The Town That Was Hunted By Something Invisible...

Join the Gump Club! https://gump.club/ Exclusive content, Discord, and more. Try our candy! https://sour.gg/ Made in the USA with unique flavors every month. Play Legend Of Zalk! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/legend-of-zalk/id6745826740 In Today's Episode: A woman in Mattoon, Illinois picks a damp cloth up off her porch, brings it to her face, and within seconds is spitting blood and paralyzed from the knees down. It's September 1944, the town is 16,000 people deep in wartime dread of poison gas, and for two weeks something no one can catch, photograph, or identify is slipping up to bedroom windows at night, leaving victims frozen, nauseous, and terrified. But the deeper you go, the less sure you get. The "first victims" were named first by a newspaper, which is a strange way to start a crime wave. The attack map doubles back on itself in ways no real prowler would risk. Was it a real gasser, a town that scared itself sick, or a newspaper that built a monster headline by headline? The Team: Producer ► Caleb & Satchel Writer ► Satchel Editor ► Tara (https://twitter.com/buttritoh) Thumbnailer ► Trey (https://instagram.com/treytrimble) Subscribe to these! • Side Channel ► https://youtube.com/@oompayt • Candy Channel ► https://youtube.com/@sourboysgg • TLS Channel ► https://youtube.com/@toolateshowlive Follow these! • Insta ► https://instagram.com/oompavilleig/ • Twitter ► http://twitter.com/oompaville Video Chapters: References: Primary newspaper record: Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette, 1944 (via Newspapers.com) These are the exact page images the script cites, in story order. ) Aug 19, 1944 — the "grim reaper" war-bond ad, p.6 ("Suppose every man, woman and child in this town should be killed"): https://www.newspapers.com/image/93680384/ Sept 2, 1944 — "Anesthetic Prowler on the Loose" / "Mrs. Kearney and Daughter First Victims": https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681104/ Sept 5, 1944 — "Anesthetic Prowler Covers City" (Raef details + more victims): https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681179/ Sept 6, 1944 — Beulah Cordes' first-person account: https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681200/ Sept 6, 1944 — continuation, p.6 (city asks for outside help): https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681233/ Sept 7, 1944 — "prowler" becomes "the Mad Anesthetist": https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681252/ Sept 8, 1944 — no Thursday attacks; earlier victims revealed: https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681348/ Sept 11, 1944 (Monday) — "Many Prowler Reports Few Real" (skepticism turns): https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681453/ Commissioner Wright — "more than one mad man in Mattoon… 15,000 of them": https://www.newspapers.com/image/958417346/ "As soon as hysteria becomes the suggested culprit…" (reports die off): https://www.newspapers.com/image/93681517/ Academic & book sources Donald M. Johnson, "The 'Phantom Anesthetist' of Mattoon: A Field Study of Mass Hysteria," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fh0062339 Scott Maruna, The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: Dispelling the Hysteria https://archive.org/details/madgasserofmatto0000scot/page/74/mode/2up Wartime-context & background sources The New York Times, May 23, 1944 — Allied fears of Nazi gas): https://www.nytimes.com/1944/05/23/archives/allies-prepared-to-meet-nazi-gas-its-use-by-enemy-doubted-but-our.html History.com — the Nazis developed sarin but Hitler feared using it: https://www.history.com/articles/the-nazis-developed-sarin-gas-but-hitler-was-afraid-to-use-it PBS NewsHour — U.S. military mustard-gas experiments on minority soldiers: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-military-exposed-minority-soldiers-toxic-mustard-gas CDC / NIOSH — Chloropicrin emergency response card (the substance debate): https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750034.html New York Post, May 27, 2024 — Mad Gasser overview / "first case of mass hysteria": https://nypost.com/2024/05/27/us-news/mad-gasser-of-mattoon-inside-us-first-case-of-mass-hysteria/ For any business inquiries reach out here [email protected] #oompaville