1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Today's episode is a gas? 4 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,639 Speaker 1: But is it a mad gas? Well, I think that's 5 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,959 Speaker 1: our starting question. I don't know, but let me take 6 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: a mad gasp for breath before I start talking about this, 7 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: because there's a lot to go over. I love the expression, Um, 8 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: it's a gas. Let's see what life's a gas. There's 9 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: a t Rex song laughs, a gas. Best annunciation of 10 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: the word gas, stretching it out to literally like four syllables. Um. 11 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: But yeah, we're talking about hysteria, We're talking about things 12 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: existing largely in the minds of the public and kind 13 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: of inventing foes that represent kind of your deepest, darkest fears. Yeah. Yeah, 14 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: And of course, as always, mad gas to have our 15 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: super producer Casey Pegram and our guest producer Andrew Howard 16 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: along with us on the ride today. If you're a 17 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: fan of hip hop, of course you know that people 18 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: can be gassed about something, which might mean excited, sometimes 19 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: with the connotation of being overly excited or maybe a 20 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: little more optimistic about an idea. This has nothing to 21 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: do with music, but it does have a lot to 22 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: do with public panic and the fear of crowds. Now, 23 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: this story may not be familiar to a lot of 24 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: people outside of Central Illinois, but if you are from 25 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: central Illinois, specifically the town of Mattune, then you are 26 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: probably familiar with the events that began in early September 27 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:18,079 Speaker 1: nineteen four. Here's the headline, folks, there was a mysterious 28 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: figure in black who was, for some enigmatic reason spraying 29 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: paralyzing gas into the windows of people's homes. That's that's 30 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: a very specific odd flex slash crime. Uh. The newspapers, No, 31 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: they went overboard. Oh, I forgot to say, I'm ben. 32 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: The newspapers went overboard with the reporting of this, and 33 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,679 Speaker 1: they kind of took it to the court of public opinion, 34 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: declaring that these attacks, these gassings, were the work of 35 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: what they called a mad gas er. And off air, 36 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:00,239 Speaker 1: we talked about the idea of putting there's this very 37 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: specific move with reporting and publicity, sometimes with alarmist reporting, 38 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: to put the word mad in front of a verb 39 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: of something someone did, so like mad gasser. There would 40 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: also be the one you brought up earlier, role. Yeah, 41 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: like a mad bomber or perhaps a mad I don't know. 42 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: Once you start getting into slashing, that just you don't 43 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: need an extra word in front of that. You just 44 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: because you're a slasher. It's it's it's implied. I think 45 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: that you're a mad slasher. I do like the term 46 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: mad dash though, right, like I made a mad dash 47 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: for the bus or whatever. Um. But no, it's true, Ben, 48 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: And I was looking it up because the the idea 49 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: of of gassing or of a paralyzing gas, to me 50 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: makes me think of what would be considered a nerve 51 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: agent or nerve gas, which wasn't really discovered or invented 52 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: even really until I believe the late thirties, if I'm 53 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: not mistaken, Ben, And it would have been used during 54 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: World War Two. But would it have been in the 55 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: zeitgeist yet by this point, Ben, it seems like this 56 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: is very, very close to that whole discovery. Yeah, yeah, 57 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: because just a few years after the thirties, it would 58 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: have been incredibly unusual for someone to both know about 59 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: this stuff and have access to it. So, like, let's 60 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: say you have a career in the military, and some 61 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: specific aspects of the military, you could quite possibly be 62 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: very well aware of this stuff, but then knowing what 63 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: it is and how it works would not be the 64 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: same thing as being able to get your glove clad 65 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: hands on it and then and then properly fumigate somebody's 66 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 1: house with it totally. And the one we think of 67 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: even still today, saren gas was not discovered until nineteen 68 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,040 Speaker 1: thirty nine. It's unclear to me, but I think I 69 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: I'm I'm leaning in your direction, Ben, that this wouldn't 70 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: have been something that would have been like discussed or 71 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: have wrecked paranoia about. But that's that's really interesting. But 72 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: that's really it's it's really interesting to consider where this 73 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: hysteria or this panic came from and when we'll get 74 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: right into that. Yeah, this is the thing. So just 75 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: a little further word about this. If this gas existed 76 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 1: and had the effects that it was described as having 77 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: in the papers of the time, then it would have 78 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: been an incapacitated agent, and those agents are Humanity is 79 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: known about the ability of some substances to like put 80 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: people in a stupor, or paralyze them, or put them 81 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: to sleep for a long time. The question is all 82 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: about the specifics. What is this gas? What happened? Why 83 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: did over twenty people claim that this mad gas or 84 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: sometimes known as the phantom anesthesis. Why why did over 85 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: twenty people feel like they were attacked by this person? Uh, 86 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: the FBI began investigating. Uh. Spoiler alert, fellow ridiculous historians. 87 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: The police never captured this gas or. So here's the thing. 88 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: Police never captured this gas or. Doctors medical experts who 89 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: examined the victims could not find anything wrong with them, 90 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: nor traces of chemicals in the bodies of these victims. 91 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: And police also couldn't find traces of the chemicals in 92 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 1: the residences or the structures that the gas er was 93 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: alleged to attack. The person also didn't leave footprints. So 94 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: what sparked the panic? And it is a panic, it's 95 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: it's actually it's something called mass hysteria, which is very real, 96 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: absolutely mass hysteria. And the thing that really gets interesting 97 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: is how, you know, I brought up the idea of 98 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: nerve agents, and I think that there's a real nice 99 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: clue in that headline or that that other nickname the 100 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: phantom anisthetist. The idea of this could have been the 101 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: work of a different substance, not a nerve agent at all, 102 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: but more or of like a laughing gas situation that 103 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: people would have been aware of that you used to 104 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: put people under during surgery, and that you know, it 105 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: had had been around for a long time and was 106 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: commonly used like in dental procedures and and uh and 107 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: the like UM or something heavier that might have been 108 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: used during you know, more invasive surgery. But the thing 109 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: that's fascinating is the behavior of of some of these 110 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: individuals that claim to have been drugged in this way. 111 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: And we also have like a precedent kind of for 112 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: this kind of mass hysteria. We have reported it recently 113 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: in fact, or at least what we you know, conjectured 114 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: to be that been on stuff. They don't want you 115 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: to know where. I believe it was in India, there 116 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: were cases of young children seeing um apparitions of some 117 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: kind or demons or you know, possession type things. And uh, 118 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: there is film that we actually saw of of these uh, 119 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: these kids kind of in the state of this trance 120 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: like state kind of screaming as though they're having a 121 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: waking nightmare. That's obviously a very upsetting example. UM. We 122 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 1: have a slightly more funny but then it gets to 123 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: be upsetting. Example from France in July of fIF eighteen, 124 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: where we had people dancing uncontrollably in the streets like 125 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: this song, you know, dancing in the street. I think 126 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: that's what David Bowie and Mick Jagger. Fabulous video, but 127 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: it escalates this kind of mania or hysteria. Tends to 128 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: be catchy, like the song also dancing in the streets, 129 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: which I probably won't be able to get in my 130 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: head for the rest of the week. These numbers of 131 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: people started to balloon, from thirty to several hundred individuals 132 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: dancing in the streets. And and some of them actually died. Uh, 133 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,679 Speaker 1: not from some kind of poisoning or some kind of 134 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: substance or any kind of thing like that. It was 135 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,599 Speaker 1: literally just from over exhaustion, like that scene in The 136 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: Midsummer where you dance so hard that you just pass out. 137 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: Only these folks actually died. Yeah, you can die from exhaustion, 138 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: it's true. And uh, the Screaming Girls of Malaysia is 139 00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: that stuff they don't want you to know. Episode I 140 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: believe well worth a listen. Look there there are multiple 141 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: cases of what people would later describe as mass hysterians. 142 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: Some of them sound a little silly, you know, with 143 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: the benefit of retrospect, when you're thinking, Wow, was there 144 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: really a problem with nuns in France meowing like cats? 145 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: How is that contagious? You know? What is the Mount 146 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:29,199 Speaker 1: Pleasant Mississippi hexing? The question today is is this a 147 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: case of this mass hysteria. To answer that, we have 148 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: to go to the beginning. Mattuna is a pretty small city. 149 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,199 Speaker 1: It's about forty nine fifty miles south of Champagne is 150 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: the crow Flies, population around eighteen thousand. If we fast 151 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: forward to the end of August, it's hot town. Summer 152 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: in the city, you know what I mean, people have 153 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: their windows open at night because they want to let 154 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: in that cool evening breeze. But in nineteen forty four, 155 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: summer is a little bit different. Instead of having their 156 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: windows open all the way typically the way they usually 157 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,199 Speaker 1: would write, with just some gauzy curtains between them and 158 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: the outside world, people only open their windows a crack 159 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: because so many of the men of the town were 160 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: away fighting a World War two, and there was this 161 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: kind of um, this undercurrent of fear, and this was 162 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: common in most of the United States at the time. 163 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: Even if you were a civilian, you were told you 164 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: were part of the fight. You needed to be on 165 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,840 Speaker 1: the alert. You needed to keep your mouth shut about 166 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: possible military movements and keep your eyes open for any 167 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: suss activity. Everybody was on the edge of a figurative knife. 168 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: And so on August thirty one, a couple is asleep 169 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: in their house. They wake up, they smell something that 170 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: they described as sweet, and then they say, as soon 171 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: as we smelled this, we began feeling strange. Understandably, this 172 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: freaked him out, absolutely, And I think it is key 173 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: how on edge people would have been, you know, for 174 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: fear of a larger attack, perhaps, right, And it's interesting 175 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: how you know. I think it's key that the folks 176 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,400 Speaker 1: were so on edge, perhaps for fear of a larger 177 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 1: attack or a bombing rate of some kind. Who knows, 178 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: you know, it's all very sketchy territory. Even though the 179 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: war is not on us soil. Who knows what could happen. 180 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: So i'm I'm I'm with them in that headspace. But 181 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: you're right, that sweet smell kind of wafting in through 182 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: the window we had Mrs rafe Um she got out 183 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: of bed thinking that maybe it was a gas leak 184 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: or that the pilot light was out, and she found 185 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,679 Speaker 1: herself to be paralyzed or at least her legs at 186 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: this point, and her husband, Mr. Rafe, was afflicted similarly. 187 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: He was weak, he felt nausea overtake him, and he 188 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: immediately began to vomit violently. That's no fun um and 189 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,760 Speaker 1: he without keeping getting out of bed. Uh So, Yeah, 190 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: we had other reports from neighbors that a young mother 191 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: was awakened by her daughter coughing violently, and then when 192 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: she checked on her daughter, she found that she had 193 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: been paralyzed, wasn't able to get out of bed. And 194 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: apparently neither of those families reported these happenings right away, 195 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: and maybe it wasn't until another attack on September one. 196 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: Folks felt maybe something was up. What happened on the 197 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: ninth of September one, nineteen ben Yeah, they that's a 198 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: really important point. They did eventually report this, but after 199 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: some amount of time had passed. And this this is 200 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: going to be a crucial detail. Later September for Eileen 201 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 1: Kearney goes to bed that evening, she's not feeling super great. 202 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: Her sister had helped her count some money that she 203 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: had gotten from a Czechi cashed earlier. But Kearney had 204 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:24,080 Speaker 1: left her windows open at her house, so anyone who 205 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: walked by could have seen her and her sister counting 206 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: out the scratch. Why was she concerned, Well, she had reason. 207 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: Her husband was working the late shift, and the newspapers 208 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:38,079 Speaker 1: at the time, which were making a mistake about it, 209 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: folks thriving on this culture fear. They had said the 210 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,319 Speaker 1: police were looking for a Nazi who had escaped a 211 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: pow camp near Peoria, Illinois. And then there was also 212 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: an ongoing concern about prowlers peeping tom's they have been 213 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 1: called at other times. So it's around eleven PM. She 214 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: goes to bed. She had a three year old daughter. 215 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: She takes her daughter with her, and then not too 216 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: long as History of Yesterday dot com reports, it not 217 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:14,079 Speaker 1: too long after eleven PM, Kearney notices a sickly sweet 218 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 1: odor in her bedroom. It sounds familiar, but unlike the races. 219 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: She ignores the smell and she's like, I got the 220 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: window open. Maybe it's some flowers, right, Maybe I'm just 221 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: smelling flowers and I'm not too familiar with it. But 222 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: she noticed the smell started becoming stronger, more apparent, and 223 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: then she, like the folks from the other day, began 224 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: to lose feeling, specifically in her legs. She called for 225 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: her sister, Martha, who was staying overnight as well, saying Martha, 226 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: come help me. Martha ran next door to the Robinson's. 227 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: Those are their neighbors, and their neighbors summoned the police. Mr. 228 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: Robinson and law enforcement search around the house and the yard, 229 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: and they find nothing amiss. They don't experience any paralytic 230 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: effects or anything like that. Whatever happened, if gas it 231 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: was must have dissipated between the time Kearney became paralyzed 232 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: and the time her neighbors arrived. And then finally her 233 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: husband gets home. Burt Burt Kearney comes home from driving 234 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: a taxi. It's like midnight thirty, you know, it's it's 235 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: getting into the wee hours, and he says something interesting. 236 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: He thinks he saw someone. Specifically, he thought he saw 237 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: a tall man in dark clothes with a tight fitting 238 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: cap lurking at the bedroom window, and he took off 239 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: after this guy, but the guy got away, So the 240 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: police are called a second time and for a second time, 241 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: they don't find anything. Nothing amiss, no footprints, nothing and disarray, 242 00:15:55,680 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: certainly not some unidentified, dark clad, super sketchy stranger. About 243 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,479 Speaker 1: thirty minutes later, Ms Kearney could walk again. Her paralysis 244 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: is gone, but her daughter is still feeling these ill 245 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: effects until the next morning. And that next morning Ms 246 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: Kearney when she talks to the papers about this, she says, 247 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: her mouth and threw remained really dry like cot mouth, 248 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: and her lips she felt were burned by this gas. Yeah, 249 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: very specific results that people are talking about, but thankfully 250 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: the worst of these symptoms. The paralysis seemed to have 251 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: subsided after about a half hour, but her daughter was 252 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: feeling very under the weather until the next morning. Um So, 253 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: the next day Mrs Kearney went to the newspaper told 254 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: them about her mouth and throat and parched lips and 255 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: then the burning sensation and all of these things, including 256 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: this idea that there was some kind of prowler, and 257 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: you know, it was referring to this gas as though 258 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: this was like a sure thing. She knows this is 259 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: what happened. Um So, of course, like they do, the 260 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: media took this and ran with it, you know. Um So, 261 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: On September two, this became front page news in the 262 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 1: Mattoon Journal Gazette, admittedly paper with relatively small circulation, but 263 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:30,440 Speaker 1: the front page read the following headline, anesthetic prowler on loose. Wow. 264 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: I mean, come on, talk about whipping up a panic, right, 265 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: like a small town like that, the idea of a 266 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: very specific kind of almost fetishized prowler that is going 267 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: around and maybe not murdering people, but you know, doing 268 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: trying meaning to do them harm. And yeah, and then 269 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:53,640 Speaker 1: there's another article that said Mrs Kearney and daughter first victims. Uh. 270 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: And there was no evidence outside of the hearsay um 271 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 1: that was provided by Mrs Kearney and and her daughter. 272 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: They had no evidence to back this up. There was 273 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: no police report associated with the existence of this prowler. 274 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: And yet they're reporting on this individual as though they 275 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 1: are the real deal. And so in the minds of people, 276 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: of course, it did becomes the real deal. And and 277 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: the paper benefited from this. If it bleeds, it leads, 278 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: or if it gases, it passes. Uh. Mattune Journal Gazette 279 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: saw a nent bump in subscribership. There's a big deal 280 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: in a small town. That's like nearly subscribership of eighteen 281 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 1: thousand people. That's a serious boost. And it's uh, it 282 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:43,640 Speaker 1: only a crude momentum because a few days after that, 283 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,160 Speaker 1: the reefs come forward and they say, you know, we also, 284 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: we in our our neighbor encountered the exact same thing 285 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: you're describing. And picture the person at the Mattune Journal Gazette, 286 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,160 Speaker 1: the editor in chief, saying, dang, we missed the headline. 287 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:04,360 Speaker 1: We could make an even more spectacular headline or sensationalist headline, 288 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: I should say again. They also, despite the fact that 289 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 1: they described some of the same things almost as if 290 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:15,160 Speaker 1: they had read the paper with a ninety seven percent 291 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: subscription rate, they also did not have anything in the 292 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: way of evidence fingerprints, footprints, etcetera. So there is a 293 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: great question here, and it's something explored in multiple sources. 294 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: And the question is this, to what extent where the 295 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: local papers involved in the making of the mad gas 296 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: or beyond just the reporting of the events. It's true 297 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:47,119 Speaker 1: that they did not print anything about these attacks until 298 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: several days into September, and at that point, by that point, 299 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,120 Speaker 1: multiple people, as we've shown, have already come to law 300 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: enforcement with complaints of attacks using gas, and ethically, it 301 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: would have been their job to talk about it. And 302 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: if the entire incident was just sort of a symptom 303 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: of the fear that was gripping so many people in 304 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: the US and Illinois at this time, then the truth 305 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: of the matter is that town gossip and chit chat 306 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 1: and argy bargele would have already have fired up the 307 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: populace well before they saw these headlines. So Anesthetic Prowler 308 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 1: is actually a little, um, I guess, a little less 309 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: sensationalistic than they could have gone. Oh, I mean, well, 310 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: if you compared to mad Gaster, to me, it sounds 311 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: like the newtered version, or like the more polite version 312 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: Anesthetic Prowler versus Mad Gaster. I think Anesthetic Prowler is 313 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: probably the more diplomatic of the two, right sure, yeah, yeah, 314 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: although I love when people dropped phantom into stuff. Phantom 315 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: is like mad as well. The papers did some digging 316 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: and they found that about a decade ago in Virginia 317 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: there have been reports of another rash of gassing incidents, 318 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 1: no arrest, no fatalities. So the papers revived this story 319 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:11,399 Speaker 1: and they said, this is where the mad Gaster comes in. 320 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: And they said, Hey, maybe that mad gasser who never 321 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:18,160 Speaker 1: got caught in Virginia came out here to Central Illinois. 322 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: And then when they reported that something that we've talked 323 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,479 Speaker 1: about in the past on other shows began to happen. 324 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: More and more people began coming forward and claimed that 325 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 1: they had a story. Just like if there's a report 326 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: of a famous person disappearing or a report of a 327 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: criminal on the loose, multiple people will claim they have 328 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: seen this person. And the thing is they're not necessarily lying. 329 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: They believe what they're saying. And so, yeah, we have 330 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 1: to be careful when we think about all the other 331 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: people who came forward to other women said that something 332 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: like this had happened to them, not in August, but 333 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: a few months earlier, and they just didn't think about 334 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: reporting it until as they saw all the newspaper, Which 335 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,640 Speaker 1: what is the logic there, Like if you got gassed, 336 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,159 Speaker 1: if you felt like you got gassed and you were paralyzed, 337 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: even just for an hour, you you would tell like 338 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: you would at least text me and Casey absolutely, yeah, 339 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: I mean, and I'm not not trying to make this 340 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: overly heavy, but it's not even the same as say, 341 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 1: being a victim of sexual assault or being a victim 342 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:28,360 Speaker 1: of molestation by like a relative or something like that. 343 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: That makes sense that people would bury that and not 344 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: talk about it, because there's a personal shame element involved, 345 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 1: all kinds of psychological angles as to why people would 346 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,719 Speaker 1: would hide that, Whereas maybe I don't know who, who 347 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,880 Speaker 1: am I to say? Maybe this has a maybe there's 348 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: a cross over there somewhere, maybe someone feels, if they've 349 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: been victimized in any way, that there's a point of 350 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: shame there. But I agree with you completely been if 351 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: I had been gassed, or felt that I had been gassed, 352 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: I absolutely would say something. I don't see any reason 353 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: why I would why I would hide that or be 354 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,480 Speaker 1: embarrassed by it. You know, it's the age of ubiquitous 355 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: information and uh NonStop continual communication online. So I imagine 356 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: if something like this happened today, even in the same town, 357 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: there would be some kids on TikTok who would be 358 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: on the case within three minutes. But the this you 359 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: make a good point. You know that there may be 360 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: some kind of shame, some kind of compelling shame, that 361 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,680 Speaker 1: prevented people from reporting this, or they may have had 362 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: some personal circumstances that kind of disincentivize them from interacting 363 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: with the police, but it continues, the incidents multiply. Another 364 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: person comes forward and says, I was coming back to 365 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: my house. I saw a sketchy dude and black. He 366 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: was lurking by the window, and he ran away when 367 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: I tried to approach him. And then sometimes three or 368 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: four houses would report these specific types of gas attacks 369 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,920 Speaker 1: on a single night. So the windows which were open 370 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 1: or crack are now shut, and people began sleeping in shifts. 371 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,919 Speaker 1: Let's go to there's one attack we know a lot about, 372 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: or the one that seems the most elaborate. Let's see 373 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:17,679 Speaker 1: what's going on there. September five, ninety four. This is 374 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: a hell of a couple of weeks for the people 375 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,600 Speaker 1: of the two It's true. And I want to point 376 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: out something that we talked about off the air, the 377 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,439 Speaker 1: name Mattoon. When I first saw that and researching this, 378 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,359 Speaker 1: I assumed it was in like, you know, India or something. 379 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: It's just a very unusual name that doesn't necessarily sound 380 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:34,680 Speaker 1: like it would be an Illinois. I love it. It's 381 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: it's it's a really cool, cool name and fun to 382 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:42,679 Speaker 1: say and it's it's happened again. Folks, we have had 383 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: such a gas of a time. Uh, please don't call 384 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: us ourselves gas bags. But this is becoming a two 385 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: part episode. No, did you ever hear the phrase gas 386 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: bag before? I'm not making that up right, that's a 387 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,719 Speaker 1: real no. No, that's funny you say that, Ben. I 388 00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: was going to mention it earlier on um it's a 389 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: popper into my head gas bag and b But I 390 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: think it's like basically the equivalent of like being a 391 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: wind bag, or you know someone that's full of crap 392 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: and then just talks a lot of smack. Well, hopefully, 393 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: hopefully if we talks back, we're not We're not full 394 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: of crap, and we are going to return in our 395 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: very next episode with some more explorations of the mad 396 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 1: gas are including, perhaps most importantly, some theories about how 397 00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: this strange event could have come to unfold. Can't wait 398 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,399 Speaker 1: to hear your thoughts on these. In the meantime, Please 399 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: let us know what you think about this. You can 400 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,800 Speaker 1: find us online. We're on Facebook. We like to recommend 401 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: ridiculous historians. You can also find us as individuals. That's right. 402 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: You can find me on Instagram. Where I am at 403 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 1: how Now Noel Brown, and you can find me on 404 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:58,880 Speaker 1: Instagram at Ben Bowlen, where occasionally I post embarrassing childhood 405 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: photos that my mother or keep sending me for some reason. 406 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: You can also find me on Twitter, app and Bull 407 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: and h s W. Thanks as always to our super 408 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: producer Casey Pegraham and our guest producer Andrew Howard, and 409 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: a huge thanks to Gabe Luzier for bringing this, uh, 410 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: this amazing topic to our attention and for being innocent, 411 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: all around swell guy, who we will absolutely have back 412 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: on the show soon. Christopher Hasci yodas here in spirit, 413 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,199 Speaker 1: Jonathan Trick on the Quister, and Alex Williams, who composed 414 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: our theme. I can't wait for Part two. Man, this 415 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:30,959 Speaker 1: gets into some really interesting stuff, wouldn't you say? I 416 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: would say, And we'll see you then, Folks. For more 417 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 418 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,959 Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.