The Mad Gasser of Mattoon terrified a small Illinois town in 1944, and no one was ever caught. In this episode of the Yorktown Podcast, we dig into one of the strangest small town mysteries in American history: a phantom attacker who may or may not have existed, a town gripped by wartime fear, and a story that still has no clean answer.

What you'll learn in this episode:
• The original Mad Gasser of Mattoon incident reports from August–September 1944
• Why wartime paranoia and mass hysteria may have fueled the Mattoon gas attacks
• The real symptoms reported by victims, paralysis, throat irritation, nausea
• Industrial chemical fumes as a possible explanation for the mystery gas
• The psychology of mass hysteria and how panic spreads in small towns
• Whether a real gasser was stalking the streets or the town convinced itself
• The unsolved mystery of who, or what, caused the Mattoon Illinois gas attacks

Chapters:

00:00 — Cold open: Aline Kearney's terrifying night
02:27 — Introduction + what is the Yorktown Podcast
04:52 — 1944 wartime context: why fear was already everywhere
07:16 — The first gas attack reports in Mattoon, Illinois
09:38 — The shadow figure: who was the Mad Gasser?
12:01 — Air conditioning tangent (it's educational, we promise)
14:12 — Part 2: police investigation + zero physical evidence
16:36 — Victim symptoms and what doctors actually found
18:43 — Industrial chemical fumes theory: could carbon tetrachloride explain it?
20:45 — The mass hysteria theory: Donald Johnson's research
23:09 — Three theories, one verdict
25:31 — The Mad Gasser disappears — and the mystery never does

The Yore Town Podcast covers small towns with big stories, real history, unsolved mysteries, and the strange events that shaped everyday American life. If you're into true history, local legends, and the kind of stories that make you go "wait, that actually happened?" you're in the right place.

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What do YOU think happened in Mattoon? Drop your theory in the comments.
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#MadGasser #MattoonIllinois #SmallTownMystery #TrueHistory #YorktownPodcast #MassHysteria #1944 #UnsolvedMystery

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