The Mad Gasser of Mattoon (1944): America’s Phantom Gas Attacks | Unsolved-ish A The Strange History Podcast

In the summer of 1944, residents of a small Illinois town began reporting terrifying nighttime attacks. People woke up unable to move, nauseous, dizzy, and convinced a mysterious figure was releasing gas into their homes. Some claimed to see a shadowy man outside their windows. Others reported strange smells and physical symptoms that doctors couldn’t fully explain.
The town was Mattoon, and the mystery became known as The Mad Gasser of Mattoon.
In this episode of The Strange History Podcast, we explore one of America’s strangest crime waves — a case that was never truly solved, but instead officially explained away as mass hysteria during World War II. We examine the historical context of wartime fear, chemical weapon anxiety, conflicting medical reports, and why the attacks stopped as suddenly as they began.
Was the Mad Gasser a real criminal exploiting panic?
Was it a psychological phenomenon fueled by stress and suggestion?
Or was it something authorities couldn’t explain — or didn’t want to?
This episode dives into an overlooked chapter of strange history where fear itself may have been the most powerful weapon, leaving behind no arrests, no evidence, and no clear answers.
Not solved.
Not disproven.
Just… solved-ish.