The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 120 - The Mad Gasser

Episode Date: October 4, 2015

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds discuss the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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week I read a story from American history to my friend Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is about. She. Oh we almost nailed it. You did that voice. Huh? Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one buck. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Steve okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become a tickling podcast. Okay. You are Queen Fakie of Hade Up Town. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville! A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what? Pray. Hi, Gary. No. I see you've done my friend. No! Middle Ages! France! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Yeah! Middle Ages! A nun at a large comp. Terrible beginning. Began to meow like a cat. Oh sweet bastard. And other nuns followed until all were meowing together at a certain time for several hours together. What? This continued until the surrounding village called soldiers to threaten the

nuns with whipping to stop them. Wow. Hot start. This is considered a case of mass hysteria. That is mad. Really? In Germany in the 1400s a nun began to bite her companions. And it was apparently contagious. The biting nuns spread through other convents in Germany into Holland and as far away as Italy. Have you seen the binding nuns live? They're great. Amazing. They're fucking great. It's just like a different show. Yeah. Than what you would expect. No. It's better than what I've seen on HBO. Yeah. Which was a great concert. Good special. But the new biting nun stuff if you go see them now. Not that good. The podcast is not

that good. Terrible. A terrible podcast. Are they recording it? I don't know. But it's just like a weird. It's a weird gumming sound. There's a lot of gumming. Yeah. In 1518 people started dancing and did so for days without rest. Over the period of about one month. Some of the people died from heart attacks, strokes, or exhaustion. Jesus Christ. In France in 1639 and all girls school, 50 students were convinced by their teacher that they were under satanic influence. It's a good teacher. And Tuanette Borginot had the children believing that a little black angels were flying about their heads and that the devil's imps were

everywhere. Soon each of the students confessed to witchcraft flying on broomsticks and even eating baby flesh. Whoa. Germany 1749 there was an outbreak of screaming, squirming, and trances in a nunnery. That's so it's very, it's very non-heavy. This eventually led to the execution of a suspected witch. In Bellevue, Louisiana in 1939 a girl developed a leg twitch at her homecoming high school dance. No, she was dancing. The leg twitching spread to six friends over the next several weeks. They were dancing. At one point half of the students at the school were kept home. Jesus. Just leg twitching. Yeah. And

that's enough. In December 22nd, 1933 in Fincastle, Virginia, Cal Huffman and his family of eight noticed a gassy odor wafting in through an open window of their farmhouse. The cows were farting at the same time. Two hours later, Carl's wife smelled gas again, became nauseous, and went to bed. Cal called the sheriff, who came out but could find no source. As soon as the sheriff left, the gas returned. This time the entire family became sick. A doctor was called. Two members of the family said they saw someone running from the house after the attack. Attack, was it? Yeah, a gas attack. Before gas hacks. A search was

undertaken. The only thing that was found were tracks that looked to be made by a pair of women's high heeled shoes. I mean, that's so implausible on a number of levels. What do you mean? Who is who? What woman attacker is going out in her fucking pumps? An attacker who wants to dress nice and look good and has a little bit of respect for her profession. Okay, so what we'll do is we'll go do the gas plan. Yeah. And then we'll go to the town center for the ball. Okay, great. This is the one set of clothes. You don't know what goes on in a gas attacker's head. What is a gas attack? Two more attacks happen within a week. Gas attacks?

A couple in Cloverdale, Virginia, became ill from a sweet smelling gas. Sweet smelling? On December 27th in Troutville, welder Al Kelly and his mother were sprayed by gas in their home. The spray came through an upstairs window. Okay. The Roanoke Times ran features on the quote gas man. What's a gas lady? On January 10th, the criminal was back at it. Horner Hilton and his wife were upstairs asleep and their daughter was sleeping downstairs. Around 10 p.m. she got up to attend to her baby. Moments later, the room filled with gas with gas. She experienced a quote marked feeling of numbness. So these there is somebody is

really going into places and just attacking with gas on the same night. G G D Kinsey was attacked by gas. Okay. So on February 16th, F B Duvall was gassed and left the house to get police. So it's petrol? No, it's a gas odor. It's a gas in the air. There's a what is it? We don't know. Do we? It's a sweet smelling gas. Someone says sweet smelling sickly gas. That's those seem like they're making people nauseous. We don't know what it is. All right. I'll stop asking. I just really would love some closure with the gas near his home. Duvall saw a man run up to a parked car and speed away. Mm hmm. Duvall and police

officer lemon drove around looking for the car but with no luck. The next day officer lemon found the prince of women's high heeled shoes. I thought you said like we're gonna say prince like a prince of somewhere. I was like well that is going that would seem a little bit more possible than where this is going. Oh Jesus. So he found prince of a woman's high heeled shoe right where the car had been parked. Where was the car parked? Remember we saw a man. He was near near Duvall's house who had just been gassed but on the on the street. The street is made of the streets made of I assume asphalt and stuff like that. How

do you see it like a print? No, I think their streets were made of dirt back there. All right. So three days later gas was sprayed into the window of a Mrs. Campbell. There were then five attacks over three nights and each of the houses the victim said they had numbness and nausea. One man saw a mysterious person running away from the home. He chased and fired his gun at the man. Could have just been a guy running away because he had a gun. Yeah, which it probably was. A blockade of nearby roads was set up but the gasser was not caught. What is going on? Oh, this is standard stuff. Now the citizens

rose up. Arm vigilantes patrolled the roads at night. They're gonna find the gasser. We're gonna find the gas and kill it. The gasser in lady's shoes. The Roanoke Times pleaded with farmers not to shoot anyone because it might have been. You know, there was a nicer time when at least in the paper it would ask to not kill people. Yeah, I wish they'd still do that. Every now and then just a quick popping. Please don't shoot anyone. Hey, don't kill anyone. Instead, hey, this guy killed 10 people. Look at his name. Look at him. Look at his picture. We need gun control, Miley. Cyrus did something crazy. America. Next was Ed Stanley's

home. This time, someone saw four men running into the woods after the attack. But this case was different because the next night, the gasser returned to Ed's house for a second attack. Back. Another gassing. Double gas. Back to back. Gassings. Back to double back to back. Back to bassings. Ed heard a noise outside his window. Then it filled with gas. The buttoned, torqued Virginia County Board of Supervisors offered a reward of $500 for the apprehension of the gasser or gassers. Uh-oh. Then the Virginia legislature passed a bill making an illegal punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison to, quote, release

noxious gasses in public or private places. And I bet so many fart jokes for me. Oh, God. That day. All right. All right. We've got to focus. Hey, your honors. Is that what we're talking about? No, for the last time. Okay. I was just checking. Okay. Now, we really do need to get down to business as far as- Hey, am I commiting a crime right now? No. Come on, your honor. Come on. What's funny about it is it wasn't funny for a minute. Right. And it's even funnier now. It's like the right do it. It's very good. You know what I mean? We do need to- Okay. Okay. Let's just restore order. We do need to get into business because- Oh, you want me up! Yes,

baby. Yes. The attacks began to get national attention. Oh, God. The New York Times reported on the gasser. That's so great. The gasser. At a board of supervisors meeting, a doctor said not all the cases were actual gassings. Some were just copycat gassings. One of them had been due to a coal stove. So somebody- It's just the paranoia of gas made somebody be like, there's gas. Anytime someone smelled something, they're like, oh, shit, that's a smell. It's gas, that's been gas. Tyvee, did you notice your coal stove was burning? Yeah, a man was walking. Right. And if you smell the gas, smell that? It's coal. I know they've disguised it well.

God, they're good. I hope you catch them. Ma'am, we're gonna shoot you in the head. I think it's about time. One night, Miss Mamie Brown ran from her home screaming that she had been gassed. I've been gassed! I've been gassed! They gassed me! I've been gassed! A mob formed. Oh, no, she's been gassed! Did you hear? They were ready to lynch the gasser. That's it. We're gonna find this motherfucker and kill him. We're gonna hang him up. You can't spray gas in people's houses. You can't use vapor. You think you're gonna live? Oh my god, I've really been gassed. A police officer went to her home and looked around and concluded that someone had, quote, tossed a common fly-killing fluid into the kitchen apparently as a joke.

Say- So Miss Mamie Brown was like, let's do this. Okay, you know, that was pretty bad about the gas. You know that fucking crazy lady next door? They really, they really did open the door for prank. Oh. Like, great pranking. This should be called prank city. Yeah. I mean, come on. Anywhere. On February 3rd, AP Skaggs, his wife- So nobody had, everybody was just two initials and then a last name at this time? Well, that's all, I mean, that's what the, yeah, that's what the written record has. Well, G.R. Reynolds, GP Reynolds is okay with it. AP Skaggs, his wife and five friends were sickened by gas. Officer Lemon investigated. He realized the symptoms of the Skaggs family were more like what would happen when someone took an extraordinarily large dose of

hallucinogenic drugs. Wait, so they were just tripping so much? Yeah. They were like, there's gas. Yes, pretty much. It's like when those people, you ever hear that call when those people, this like guy who was, he worked at the police, he worked with the police and he took some brownies that were there and him and his wife ate them. He was off duty and him and his wife ate them, freaked out and then he called 911. I have never heard. Oh, the call is unbelievable. At one point, he's just like, they're like, what can we help you with? He's like, yes, hello. So we ate some pot brownies and we shouldn't, my wife and I, we think that we're dead. That's literally what he says. We think that we're dead. That's amazing. Oh God. One of Skaggs nephews was hysterically

shrieking that he was trapped inside the house. Trapped inside the house. I can't get out of the house. Okay, so I don't think this is a gassing. Did you guys just realize we're all oranges? We should just peel ourselves. Yeah, this seems like it might be a mushroom. Oh man, these vandals. February 9 was the worst night for the Roanoke County gassings. There were seven separate reports, seven gassings. Each case was investigated. And the police came up with nothing. That's some good detective work. The police said that quote, in no instance did the officers detect any nauseating fumes and no occupants of any of the homes were affected. On the night of February 11, five more gassings were reported. Oh boy. Another call turned out to be burning rubber. The police

came to their conclusion. They said that the gas man was quote, a product of overwrought imaginations. The Roanoke Times proclaimed Roanoke has no gasser. This newspaper has so believed in the gassers and non existence from the first. But it seemed best to permit the police to go ahead and investigate without whatever handicap they might be under were cold water to be thrown on their research in advance. That's kind of like Iraq. Well, they're kind of like covering their ass because they clearly they did they were like there's a gas or among us. Yeah, right. Yeah. All gassing reports then stopped on February 11, 1934. Interesting how that happened. So after the cops came out and said it's in your head, everyone was like, Okay, okay. Okay, I guess that's that. What

should we freak out about next? Hey, peanuts. Oh my God, let's kill them. May. Sorry. In 1944. Okay. Matoon, Illinois was a small city about 50 miles southeast of the center of the state. Okay. The population was 15,827. Sure. 98% white. Yeah. Most almost all of them were born there. They stayed people are born there just stayed there. Yeah, those are the same people are like, Why would I move we got everything here? Yeah. It was surrounded by prosperous farmland and there were a few small factories that made equipment for the World War two effort. Okay. Farley Llewellyn, his family owned and operated a neighborhood grocery store in Matoon with his sisters, Florence and Catherine. Okay. None of the Llewellyn siblings were married and they were very

reclusive. The siblings were also very close. Farley was 62 200 pounds and considered to be one of the town's academic geniuses. You're about to tell me that there were gassings. He went to the University of Illinois and excelled as a chemistry major. He's a gasser. But after he graduated, he returned to Matoon. Farley built and equipped a chemistry laboratory in the basement of the family's house. In his 30s, he moved into a trailer in the backyard. Sounds a little Walter Whitey next to the cellar. Okay, that's always a good sign when your brother moves into it moves into a vehicle in the yard. Yeah. With with beakers has been the yard. I'll be next. I want to be next to my lab, my chemical laboratory. I could be neighbors with whoever I want to be. Just me

and animals. Kathy Upton lived next door to the Llewellyn's and could see Farley's lab from her bedroom window. Hot. Super hot, right? She said she she said he was a true loner and did not get along with many people. And he also had a drinking problem. Interesting. Those two can coincide. Since graduating, his behavior grew increasingly strange with each year. He was becoming less and less sane. Most of the town was convinced that Farley was quote, losing his mind. August 9, 1944. The Daily Journal Gazette reported police answered four calls concerning prowlers. Okay. They did not find anyone. Five days later, another four calls came in. Again, no suspects were found. Interesting. Then in late August, 1944, Kathy Upton was in her bedroom when she heard a thunderous

sound. It was thunder. It had come from Farley's laboratory. Good. So a boom. She looked out and saw smoke coming from the doorway. There was no fire. The trailer was damaged in the blast and was now slanted. I mean, that's that's hard to do from the inside. But it's just amazing. Yeah. After a bit, Farley came out, looked tattered, but said he was fine. Sorry, they lived in Looney Tunes. I was going to say it sounds like a cartoon. I mean, could it? It sounds like Yosemite Samson. I'm okay. I said I'm okay. So then the next thing he did was he just ran over, like his ass was on fire and he ran over and just put it in a big bucket of water. Smoke came out of his ears. He drank some water and like six different holes and shot out of him. I was thirsty. Police

and neighbors questioned Farley and his sisters, but they would not say what had caused the explosion. Okay. That's a little weird. Well, the whole thing's a little weird. Very shortly, Farley was back at work in his laboratory. That's how. Okay. So the police were like, well, shit. What are they going to do? They don't know anything. Yeah, I mean, but they didn't was a crime committed. No, he just kind of almost blew himself up. I guess I'm just living with the mentality of today, because that should be today. It would be like impounded and you should definitely be in Guantanamo. Yeah, he'd be in Guantanamo on a heartbeat. The Daily Journal Gazette reported on September 2. Anesthetic prowler on the loose. Miss Kearney and daughter first victims. A prowler who used some

kind of anesthetic or gas to knock out the intended victims was on the loose in Mattoon Friday night. Miss Bert Kearney said she and her three year old daughter were victims as they slept in their bed at home. Her name is so close to Bert and Ernie. Bert Kearney was driving his cab when his home was attacked. He rushed home at 12 30am after hearing what had happened. He drove up and he saw a man at the window. Still tall. This is a different town. I know, but oh, but this is okay. Tall dressed in black cloth and wearing a tight fitting cap. Mrs. Mr. Kearney chased him, but the prowler got away. Well, I guess it wasn't a time when people caught prowlers. Both Mrs. Kearney and the child had recovered the next day, although Mrs. Kearney's mouth and

throat remained parched and her lips burned from the effects of whatever was used by the prowler. What did he use? The fucking rag treatment? Tapatio. He was using hot sauce. Once that story hit the news, earlier attacks were reported. Interesting. The Cosby effect. On August 31st, Urban Rafe continued and his wife woke up feeling ill and nauseated. Their bodies felt weak to the point of almost being paralyzed. There was a heavy odor in the room. Vomiting came next and the couple staggered out of the bedroom. Two visitors in another bedroom felt nothing. The Raifs figured it must have been food poisoning from hot dogs they had eaten that evening. That adds up. No more questions there. Man, these bad hot dogs sure made my fucking lips hurt. Jesus. I mean, these hot

dogs made the whole room smell like gas. Those hot dogs gave me a chemical burn in my throat. Ow, in my lips. Like all bad hot dogs, my lips burned in the middle of the night. I call bad hot dogs. It feels like I drank bleach. So now, after they read about the next day in the paper, they thought that they had indeed been gassed. It wasn't hot dogs at all. Urban, you said it was hot dogs. Well, I was assuming it was hot dogs until I've seen this here. What else could it be, woman? Have you been at the post office? Oops, that didn't happen yet. That's a call ad. Urban Rafe, his wife, the other couple in the house, and the Kearney's had all been classmates of Farley at Mattoon High School. Oh, boy. But this was a small town that many people did not

leave. So is that a huge coincidence? Whoa, boy. On September 5th, the Daily Journal Gazette reported four new complaints. The paper was now calling him the Mad Anesthesiast. I mean, the paper needed to go back to the drawing board. Or the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. I like that. The paper said the Prowler would force some kind of anesthetic through open window, better windows, which smelled sweet. Again, with the sweet shit. All the victims said they suffered from nausea and partial paralysis for up to an hour and a half after the attacks. What a weird attack. That night, a cloth soaked in liquid was found on the front porch. Ah, chloroform. Of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Cords. Mrs. Cords picked it up and smelled it. What an idiot thing to do.

Can you, I mean, is this the first person who got chloroformed and then rechloroformed themselves? I think it came from this here. Well, what he did was he took this and he put it on her. Honey, honey. Well, all she did was take this rag and give it a sip. Oh, boy. What do you mean like this, sir? No. God damn it, stupid idiots. I think if you sniff the other. So she said it felt like being hit with an electrical current. Oh, she said she felt paralyzed. Her lips and face became inflamed and she was unable to speak. She stayed like that for two hours. Well, in this day and age, yeah, a woman doing that was fine with them. The police collected the cloth and it was nipped it around. And when they woke up, they took it.

And it was given to the State Department of Public Safety for analysis. Okay. Okay. Police discovered a skeleton. Police discovered a skeleton key and an empty lipstick near where the cloth had been found. I mean, was this person just like, did he just go to Clue School? What? Leaving a skeleton key? It's not a key, lipstick. I mean, okay. And a map. Police thought the Prowler may have been seeking to enter the house when the family returned and that he dropped these articles in flight. He, I love to use he when it's lipstick. A gentleman has dropped his lipstick. A man who enjoyed wearing lipstick has been poisoning people with a sweet smelling vapor. So he dropped his toxic cloth, his key and his

lipstick. As a gentleman Prowler will do. September 6th. Police Chief E. C. Cole ordered his police on 24 hour duty to try to capture the gas Prowler. The cloth was taken to Springfield. That's where the that's where the so it's a little ways away. Sure. By the seventh, there were four more victims hit with the poisonous gas. Okay. Three of them were women. Volunteers began patrolling the city. Two members of the crime bureau of the state department of public safety were called in. Quote, this is one of the strangest cases I have ever encountered in many years of police work said one, the perpetrators mentally unbalanced but intelligent, possibly brilliant. The man is a nut. That's a quote. That's a great quote. The man is

a nut. The man is a nut. Sir, could you tell me what kind of nut? Is he a pistachio or a peanut? He is an off the wall nut. So like a nut that grows on walls like a sweet God have him. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, wall nuts. Get him out of here. Oh, it was a riddle. I don't even care. Get him out of here now. Use the vapor. Witnesses. Smell the rag. You remember that you members of the press want to pass that rag around, give it a smell. Now this is what I'm going to need the members of the press to do. You simply take the rag, put it to your face and give it a. Oh, God. I'm not going to do that. I just saw what happened to you. Hey, I'll try it. Come on now, girl. Witnesses describe the gasser as quote tall, thin man dressed in black and wearing

a black skull cap. Well, well, well. Robert Daniels, a neighbor of a victim, saw the tall man running from his home. Two victims told police they were partially paralyzed in the legs and arms for a time, and said it smelled like cheap perfume. A Mrs. Burrell woke up at 1115 from coughing induced by gas. I'll tell you nothing worse than a gas cough. Her 18 month old son did not get sick at all. Just classic babies. So your babies don't. Babies die in cribs of nothing, but they can take gas. They can handle all kinds of gas. You know, I've always loved to get babies shit face, right? I'll get drunk, right? And keep drinking your honor. Mrs. Burrell, however, still had a sore chest the next day. Boy, howdy. Yeah, I'm talking about boy,

howdy, boy, that that has penis written all over it. At this point, all but two of the gasser victims were women. They all suffered nausea and temporary partial paralysis. No robberies of physical attacks occurred. So what is the point? I mean, he's a gas sound. He's just wrong with just being a gasser for the love of the gas. You know what I want to do? I want to gas people. Yeah, and then we should take their money. No, I just want to gas them. No, but maybe we take them if they're women. Look, we could have our way. Why do you have to dirty everything? What does the point of gassing them if we don't do shit? What do you mean? What's the point? Oh my god. You're turning green. This is art. You're clothes are ripping. A Mattoon Daily Journal Gazette editorial

on September 8th. The story of Mattoon's anesthetic prowler is known to one and all, probably the only comfort we can get out of the whole situation is that our police department is now on the alert, apparently doing everything and its power to solve the case and taking to custody the guilty person. Sure. All of us joined in hoping for early success. One of the principal difficulties throughout has been that the whole matter was taken too lightly. It was easy to say, oh, it's just imagination and shrug the whole thing off with a disdainful air. But Mrs. Carl Cords, who suffered severe burns, couldn't laugh about it. Neither could miss Burt Kearney, who suffered complications, which could have cost her very

life. She'll laugh about it one day. Neither could Mrs. George Ryder, whose two youngsters were found vomiting and who was nauseated herself, flew. Neither could any of the other citizens who had the same terrifying experience. For the past few days, most of our officers have had a serious view of the case. They now admit that it presents a real problem and are working hard to find a solution. For their present attitude, most members of the police force deserve commendation. Jesus. Most. Yeah, there's a couple of bad acts. Right. They're calling a couple of guys a dick. Yeah. They're clearly a couple of cops are like, it's bullshit. Yeah. Well, you're not going to get a commendation. What? Yeah. No, but I, okay, this has nothing. Fine. Everybody gets them. Okay. Thank

you. On September 9th, two FBI agents arrived in town. Jesus. Well, this is some serious business. Is it? What do you think? I don't know what I think. Is a mad gasser loose. I don't know what I think yet. He's good. I chase him, but every time he does that, I can't stop laughing. Oh, is it? Get him. Get him. Oh, God. Oh, let him go. Let him go. He is terrific. He really is. The mayor announced plans to bring in a large force of state police. By now, 27 people have been made ill by the Mattoon gasser. The two FBI agents set about trying to figure out what kind of gas it was. If they could figure that out, they could locate the source. Is that right? Yeah, then they would be able to know. I mean, it's detective. It's a

move. That's an actual thing instead of running around chasing people in black. Volunteers armed with shotguns and rifles joined the police at night searching for the gasser. Sounds like they were level headed gentlemen. Yep. But police worried squads of citizens would lead to the shooting of someone returning from a late shift at one of the World War II factories in town. Amazing how we used to worry about people getting killed. Yeah, we actually had a concern about people getting shot. You know, there's no worry of anyone walking anywhere whenever. Oh, good God, no. No. Now people are like, you should have been outside. What do you expect if you speed? You dumbass. Of course the cops are going to shoot you.

Thing. Oh, right. Then the analysis of the cloth came back. Okay. You ready? Sure. Sure. It gave up no information. See, they can find nothing on the cloth. See, there's nothing. So what is going on? What is going on? What is going on? People continue to report gassings. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. So this is just all this is just hysteria in motion. What? What? What? Miss Frances Smith, principal of the grade school, her sister Maxine, Miss Russell Bailey and her two sisters and Miss Violet Driscoll and her daughter Ramona were all gassed. A woman watching a movie caused panic and a stampede for the exits when she screamed that she was being attacked in the middle of a film. What? I said laughing attack. They're great

together. There's chemistry. Oh my goodness. She was taken by police to a doctor who said she was overwrought with nerves and he sedated her. He gassed her. This one's cuckoo bananas. Okay, Miss. I'm just going to give you a little gas right now. No, that was the whole thing. Shit got real on September 10th as armed police patrolled on a rainy night. Residents sat armed in their homes, barring the doors and windows over this gasser. The gasser is about. But still, at midnight, there were 14 calls from people who had smelled gas. What? Pretty. I mean, it sounds like they're really locking the town down. So I'm just curious how 14 attacks took place. They're not fight club. Miss Ivy Ketzel 25 was

partially overcome by gas while lying in her bed. A doctor was called. It happens to a lot of people. And found no effects of gas. Oh, Miss Ketzel, that's actually what is known as sleep. Did you not? Yeah, you laid in your bed and then you. But then I was, I saw visions of. Yeah, those are. Waterfall that basically looked like a rainbow and I was swimming in it with a girl that I used to know when I was a child. What were you wearing? I was wearing a. Oh, can I see your badge again? Yeah, that's right here. What are you a doctor here? Oh God. Sweet God. Always. Just can't be alone in a room with a man in this time. But he did smell a peculiar odor in the room. So the doctor came. He smelled the weird odor in the room. She probably was farting.

Miss Caroline Avaro. There it is again with the same noise that proceeded at the last time. Interesting. Miss Caroline Avaro 40 smelled the sickish sweet gas as she sat in her living room. She would not allow a doctor to examine her. Absolutely not. No, I smelled it. You don't need to look at me. Look, I smelled it. Who dealt it? All the other calls were false alarms. Police responded to every single one. They were all placed by people who were usually women who were suffering from fear induced by imagination. Oh boy. They all complained of experiencing a burning feeling in their throat and a partial paralysis. But no evidence of gas was found when they were examined. One woman was taken to a hospital and released

after a panic subsided. So it really just is the idea that like once you hear the symptoms, you're like, I have those. Yeah, no, you can get, physically you can manifest the condition. Yeah, psychosomatic, right? Anytime police went to a house, a large group of... That's what Freddie Mercury died of. Okay, thought he had AIDS. It's called Thades. Dead Thades. Anytime police went to house, a large group of armed citizens would rush to the home also. Well, kill him. Where's that gasser? Where's that gasser that's in our minds? Sorry guys, that was just me. I'm in back. Terry, would you, I'm gonna say stop, but you know I don't mean it.

I've been eating beans for a week and I'll tell you what, it does not get old. You're very funny. Yeah, we have a good time. The police commissioner said roving bands of men and boys should disband. Someone is going to be killed and it won't be from gas. Yeah. The people here have lost control of themselves in a manner which is almost unbelievable in a modern world. The problem of combating the mass hysteria which has swept this town has become more serious than the actual attacks. I wouldn't walk through somebody's backyard right now for 10 dollars. Oh man. Really? What about 20? Hey bro. Yeah. You said a limit on that. What was the limit about? 11? Yeah, 11 of them. Okay. Yeah. Go. All right. Go through Kearney's backyard. All right. All right.

A paper revealed that the Mattoon police were focused on a single suspect. He was an amateur chemist who had become increasingly anti-social. The Mattoon police department denied being suspicious of one, quote, mad scientist and instead said that not one but four individuals were considered suspects. Commissioner Wright described them as two home chemists and two crackpots. Oh, that's great. That's so funny. It's amazing that two of them in his eyes technically weren't crackpots who are maybe gassing people. You got two gentlemen who are scientists, gentlemen who work with different sauces or whatever, and then we got two nutcases over here. I guess the difference would be we have two scientists who are doing crackpotty things and two crackpots who are

doing some science stuff. I'm sorry. I have to update this. It's crackpots. Sorry. These are actually people who use slow cookers. Our hearts and our thoughts go out to actual crackpots. Right. We are talking about crackpots. After this, the police never mentioned any suspects again. That's the kind of closure we're famous for. Now, Farley Llewellyn's family had unsuccessfully tried to hide the truth about him. Right. He was a homosexual and a very shameful thing at the time. Yes. The entire town knew and the gossip mill had spread the truth long, long ago. Most of the town thought he was crazy, and much of that due to the fact that he was gay. Right. Well, you know, I mean, you can't like penis. The police chief then announced that no reports would be taken

without the victim first consenting to being examined by a doctor. Okay. So they're not going to take a report from a person saying they've been gassed unless the doctor can look at them first and say they've been gassed. Right. Better. Good. Smart. Or he said they could spend the night in prison. So if you call, they're getting pissed. If you call, they're getting pissed at all this hysteria. It's weird. They keep going to people's houses and it's just ladies going, I feel weird. Well, I was in my bed. I'm hearing my necklaces. And then all of a sudden my husband and I had my vaginas open like a flower. And then the next thing you know, I was seeing waterfalls with rainbow water. And the water's hitting me in the face. The girl I went to school with.

Brenda, you know, Brenda? She's tall, pretty. And I was next to her. Tell you what's crazy is every night this week I've been gassed, had those visions and woke up eight hours later. It does not make sense. That night, the mattoon gasser struck again. A woman was gassed, became nauseous and almost fainted. Her sons ran outside and saw a short, heavy set, dark cloud figure running away. Then they notice a set of high heeled footprints in the flower bed outside. Man, am I in my dream scenario? This dude wears high heels when he does. On September 12th, police chief cold issued this statement. The case was a mistake from beginning to end. Local police and cooperation with state officers have checked and rechecked

all reported cases and we find absolutely no evidence to support the stories that have been told. Hysteria must be blamed for such seemingly accurate statements of supposed victims. Closure. However, we have found, well, however, we have found that large quantities of carbon tetrachloride are used in war work at the Atlas Imperial diesel engine company and it has an odor that can be carried to all parts of the city as the wind shifts. Okay, so it's just regular pollution. Carbon tetrachloride will leave stains on a cloth much like that that was found at Mrs. Corda's home. Many workers use carbon tetrachloride in cleaning shell casings and it might be

possible that one of them tossed this cloth away. Okay. Cole's opinions were supported by Captain Harry Curtis of the state police. Investigators said such a chemical would cause symptoms reported by the victims, dry lips and parched throat. Those are called thirsty. They just get thirsty. Pardon, my throat is parched. Down here, it's like I've been gassed inside. Nothing will cure it. Water helps. The plant manager for the factory denied all allegations and called them ludicrous. The main use of carbon tetrachloride at the plant was in their fire extinguishers, not a single employee had ever complained of symptoms related to it.

So cool. Yeah, but you gotta know where you gotta take the plant manager's word and also workers who just want a job aren't gonna be like, my lips feel weird. No, as we learned with the radium girls. That is completely true. An agent of the state health department confirmed that there was, quote, no possibility of carbon tetrachloride vapors getting into the outside atmosphere in any amount of concentration that would closely approximate a toxic condition. I am of the opinion that if a government during wartime wants the production of equipment to continue, they would have a government employee come out and say, that's not possible. Wow, interesting. Sure. That's a fun time. Carbon tetrachloride is a colorless liquid with a

sweet smell that can be detected at low levels. Okay. When inhaled symptoms include headache, weakness, lethargy, nausea and vomiting. It also produces central nervous system depression resulting in general anesthesia. Okay, so there we go. And September, right when the gassing stopped in Mattoon, Farley Llewellyn moved away from the town. Good. I'm happy about that. I hope he goes somewhere where he can do what he wants. For the next 12 years, for the next 12 years, he lived in a mental asylum. Good. He was put away by his family. Because he was fucking gay. September 12. Wait. Okay. So. How you doing?

So. Jesus. Mr. Donald Johnson, a university psychologist, believes the gassing was a rare psychological event of mass hysteria. He noted police responded quickly and never caught anyone. The cloth found on the porch tested negative for any substance. Dr. Johnson believes the symptoms were the result of medical suggestions and 90% of Mattoon families read the daily journal Gazette. The majority of the mass hysteria victims were women. According to New Zealand sociologist Robert Bartholomew, who has collected data on 800 outbreaks of hysteria dating back to 1566, in 99% of mass hysteria events, the majority of its sufferers are female. Stress

often manifests itself through physiological symptoms. Some believe hysteria is a way for someone to communicate a message which, for various reasons, cannot be verbalized. Right. The way to get out of their situation is to show symptoms of disease and leading them to have to not have to endure the situation there in any longer. The oppression of women, particularly in 1944, was systemic. Are you sure? This led women needing a non-confrontational medical way out of the indignities of daily life. Oh, fuck.

Better than in the 19th century when doctors concluded that the most stubborn cases of hysteria required the removal of their ovaries. Ugh. So, do you want me to tell you what I think happened? Because that's the end. Yes, yes. I think that Farley... So you think there is some... I think it's all three.

Right. I think that Farley... The sampler platter. He knew that being a chemist and smelling odors, I think that he knew that that carbon tetrachloride was being released sometimes. And so he came up with a plan to make it in his laboratory. Oh, wow. And when the laboratory blew up, he was right on the verge,

because after the lab blew up, they said that he was oddly happy. So he was right on the verge of being able to make it. And so then I think he made it. And then he would dress up in black and women's shoes. Are you seeing... He would wear women's shoes? This is what I think. This is totally what I think, just based on all the evidence that's there.

So I think he would put on all black and women's shoes. I mean, and it's very like a slim-fitting color. So he's... Yeah, it would be very nice. It was a nice, elegant... Yeah, I mean, he looks good. Sure. He looks wonderful.

That's a real ball gown. And then he would go to... Because so the first three cases that were reported were people he knew from high school. So the people he hates. Right. Right? Yeah.

So he does it... Steve Buscemi and Billy Madison. Right, yeah. So he does it to people he knows. Right. And then mass hysteria takes over. So from his like three... Right.

And he may still have done it to people here and there. But not 14 times a night. No, but he wasn't doing that. Then it went fucking batshit crazy. People were like, I'm smelling gas all over the town. And so it went from a dude doing something and then probably still doing it. But then later on, they said that a short person...

But I think that was one of his sisters. Sending a sister out. He's like wear guy's shoes. But then for whatever happened with the family, they realized that he was out of control because he was doing this stuff and they locked him up. Maybe the other sister or something. I think that's a good theory.

And I also think that people were smelling occasionally the carbon tetrachloride. But you can... But it was just being... It would just... But it probably wasn't anything that would actually affect them. They probably would just smell it and then be like... We're so paranoid.

And yeah, then everyone's paranoid. Like if you hear a loud crash, then you're going to hear like creaks and think they're footsteps. Everywhere. So I think it's a combination of all three. But clearly he gets locked up and they stop at the same... But it's also coincidental that at the same time he gets locked up,

the police said nothing is happening. So it could all be mass hysteria. I just think that because of who he was and what he was doing in his lab, I think that he did something the first time. Because the first attack... Remember, the first attack wasn't reported until after. So the second attack was reported.

So then three days before the first attack occurred and then that was reported. And what happened was that was a holiday. So there was no paper for three days. So he did the attack, but then he couldn't read about it in the paper. So he thought it might not have worked. And then when the report came out, then he did it again.

Well, that's his fault for doing it on a Friday. Agreed. Yeah. You're going to miss the weekend. Okay. But it is a mystery. Right. I think not so much anymore.

God, I hope the high heel thing is right. I think it is. That's just delightful. I mean, it's just fantastic. I mean, that is cinematic right there. Yeah. A guy in all black and high heeled shoes, like shooting some sort of weird little gas

into a room of his high school enemies. Fucking got Alexander Payne written all over it. Really does. What do you think got him locked up more? The potential poisonings are the fact that he liked penis. No, I think that his family knew... The family knew he was gay the whole time, so they weren't going to lock him up for that.

Right. He had his chemistry stuff. Yeah, it was whatever he was doing. Like, they were finally like, well, now you fucking lost your shit, and you're causing the town to go crazy. Right. So we're going to shut your shit down.

It was fine when you were just going crazy. Yeah, it was fine when you were just in your lab blowing yourself up. But now, yeah. Well, we've solved another one, David. Back to the Scooby Mobile. Guys, we do have a Patreon up. That is a subscription service where you can go

and sign up. And there's anything from like $1 to $50, whatever if you want to give a lot of people doing that. We should start our own currency called dollops. That's a good idea. Thank you. Okay, keep going. So head over to Patreon.

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We are on Facebook, the dollop on Facebook. We are also on Twitter at the dollop. And then, of course, what was I going to say? It was important. It was? Yeah. Yeah. I thought it up right after the Facebook thing.

I was going to say, of course... Oh, horses. We need horses. Of course, it's a horse. Of course, of course. Horses, of course, of course. Can't forget. Oh, yeah.

Look, if you guys are going to give suggestions, which I love and I'm sorry if I don't answer them all, but like I'm so behind on reading them because we went to Australia that I still haven't gone. We did, right? I've never read them. Yeah. Yeah. And so if you do send suggestions,

please not through Facebook, please not through Twitter, please send them to the dollop podcast at Gmail. Because if you send them to me on Twitter, they just get lost and Facebook, they can get lost easily, too. Yeah. And I do read them all and I do check them all out. I would not recommend writing up a whole one

and then sending it to me because it might not be right and you might waste your time, you know, just because you think it's good. I mean, that it's good for how I read them to Gary. Gareth. Gareth. Yeah. That one, that bit slowly.

Yeah. That bit's over. Yeah. It has to be almost. Jump the shark. Jump the shark. Shark jump. All right.

That's it. You got anything else? That's it. Come to Flappers this Thursday. Flapp it out. Flapp it out, Gary.