In the beginning of September 1944 a series of strange attacks occurred in Mattoon Illinois. Reports of an a prowler gassing people through the open windows of their house. The first account occurred on August 31st 1944. Mr. and Mrs. Bert Kearney of 1408 Marshall Avenue reported a tall, thin man dressed in dark clothing and wearing a tight-fitting cap using an agricultural tool for spraying pesticide, which he purportedly used to expel the gas into the open window of their bedroom during the early morning hours. The couple reported a sweet smelling odor which paralyzed them in their beds.
Over the next two weeks several more reports to police occurred with similar details. One account described a couple returning home and finding a white cloth on their porch near the front door. Upon picking it up and briefly smelling it the wife became violently ill with burning lips and mouth and feelings of paralysis. While the husband search around the property he discovered a man in dark clothing hiding in the bushes near the bedroom window. A chase ensued but the assailant was able to get away.
Fast forwarding to present day reports of these strange occurrences are now popping up in and around Mattoon once more. The details seem to be the same of a man in dark clothing using a sprayer to gas people in their home through open windows. The police don't know what to think of these reports as anyone that was an adult during 1944 would either be dead or over 100 years old.
Is the Mad Gasser of Mattoon back?
