Mad gasser of mattoon

[Ryo Ohki]

Did anyone ever hear about it?

[RollingThunder06]

For the heck of it I put it into search not expecting for anything to come up. I was wrong!

Had never heard of it and it makes interesting reading.

[TwilightSilver]

Did anyone ever hear about it?

Yep. Here's a bit about him:

This guy first acheived notoriety on August 31, 1944 in Mattoon Illinois, when several people woke up ill. He was belived to send toxic fumes into homes after midnight. In the two weeks after, about thirty people exhibited symptoms of exposure, including severe bouts of vomiting, extreme weakness and partial paralysis. Fainting and respiratory difficulties were also experienced.

Eleven year old Glenda Hendershott was found unconcious in her bedroom after she was subjected to a toxic cloud on September 6, 1944. The day before, Beulah Cordes and her hunsband discovered a white cloth on thier front porch and when Beulah inhaled the fumes from the cloth she was inflicted with immediate paralysis below the knees, uncontrollable vomiting, and excessive swelling of the lips and face. Mrs. Cordes suffered these symptoms for over two hours.

After the first few rounds of illnesses, local authorities made several attempts to find the origin of these toxic fumes. Homes were inspected for gas leaks, but none were found. The investigators had few leads, and fewer theories regarding the sudden sickness spreading through Mattoon until several nights after the onset of the epidemic, when witnesses spotted a strangely garbed individual creeping near the windows of the afflicted.

Based on information gathered from first-hand descriptions of the phantom, the Mad Gasser is a tall and haggard humaniod. He prefers to wear a skin-tight dark suit and a large gas mask, also he has also been known to sport a silver suit and metallic helmet as well.

~Well, this was collected from "The Field Guide to North American Monsters" by W. Hayden Blackman. Hope it was helpful in some way. It's not the whole article on him, but I vcouldn't type the whole thing. Being an Urban Legend, there is a large myth about him around the town.

*edited for spelling errors*

Edited September 19, 2006 by TwilightSilver