The Mad Gasser of Mattoon

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

The Mad Gasser of Mattoon is the name given by local newspapers to a mysterious figure said to have plagued Mattoon, Illinois in August and September of 1944. Headlines also dubbed the assailant The Anesthetic Prowler, The Mad Anesthetist, or The Phantom Anesthetist.

1 Summary
2 Explanations
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

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Summary

The alleged attacks followed a similar pattern: late at night, homeowners would report noticing a curious sweet odor that was strong enough to wake them, followed by nausea, dizziness, headaches, breathing difficulty or a feeling of paralysis. Some claimed that a buzzing sound or a blue vapor was present at the time. Several homeowners reported a tall figure dressed in black fleeing from their property immediately after the attacks.

After sensational newspaper reports of the first few incidents, the panicked citizens talked of little else. Additional police and citizen patrols were organized. Residents were torn between closing their windows to stop the Gasser and opening them to make the late summer heat more bearable.

After reaching a crescendo of 15 alleged attacks between September 5th and 10th, the incidents abruptly ceased after the 13th. Despite the involvement of state and federal law enforcement agencies, no suspects were ever apprehended.

Ultimately, authorities dismissed the incidents as mass hysteria. Although many of the victims were male, the phenomenon was often attributed to the anxieties of women living alone during World War II.

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Explanations

There are three primary theories about the Mad Gasser incident: mass hysteria, industrial pollution, or an actual physical assailant. Mass hysteria is the most popular explanation.

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Mass hysteria

Dr. Donald Johnson, at the time a student in psychology at the University of Illinois and later a psychology professor, wrote a seminal article attributing the incident to mass hysteria, and the Mad Gasser has been cited as a textbook example ever since.

A very similar series of assaults involving strange fumes occurred in Virginia in 1933, which perhaps supports the mass hysteria explanation. The sheer number of reported incidents at the height of the panic suggests hysteria is the best explanation for at least some alleged attacks.

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Toxic waste or pollution

Mattoon was the site of several busy factories and industrial plants, leading to speculation about the role of pollutants or toxic waste. But this cannot explain the localized, house-by-house nature of the attacks.

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Actual assailant

Some have argued that an actual assailant carried out the attacks more or less as reported by witnesses.

A recent theory, suggested by former area resident Scott Maruna, blames a local named Farley Llewellyn. An outstanding chemistry student at the University of Illinois, Llewellyn had both the means and the motivation to commit the attacks. Shortly before the first attack, Llewellyn's home chemistry lab was rocked by an explosion. Llewellyn was ostracized by the local community as a suspected homosexual and was bitter toward the townsfolk. Maruna states that the first several victims were high school classmates of Llewellyn's, and most of the attacks occurred near the Llewellyn home. Maruna believes Farley Llewyllen was attempting to make bombs using nitromethane, an explosive, sweet-smelling compound which, when inhaled, can produce symptoms not unlike those reported by the victims.

One objection to this explanation is the lack of explosions or fires accompanying the attacks or physical evidence of any explosive device. Another possible flaw is that Llewellyn was the only suspect at the time and was placed under constant surveillance at the height of the attacks. Maruna suggests Llewellyn's sisters conducted several additional gassings in an attempt to exonerate him. This would explain why the victims of the final attack on the 13th described the gasser as a woman in men's clothing, and prints from high-heeled shoes were found the next day.

Shortly after the attacks ended, Farley Llewellyn's family had him committed to a mental institution, where he remained for the rest of his life.

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References

Coleman, Loren, Mysterious America : the Revised Edition, Paraview Press, ©2004 (first pub. ), New York, LC Control Number: 2004102093, ISBN 1931044848
Johnson, D.M. 1945. The "Phantom Anesthetist" of Mattoon: A field study of mass hysteria. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 40:175-186

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