 two separate residents of the small city of Mattoon, Illinois experienced remarkably similar symptoms. Each reported smelling a strange, sweet odor accompanied by nausea, weakness, vomiting, and temporary paralysis or near-paralysis. Though the victims suffered no lasting ill effects, they understandably found the incidents highly disturbing.

So began a reign of terror that would last for the next several weeks.

Over the next week there were a dozen more reports of Mattoon residents smelling strange, sweet odors and suffering symptoms. All of the incidents occurred at night. Some residents reported seeing a strange prowler in a dark, close-fitting outfit. In some accounts the prowler was observed spraying an unknown gas into the victim’s home. This gas presumably caused the odor and symptoms. None of the victims was robbed or otherwise molested. The press dubbed the alleged attacker “The Phantom Anesthetist” and “The Mad Gasser.”


Suspicions and Speculation
As the number of incidents continued to mount, frightened citizens of Mattoon began patrolling the streets at night and demanding action from the police. City officials were divided as to whether the strange “gassings” were largely a matter of mass hysteria, were the result of toxic pollution from nearby industries, or represented actual attacks by a bizarre “Mad Gasser.”

Unlikely though it sounded, the last hypothesis could not be dismissed. In late 1933-early 1934 Botetourt County, Virginia witnessed several incidents that strongly resembled the events in Mattoon. Six years later a costumed “mystery man” vigilante known as the Sandman became active in Chicago. Attired in a business suit, fedora, and gas mask, this Sandman employed an odd “gas gun” to spray tear gas and a gas that caused unconsciousness against local criminals. Within two years the Sandman had joined the costumed vigilante organization known as the Justice Society of America.

Perhaps inevitably the Sandman fell under suspicion, at least to some. These suspicions were publicly voiced in a letter to the editor published in the Mattoon “Daily Journal-Gazette” on September 9. “I have always suspected that these ‘mystery men’ were individuals of questionable sanity,” the writer opined. “It appears that one of them may now have snapped and begun attacking innocent citizens.”

Within a few days it became apparent that this was a minority opinion, as other letter writers quickly jumped to the Sandman’s defense. “The Sandman has for three years been a member in good standing of the Justice Society of America,” wrote one. “They have done much good in our nation and for the war effort. Surely they would not have admitted a man of dangerously unstable mind into their ranks.” Stated another: “It defies common sense to suppose that a man who risks his life to battle criminals in Chicago should turn criminal himself when he ventures into the southern half of the state.”

The editors of the “Chicago Tribune” also rose to the Sandman’s defense. In an editorial of September 13 the “Tribune” noted that the Sandman had been credibly reported as active in the streets of Chicago on both September 6 and September 7. He could not therefore have been responsible for the activities of the “Mad Gasser” in Mattoon reported on those same evenings.

Outside Expert
By this time the police of Mattoon had called upon an outside expert—noted University of Chicago chemist Wesley Dodds. Dodds himself initiated contact with the Mattoon police force with a telephone call on September 10. “I felt my skills might prove relevant to the investigation,” Dodds said in an interview many years later. “I therefore decided that it was incumbent upon me to offer the police my services. They readily accepted. I caught a bus to Mattoon and was able to arrive that evening.”

Dodds had scarcely arrived in Mattoon when the Mad Gasser struck again. On the evening of September 10 an unnamed victim on Champaign Avenue reported being gassed. Dodds went with police to interview the victim and if possible collect samples of the reported gas.

With the assistance of a local chemist Dodds scrubbed and analyzed several items and surfaces in the affected house. In a press conference two days later he reported his conclusions:

"It would appear from my findings that the victims of the attacks—and I believe that many of the victims have indeed been attacked and are not merely suffering from mass hysteria—have been exposed to carbon tetrachloride vapor. This is a common, readily-available industrial chemical widely employed as a solvent, refrigerant, and flame suppressant. It is also the precursor chemical to the gas phosgene, which was used as a weapon in the First World War.

"Carbon tetrachloride has a sweetish smell and is capable of producing symptoms much like those that victims have described. The police have checked with local industrial concerns and have found no evidence that these have been guilty of careless use of carbon tetrachloride of a sort that might cause accidental exposure to people around town. I am therefore of the opinion that a “phantom attacker” has in fact been active.

"Who this attacker might be or what motives he may have I cannot even begin to speculate. I believe I can be reasonably certain of whom he is not—he is not the mystery man commonly known as the Sandman. I have on two separate occasions collected for analysis samples of the “sleeping gas” that the Sandman employs. It appears to be a highly sophisticated mild nerve agent of unknown origin. The so-called Mad Gasser’s agent of choice is altogether simpler and cruder in nature."

Dodds further stated in the interview that one-time-only exposure to carbon tetrachloride was not believed to create serious lasting side effects, and that the Mattoon police were still working to capture the person responsible for the attacks.


Gas Attack--And Counterattack
The evening after Dodds’ statement the Mad Gasser struck once again. The victim described the assailant as a woman dressed as a man. Footprints that appeared to belong to a woman were found at the scene. This naturally spurred further speculation as to who the attacker might be.

Two evenings later, on September 15, police responded to a call from a woman who claimed that she had spotted a mysterious figure outside the window of her next door neighbors’ house. Police, believing that this might be the Mad Gasser, responded promptly. Officer Thomas Flaherty, who happened to be patrolling in the neighborhood, arrived on the scene within two minutes. He spotted a strange figure fleeing:

"It was all muffled in dark clothing. I saw the snout of a gas mask protruding from the figure’s face. The suspect was short and slight in build. I can’t swear to it, but I believe it might have been a woman. It carried a canister with a hose or spray gun of some kind."

As Flaherty shouted at the suspect to stop, a second weird figure appeared:

"This one was a man of at least average height and athletic build. He wore a suit and hat and also had a gas mask. He carried a large, bulky gun. It was not until afterward that I realized that the second masked figure resembled photographs I’d seen of the Sandman from Chicago. I’m afraid at the time I simply assumed that they were both Mad Gassers.

"What I later realized to be the Sandman raised his weapon and fired at the first figure. A cloud of gas burst from his weapon and engulfed the figure. It changed direction and kept running. I suppose the other one’s gas mask protected him or her from the Sandman’s gas.

"The Mad Gasser fled down a nearby alley, with the Sandman in pursuit. I brought up the rear. I’m afraid I don’t run that well anymore. You know the younger fellows on the force have mostly left to join the Service. I was not able to keep up. I don’t know what was the outcome of the pursuit between the other two."

Flaherty’s encounter was the last recorded sighting of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon.


A Frustrating Outcome
In the decades since 1944 debate over the Mad Gasser incidents has failed to reach a consensus. Chemist Wesley Dodds’ expert opinion notwithstanding, a number of writers have continued to dismiss the events in Mattoon as mass hysteria. Indeed, psychologists came to treat it as something of a classic outburst.

Others have suggested that there was an actual attacker, although nobody has ever been able to suggest a plausible motive. For his part, Wesley Dodds continued to stand by his own contention that there was a real Mad Gasser. “I wish very much that we had managed to capture the assailant. The police and the Sandman—I am inclined to believe Officer Flaherty’s report regarding the identity of the second mysterious figure—came so very close! It was one of the most frustrating outcomes of my career.”

When asked by interviewers why he supposed that the Sandman had been involved, Dodds replied: “I believe it was a case of professional jealousy. The Sandman could not stand to have an inferior imitator besmirching his good name. I suspect that he must have been every bit as frustrated as I over the failure to capture the Mad Gasser.”