The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: A Contagion of Fear

Let's breathe in the strange and suffocating tale of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon, the phantom prowler who paralyzed an entire Illinois town in the summer of 1944 with nothing but a sweet smell and a whole lot of wartime dread. We dig into the moments that lit the fuse, the armed vigilantes who followed, and why the army chemical experts found absolutely nothing. Plus, we trace the long, weird history of fear going airborne, from the Glass Harmonica's alleged nerve-shredding powers to Spring-heeled Jack, War of the Worlds, and the surprisingly ancient art of a town losing its collective mind.