This Paranormal Life - The Mystery Gas that Paralysed a Town

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

In August of 1944, residents of Mattoon, Illinois began waking up in the middle of night to a strange, sweet smell floating in the room. When they tried to get out of bed and investigate, they realised… they couldn’t move their legs. These strange attacks spread through the town, house by house, until eventually every resident went to sleep fearing that they too would wake up to the sweet, deathly smell of the MATTOON MYSTERY GAS. Support us on ⁠⁠Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife⁠⁠ to get access to weekly bonus episodes! Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Join our Secret Society Facebook Community⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Buy Official TPL Merch!⁠⁠ Edited by Philip Shacklady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In August of 1944, residents of Matun, Illinois began waking up in the middle of the night to a strange sweet smell floating in the room. When they tried to get out of bed to investigate, they realized they couldn't move their legs. These strange attacks spread through the town house by house until eventually every resident went to sleep, fearing that they would wake up to the sweet smell of the mad gasser of Mattoon. But where was the gas coming from? Is there a chemical agent that can paralyze a human body? Sometimes when I drink enough bud light, I can't move my legs. Does that count?

All of these questions you can find the answer to on This Paranormal Life. Hello everybody and welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week we investigate a brand new paranormal tale and come to a conclusion to decide whether or not it really is paranormal. My name is Roy Powers. I am joined by Kit Greer Mulve. and you are seeing us or hearing us in our brand new paranormal investigations office. Wow. Welcome, guys. Welcome. We're very, very honored to have you here. This is so exciting,

Roy. I don't know if you're watching this at home, guys. You may or may not be, but you can check this on on YouTube on Spotify and on Patreon. You can watch the video of this. But worry not if you're just listening. We can tell you all about it. But yeah, you will be able to see if you're watching this that we're in our beautiful new set. Yes. For the low price of 21,000, $1,000. We were able... Let's not put a number on it. We're not going to tell them how much you cost.

Our content makes us put a number on it at the end of the year, but every time they do, we go, I'm going to cover my ears. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. We essentially, we've wanted to build a new set for the podcast for a long time. And we, you know, as paranormal investigators, we're obviously inspired by the X-Files. And we wanted to create our own X-Files office right here in the studio. So we did it.

We now have our own little desks. We have our corkboard. We have our walls, our cabinets and everything's set up. And we are ready in this new space to investigate the paranormal. To any rights holders of the X-Files who are listening? Inspired by, the show's inspired by. Sure. The set's inspired by the X-Files.

It's not, we'll not, I don't want to get sued. But yeah, it's really cool, though. And I think we did a great job. And this is all possible thanks to our wonderful patrons, Patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. They've been supporting us over the last nine years keeping this paranormal life going. And because there's a world where the podcast got visibly worse.

But thankfully, we're still on an upward trajectory. Nine years in, we're in our dopest set yet. Yeah. Well, I think part of that is that you and I are visually deteriorating very quickly. For show, for show. Aging rapidly as the rapist. savages of time, tear us to shreds. Yeah.

And to kind of compensate for that, we have to make the set brighter and shinier than ever to hide our old haggard faces. I mean, luckily, we're kind of entering an era of technology where soon I'll be able to host this podcast as Optimus Prime.

You'll be able to just replace my body entirely. Super distracting, but yeah. I could be telling you about the Roswell incident as Jesus Christ himself. Honestly, the possibility is going to be endless. At the very least, I'm probably... Let's roll out.

Despite a new set, despite a new office, we are still here to do the exact same thing every week. And that is, investigate the paranormal. We got an email from Marin Miller, who wrote, Hey, Kitten Rory, long-time listener, first-time episode Suggester. I thought y'all might be interested in looking into the mad gasser of Matun. Thank you both for your hard work on the show. new episodes always make my day. I had never heard of the mad gasser of Matun,

which is a surprise because we had also been suggested this case by Cron Cron and Amber Rodriguez. As you can tell from our description, we're dealing with something quite scary, quite horrifying. Our story today, it takes place during war times. It involves some kind of paranormal chemical attack.

And sometimes that chemical attack can make individuals violently, ill. So to protect the comedy side of the podcast, I decided to add little jokes and fun facts to the script just to keep things light. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So with that in mind, let's begin our case. Our story today begins all the way back in 1944. A time where you'd like to think that your biggest problem would be the fact that the world is literally at war. But instead, the residents of Matun had a different worry. Matun was a small, quiet community in central Illinois, and in 1944 it was even quieter than usual, considering that most of the able-bodied men in town had been shipped off to the old war.

And it was during one late night on August 31st, when a man named Urban Raff was asleep in his bed alongside his wife. That's a gamer talk. That's a gamer. Urban Rath? Rave. Urban Rave. Yeah. He was sleeping in bed with his wife. When out of nowhere, he awoke.

Something in the room felt off. But he quickly realized it wasn't the look of the room. It was the smell. A sweet, strange odor lingering in his bedroom, so thick he could almost feel it drifting in the dark. Must be a gas leak or something, he thought. I better go check it out. Raph tried to lean upright, but his body felt weak.

What the, what the hell is going on? Then, fair warning to our listeners, this is where things get a little intense. He began vomiting violently in bed, jerking around in a fit so exaggerated that he ended up waking his wife. Now Mrs. Rave was terrified because, you know, as I said, this was wartime. She believed that there had been some sort of domestic gas attack. She wanted to jump out of bed and help him, but when she tried, her eyes widened with horror, she was completely paralyzed. Whoa. What do you call a website for an optometrist?

A site for sore eyes. Just keeping it light because I know things are getting kind of heavy here, so that was just one of the jokes that I just added in here. Did you feel like you, these were these are the best jokes you could find? This is the best I can find. Okay. Yeah, because I know it's a really grisly case, so I just want to really make sure everyone has a laugh at the same time. time. The couple remained trapped in bed, helpless at the strange odor that was hung in the air, pinning them to the sheets. The poor couple had no idea what this strange gas was or where it had come from, but the one thing they would learn in the following days is that they weren't the only people that were gassed. That very same night, similar events unfolded in the nearby area. A mother

woke up to the sound of her daughter, coughing, at first quietly, but then evolving into full gasps for air. When she tried to get up and tend to the child, she discovered she couldn't move her body. Just like the first family, this poor woman was immobilized, pinned in place by an unseen entity, forced to lie and listen to her daughter's cries for help.

Wow. Fun fact. Honeybees can recognize and remember human faces. So, I'm not done yet. You're leaving incredibly pregnant pauses. I mean, these pauses are nine months and fit to burst. I've not done yet.

Even though they have no evolutionary need to do so, nice pause in the middle of sentences. Yeah. They can remember a human face for up to two days, and then they forget. Yeah. Well, that is kind of cool. I mean, you know me. I do have a soft spot for bees.

You really do. And apparently, they have a soft spot for you. They'll remember your face. But it must be to sting. Must be to sting. It's to remember who wronged them. That's a revenge trait. Right.

You know, it's like you smoked one of their homeboys. Oh, yeah. And then they're like, I will get you. You batted me away from a tub of jam. Yeah. And they're like, I'll never forget a face. And you're like, two days later, they're like, going to drown in the jam. You're going to die.

So I'm trying to help you. I'll kill you, human. They're like, maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But one day I'll get. you two days later they're like so dude how's it going don't know who you are totally forgot

hey is that jam up for grabs bat him away again I will never forget this transgression you'll rue the day you cross me human you will perish underneath my needle of course I will too that's how it works

he says the same thing maybe not today maybe not tomorrow we've done this a million times it's like Memento He has to write stuff on his stinger. Yeah. So he's like human equal bad. Yeah. Human equal no jam.

Don't go for a jam. Just go to a flower man. I'm not going to bat you away from the flowers. I'm going to bat you away from my bon mama. So I'm glad that the fun fact kept things light. But just to reiterate, a mother was gassed in her sleep. The mother and child gassed. Child was gassed to the point where it was coughing.

Mother tried to help. But, uh-oh. Mummy's been gassed. Mummy can't move. We might need some more levity because so far this is just war. For sure. For sure.

Yeah. But I assume... In Illinois... I don't want to jump ahead here, but I assume the rug might be pulled from underneath me soon. You think you're going to get the gassing of a lifetime

is what you think. The people of this town hoped it was some kind of accident. But the following evening on September 1st, things got even worse. It was around 11 p.m. at night, and Eileen Kearney of Marshall Avenue started to experience exactly what you don't want to in this neighborhood, a strong, sweet odor pouring into her bedroom. Unfortunately, the first attacks had only happened yesterday,

so there wasn't enough time for word to spread and warn other residents. Aileen was completely... This page is blank. I don't know why this printed like this. Sometimes the printer does that. This is unprofessional, but sometimes... She was completely unaware. I probably could have guessed that. She was unaware that she should have run from that room as fast as she could. She was completely...

Exploded! Sorry, wrong page. She was completely... She lay there, assuming the scent was drifting in from the flowers outside of her open window. But as it intensified, she knew something was wrong. She first began to lose feeling in her legs. Then that numbness crept up her body. Before it could reach her head, she cried out for help.

And luckily, her cries were heard. Her sister came running into the room immediately. Don't call for others to be gassed alongside you. Quick, come into the room. That's quits filling up with poisonous gas. Quick, quick, come in. I'm being attacked. By what?

No time to explain. Just get in here and breathe. Yeah, it would be hard to switch gears. Help, I mean, run. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Save me, but don't yet. Leave. Come back with a mask. Yeah, it's hard to explain.

Yeah. The whole thing's quite like Batman coded. I could just imagine the Joker or Tooface kind of throwing in gas canisters that, you know, because wasn't that the Joker, he would do that shit? And then it would make you have a horrible smile like, kang? No. He definitely did that. He definitely did that.

Scarecrow did it. Scarecrow maybe did it. Killian Murphy. In the first Christian Bail Batman movie, his whole thing that was, which is so funny, he's a villain, but he actually isn't, he doesn't have any powers or anything. He just like blasted you with gas

and then he put on a scary face. How good was the paycheck for Killian Murphy to do that? Because he doesn't really do that type shit. So he must have got. Yeah, very similar to that. And this is kind of what's happened in today's case. Innocent people getting gassed. Yeah.

Luckily, the sister came running into the room immediately flinching at the thick wall of gas pouring out from the room. It didn't take her long to determine that whatever this strange scent was, it seemed to be coming directly from the open bedroom window. So they slammed it shut, and Aileen gradually recovered. The pair were too afraid to go outside themselves and investigate, so they called the police to come and search the house and try and find the source of this strange gas.

This is where the story gets strange. By now I assume the police had heard the stories from the night before about the other victims getting gassed in the night. So immediately, their hunch was that this wasn't some kind of leak. This was being done by a person. However, when they searched the house, they found nothing. No footprints, no forced entry, no evidence of any kind. It was as if the gas had just appeared out of nowhere. I'm not sure this is what you want to hear.

here, Mrs. Kearney, but we searched the grounds and it doesn't look like anyone was here. Then where did it come from? I was paralyzed for God's sake. I don't know, ma'am, but whatever that gas is, it isn't here anymore. With that, the police left, leaving the poor women alone in the house once more. And that was until around 2.30 a.m. when Bert Kearney, Aline's husband, returned home from work. Now, Bert was a local taxi driver who'd been out late. working during the attack, so he was totally unaware of the events that had taken place. However, he was about to become even more involved in this case than he realized. As he pulled his car into the driveway, he spotted a figure standing by one of the house's side windows.

It looked like the silhouette of a man standing in dark clothing with a tight-fitted cap. Assuming this was some kind of pervert or home invader, Burt immediately leapt out of the car. Grab his gun. Come on. Hey, what are you doing in my house? Bert ran towards the figure, but it was no use. He was too fast. And the man disappeared into the night.

Bert didn't know it at the time, but he would be the first person to see the mad gasser of Mattoon. Interesting. That's right. Today we are dealing with some kind of either ghost or crypted or pervert

that takes a humanoid form sorry what's the bit where this isn't a guy you know the fact that we're gonna get to that we're gonna get to that but I want to just clarify that the police searched a place there were no footprints

there was no fingerprints no evidence but he did just see a guy he saw the figure he saw a guy he saw the ominous figure of a humanoid being wearing a hat maybe floating through the gas, we don't know.

Hey, you know what this is? My disbelief, consider it suspended. It is there. It is hanging in midair. There's no issues here whatsoever now. At any point, I reserve the right to take that disbelief and put it back inside my brain. But, you know, all I'll say is, you know, Rory would have ripped me a new one if I had got this far an episode. And you'd be like, where?

There's the paranormal evidence! I can't see it anywhere! What's happening? What are you talking about? A mother and child were gassed in the night, paralyzed in their own beds, forced to listen to each other's screams. Where did the gas come from?

They couldn't figure out where the gas is going from. And then her husband was outside and saw a guy run away. Carrying a rubber hose. Yeah. No, but look, this belief completely suspended in mid-air. So we can continue. I like the physical action of suspending the disbelief. That's great.

Yeah. I thought you were going to hold out like your empty hands and be like, see this? This is how many f***es I give about your case. I might try that one later. But if you see me, if the story stops making sense, you'll see me lock eyes with you and I'll be going like this. You're going to be putting it back in your brain. Put the back inside my head.

Bert's description became the standard image of the being known as the mad gasser of Mattoon. I know you're skeptical right now. You think this is just a guy pumping gas into people's houses. Well, it was wartime, yeah. But I actually have an artist's illustration of what people believe this individual look like. Give me one second. Phil, can you bring up the evidence, please? Thank you. Take a look at our screen. Whoa! Yeah, this is... It's Frankenstein, I think. Yeah, it's...

It's a... What the f***. Yeah. It's a cartoonish. Yeah. It's a cartoonish. drawing of a kind of like old man, creepy, Frankenstein tiring person. You know, this does look like a cryptid could honestly still be talking about some kind of pervert. Yeah, it's really ambiguous, yeah. It's almost like a fucking Roershack. It's like you squint and it's like a cryptid and then, but you look and you're like, no, it's an old man wearing a hat. It's kind of weird. And it's like, well, he's wearing a sweater because he's got sleeves. So yeah, it's kind of hard to figure out. It's funny saying it's like a Roar Shack.

I bring up the evidence. You're like, why is it just a picture of my stepdad? No, no, that's a scary man. Yeah, look, we're looking at an artist drawing now of a guy who I assume is 12 foot six, opening a window to let white plumes of gas kind of pour in and presumably affect its victims. Although it looks like his body is almost made of gas or black, like a void, even though we're We can see his face. Well, yeah, they've purposefully not displayed him with legs.

It kind of just, yeah, the picture just fizzles out. Based on this illustration, I would say we're dealing with some sort of nightmare man around 12 foot tall that exists somewhere between the mortal world and the gas world. Uh-huh. Just to take a break? What kind of keys unlock a banana? Monkeys. Again, just to keep it light because there's some pretty scary stuff happening in today's case.

don't put that back in your head I'll put that back your head as you can imagine it wasn't long before the press got a hold of the story and the word of this mysterious figure spread like wildfire or like invisible death gas I actually have a newspaper cover

from 1944 that mentions one of the attacks which is also really cool because you can tell how authentic it is because the top story in the newspaper says in all caps. Phil, can you show the second piece of evidence, please? Yanks in Germany. So this really was during the war.

I mean, that's what they're announcing in the newspaper. Oh, right. Sorry. Headline Yanks in Germany, and that's about the actual news. Anesthetic prowler. Yes. My anesthetics is a good word because I don't know if we were completely clear, but I assumed these people were not dead.

No. Anything but. I've probably left out some of the details, But just to be clear, the individuals that were gassed, they really had a bad time. Guys, I mean, paralysis is one thing, but we were talking violently ill, dropping to the floor, shaking uncontrollably, almost in a fit or a seizure. It really horrible stuff to the point where even when it was investigated, police were like, we don't even know what kind of gas does this. Gas science hadn't come that far at that point, you know? Yeah.

They're not laughing. So we've ruled out laughing, gas. Yeah. But as you can see, you know, this was a real case that was being reported in the news, the anesthetic prowler. They've thought it was a guy at this point, you know, just calling them a priler, so. Phil, take the evidence off the screen immediately. Classify prowlers. Phil struggling. Classify prowler, please. Get the fuck. Get rid of that.

Hey, listen. Do you know who else was a bit of a prowler? Dracula. And he was pretty paranormal, wasn't he? Dracula's fictitious, actually. Vampires, then, asshole, how about that? You know who is it? You know who is a bit of a weirdo? The Loch Ness monster. You know, we can use human words

to describe mythical beings. Right. You know who is kind of hot, Bigfoot. I think you're talking about something else. You know, we can describe supernatural beings in normal ways. So describing someone as a bit of a prowler

doesn't necessarily mean that they're not a cryptid. Yeah, Prouler is a cool word that, I mean, it's not a cool thing to happen. I mean, it's almost always a deviant of some kind that makes the streets unsafe. But yeah, definitely a word. I don't know if you'd use that in today's newspapers, but it is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just want to throw that up to bring some legitimacy to the case so people know this was being reported.

Yeah, it was happening. That's for sure. At Desjardin, our business is helping yours. We are here to support your business through every stage of growth, from your first pitch to your first acquisition. Whether it's improving cash flow or exploring investment banking solutions, with Desjardin business, it's all under one roof. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us,

and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk. Business. Now in the case of Aileen Kearney and the strange individual by the window, the police initially assumed that this was just a normal guy hanging out who was getting ready to rob the house. Because apparently the Kearneys had had a large sum of money hidden in the house at the time. But unless this man had found a way to pump some strange toxin into the home, it didn't explain the gas. And it certainly didn't explain the two attacks that it happened one day prior. Unfortunately, things were only going to get worse.

In the following days, approximately half a dozen similar attacks were reported. Houses were getting gassed nightly. Now as you can imagine by this point, people were getting pretty crazy in the town. Locals were going to bed every night with weapons, scared that they'd wake up to smelling sweet, deathly gas pouring into their homes. Things got so bad that eventually the FBI were called out to invest. But that still wasn't enough. Matun locals formed groups armed with guns to patrol the town at night and hunt down the mad gasser.

Oh yeah, some vigilante shit? Yeah, a vigilante group wandering around town taking the law into their own hands. I think we got a name for that, and it's called a Dad Squad. Phil, play the music. Who's that coming up the hill? Don't be scared. It's a Dad Squad. You can run, but you can hide.

Breaking the law to enforce the law, Dad Squad. The Dad Squad found nothing. They were immediately disbanded by the police. This is always what ends. They drink too many beers. They don't find anything. The police remind them that this is illegal. What they're doing is illegal, and then they just go home.

It's basically a glorified excuse for a piss up. Yeah. The modern day equivalent of a Dad Squad is like bunch of guys who get really drunk together and say they're going to start a business. And then they just drink all night and never start the business. Yeah. You know, that's the equivalent is like, we're going to, let's find them ourselves. Hey, Billy, you got guns and I have beer.

Yeah, we're going to do that. And then the police are like, no, obviously not. Yeah. No. Which makes so much sense because, you know, a bunch of guys running around in the dark with loaded guns high on gas, shooting an invisible man. So they've been hit with the gas? Probably.

It's a bad idea. But maybe the bad idea was to tell the townspeople to lower their guns. Because the gassing continued nightly. Jeez. It seemed things were never going to change in Matun until the night of September 5th, when there was a very interesting development. This is when we receive our first piece of tangible physical evidence. Carl Cordes and his wife returned to their home on North 21st Street around 10 p.m.

And as they did, they noticed something unusual on their porch. A piece of white cloth, slightly larger than a man's handkerchief, lying beside the screen door. Now curious to see what it was, Mrs. Quartz picked it up and brought it to her nose. Then immediately dropped to the floor. As soon as she'd inhaled, she became violently ill. shaking on the ground. When talking to the police later, she described the sensation as being similar to an electric shock. As soon as whatever this cloth was dipped in hit her system, she immediately dropped to the floor. When the police arrived and searched

the scene, the white cloth wasn't all they found. They also discovered an empty blue tube of lipstick and a skeleton key. For our listeners who don't know, because I know a skeleton key sounds like something really cool and paranormal, but I believe it is just a key that has been reshaped and molded so that it can open a bunch of different locks. Got it. It's like a master key, but for different places. The lipstick, I don't know what that's about.

I really don't. Yeah. But it's kind of intriguing. It's like a clue in a game of Cludeau. Yeah, dropping little clues behind. Does this physical evidence kind of destroy some of the theories that this could actually be some sort of paranormal entity? Possibly, yes. But, you know, we could still be looking in the world of cryptids here, which are physical beings.

The carry lipstick. He just hates me in the eyes and he just wants it to end. My disbelief is kind of, you know, like a deflating helium balloon? It's like it's seven days all The helium's always run out It's trying to stay suspended But it just keeps falling and falling All right look I think there's only one way

That we're going to get past this okay And I think we need to take a moment here You need to tell me The parts of the story that you don't like And the parts that you have a problem with I'm going to gas you And we're going to continue this process Until you don't have any problems

Right And then we can continue the podcast So it's a kind of gassing therapy right here in the pod. Right, right, right. And it's not that you will be gassed to the point where you forget your problems. It's that you won't tell me about them.

Right. Out of fear of the gas. Ironically, I feel like I'm being gas lit because you're telling me the mad gasser of Matun dropped a tube of lipstick and you're like, but it could be a ghost. And it's like, well, I just don't quite see

how those two realities would match up. I think it's safe to say at this point we're not dealing with a ghost or a polter gas or a spirit. We can rule that out. Thank you for saying that. It's like a game of phasmophobia. Cross that one off. That ain't it.

It's not an omen, gin, whatever. Crypted? See, I could have inserted a cryptid there, and it still would have been as much of an issue. Why would a cryptid... Why would a cryptid? Is the cryptid... Is it like a Pokemon,

and this is its special move? It shoots the gas out of its ass. And it's like, oh, like, because... If we're supposed to believe it's some kind of organic entity. Why is it on lipstick? Even setting aside the lipstick for a moment, it's got its hands on canisters of gas or some sort of method of deployment of gas. And it just so happens to be doing this during wartime. Yeah. It had a German accent too, which was weird.

No, hey, listen, this isn't the first time we've dealt with a paranormal entity that resembles a human and attacks in very human ways. Perfect example is Springheeled Jack. You know, this was essentially a man that during Victorian times was terrorizing towns, jumping from rooftops and he would come down and I think shoot fire in women's faces. Blue flames. Yeah. He was a, yeah, he did a few different things. Yeah. Did we conclude that?

Did he have like a knife or something? Yeah. Didn't we conclude that he was just a man? Sure. Yeah. By the end, we might come down differently in this case. It's hard to say yet. There's still more to go.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. And if things weren't strange enough on the night that the lipstick and the cloth was found, that same evening, another incident was reported on North 13th Street where a woman claimed she saw a stranger break in through her bedroom window and attempt to gass her. Oh, I wish I'd read that paragraph first. So before we did that whole...

Right, because we paused and you kind of coddled me. said, hey, we got to keep going, dude. Yeah. Because I bet there'll be something dope around the corner. So, but it's a good opportunity to talk. It's a good opportunity because I was actually soon thrown by the lipstick. I was actually soon threw him with a lipstick that. Oh, shit.

That I kind of forgot about the cloth. Yeah. And that it's a chloroform cloth. Yeah. Well, no, it's some sort of mystery gas. And started like, some sort of mystery guys. Started a breakdancing. Um, I did.

did forget that there was one incident where a woman just got gassed by a guy who broke into her house. What does that mean? He didn't even like float through the wall or crawl in like a spider. I think he just smashed the window and tried to gas her. Pushing on. By September 12th, local police had received so many... Can I help you? Apparently, kids been hit with the laughing gas because there's no other reason why he'd be giggling at a story this intense.

You're right. You're right. I know it's, you know what's interesting? It's just an interesting point to kind of where in the story where I haven't heard a joke in a while. Haven't heard one of them. We've kind of abandoned the format on the basis that it's not that serious, is it, at this point in? We're getting to the point we're talking about the details. Right.

There's less people being violently ill. I don't need jokes. Good. Apparently this case has become one. Well, now we know the people are living. And that's good. Nobody died. I should say that.

Nobody died from the Madgas. Sometimes it's good to just say that. By September 12th, local police had received so many calls about the Madgaser that they pulled a classic police move and just stopped listening. They basically said to the townspeople, look, this guy leaves no footprints, no fingerprints. He doesn't steal anything. He doesn't kill anyone. His weapon is invisible.

He attacks you with smell. What do you want us to do about this? Yeah, look. We hate that this is happening to you guys, but the best chance here is that he commits a low-level traffic violation, and then we get him. Then we have something to get him. But saying that you just don't care anymore

isn't a full enough response from police or local government. So, of course, they had a perfect explanation that you're going to love, Kit. Of course, we've reached that point in the podcast where we're talking about mass hysteria. Yeah. Two weeks after the first Matun attacks began, the local commissioner of public health, Thomas V. Wright, made a public announcement.

Look, have there been a number of real gas attacks in town? Sure, undoubtedly. But does that mean every time you smell something strange in your house that the gas man is hiding in the shadows? Of course not. Thomas V. Wright went on to explain that he believed most of the mad gasser incidents were actually just hysteria, residents hearing of alarming events, and then panicking when confronted by an out-of-place odor or a shadow at the window. And if that wasn't bad enough, local chief of police, C.E. Cole took Wright's hypotheses even further, announcing that there had likely been no gas attacks at all.

Which is f***ed, because as they were saying this, there were more gas attacks happening at night. It is a tough one. It is a tough one. Because I'm not on the side of mass hysteria, but capital B, there's a scale. There's a scale. If someone's like having a fit on the floor, I'm not enough of a victim blamer to say that that is in their head. I think we can say that something has happened there. But it's possible that some of the reports could be people being like, I'm certain I'm certain. I'm. I smelled it. I was certain I smelled it as well. And I felt weird, man. I felt weird all night. I wasn't right. My tummy was disturbed. Yeah. And so that it's definitely possible that people misattribute, as you say, smells, odors, other things. But yeah, I'm not enough of a victim blamer or gaslighter to suggest that it was the whole host of what was happening. It seems, I mean, a woman said someone broke into her house and gasped her. Even if it's not paranormal, solve the crime.

There was a petrol-soaked rag at the scene of the crime. So something, obviously, it's happened. But maybe there's like a couple, you know, people with FOMO being like, I got gas too. No, you didn't. Shut up. I do love that the scientist is like standing up there and he's like, look, this is serious. There are real gas attacks happening in this city.

I don't believe it is paranormal, but it is something that we need to all be on the lookout for. Then the local chief of police stands up to the podium and goes, you heard him. You heard him. You're all. nuts. None of it's real. He's like, no, no. I'm saying it's incredibly real. We need to be on the lookout for, wow, wow, wow. Yeah. In the police headquarters is like, well, Jenkins, how's the reports looking on the mad gasser case? He's like, well, we've sorted them into two piles. We think the dudes that smelled something are telling the truth, and we think all the chicks have lost it.

Good job. We've got our best man on the case. That would be the kind of police work back in the day. I'm actually glad that you brought that up, Kit, because you are genuinely not far off what some of the logical conclusions were. This is maybe the most offensive conclusion that officials publicly suggested during the time. They said that the entire episode was likely hysterical women coping with the anxiety of the local men being away in the war. They actually said that. They were like, oh, you know what it is? It's just that they love us so much. And they just love dudes being around all the time that us just being away from them sends them into fits of vomiting fear.

Right. Right. The women are just like, our lives are much simpler. We are the economy has been boosted. Women are now have now moved into the workplace. Are you able to earn money for themselves and run businesses? Shh, shh, quiet. Don't worry. The men are here. We'll protect you from the gas man. You said the gas man's not real. Silence. Your hysterical little brain.

I just love the idea of like a town hall where the police have come out. to do, you know, a press statement that people know they're not going to like whatever they come out with. He's like, boo. He's like, wait, wait, wait, let me speak. Beat of silence. When some women are on their periods, bro! Let me finish! Yeah, it's, it's unbelievably offensive. Like, it'd be one thing if it was just gas attacks and mysterious sightings. A do you. just broke into a house. And they're like, like they refuse to acknowledge that this is happening. It's just crazy. Crazy stuff. Bro, you know, hey, donuts are tasty. You know, the police. Hey, Roy, look at us right here in the investigator's headquarters. You got a nice air-conditioned office,

bowl of donuts, fresh coffee in the drip machine. And then someone says, oh, someone broke into my house and you need to, they're about to kill me. You have to stop them. I got to drive. across time. Such a bad attitude for a police officer. No, that's like your one job. Do the paperwork and shit. Serve and protect, I think it's the model. Sounds like mass hysteria.

Sounds like, I don't think it's real. Look, if there's still, look, blink three times, take a nap, take a cup of coffee. And if there's, if the intruder is really still there, call me back. That person's dead. Five minutes later. There were also a couple more theories that I do have to throw in there. There was also theories that the reported incidents

were likely triggered by chemicals carried on the wind from nearby industrial facilities and then exaggerated by public panic. That has been debunked largely. I think the facilities, the industrial ones, were like, well, don't throw us under the bus. Like, you're obviously just trying to pin this on someone. Like, sure, we have chemicals here

that are, like, toxic to humans or whatever. Sounds like it was then. But no. No, but, like, I think they're like, we have it in such small amounts indoors. Guys, do you really think ExxonMobil would do this? Do you think DuPont, DuPont, who we all know and trust and love? Yeah, I should say the industrial facility was OzCorp, where they made the Green Goblin Glider.

No, it was just normal places. I think they were just looking for logical explanations. There was no gas nearby that was blowing in from these places. I think it was highly debunked. Because do you ever, this is getting into East London lore, but do you ever walk that street along the river south of Broadway Market? And there's like a chemical, there's like a metal plant or something.

There's like some sort of thing where they like treat chemicals and metal and stuff. No. And there's the weirdest. Like whenever I lived here, it's horrible. Sometimes whatever, whenever they're doing their thing, there's like the nastiest ever chemical like gas. comes out of it. You can smell it. It's horrible. You feel like you're losing brain cells when you

smell it. And I'm sure it's the only time in my life living in Britain or Ireland where I'm like, this can't be right. This can't be good. Right. This is just close to the general public. Because like, yeah, people live all around it. They're building flats right by it. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know. This can't be good. This can't be good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so that in the 40s, there was no rules in the 40s. True. A lot less regulated. Yeah, yeah, that's something to be, I guess, conscious about for sure. It's like going back home, one of the big campaigns in the UK and Ireland over the last few years has been like get poo out of the rivers and sea. So, so sad.

Yeah, because there's so much poo in the water. In like a, in the history of mankind when there's so many righteous causes, like, you know, segregation, racism, civil rights. These are the fights that I as a kid would be proud to be a part of when I became an adult and a member of the society. And I am marching in a line holding a sign that says, get the poo out of the water. Yeah. Come on now. That's so sad. And especially because you grow up and it's like, we need to end world hunger.

And then politicians are like, it's really complicated. Like, it's not that simple. Even if we had the money and the infrastructure and the will to do it, the actual mechanics by which we would. would try and do that in developing nations. You know, all these things are so complicated. And then we're like, can we stop putting poo in the water? And then they're like, it's like the police chief at the meeting, you're not going to like this, but it's actually really complicated

because we have to put a little poo in the water. We just have to do it. Frustratingly, after the police were basically like, get a grip, it's all in your head. Reports of the gasser declined significantly. I will say that, which I know is not what anyone wants to. here, but they literally just said calm down and then everyone kind of did calm down and the gasser disappeared. The only incident that is noteworthy really after the big announcement involved an

individual named Bertha Birch who weirdly claimed that she saw the gasser who was allegedly a woman dressed as a man. No, that's too many layers. Yeah, I almost thought about not including that. There's too many layers. That's like, You got that close a look. Yeah. You got that good a look. And then it's like, okay, does that, was that where the lipstick came from? But then why?

But then, okay, I don't, yeah, that's hard. That's a hard one to deal with. Yeah. And you know, you know what's tough about this? If something like this happens in your town, there's a panic about it. Spare a thought for all the innocent night walkers. And I'm not saying prowlers. I'm not saying deviance.

I'm not saying criminals. I'm saying people who like to go on a little stroll at midnight. innocent thing to do. Clear your head. If it's an innocent... Get a little bit of... You were working all day. It's nice to just go out in the moonlight,

have a little moment to yourself. And now everyone's like, you f***er. You fucking open up, you turn out your pockets. You got gas in there. They beat you over the head. The dad's squad is trying to shoot you.

This sounds like it's a very personal... I'm just saying, we don't want to start... It sounds dangerous. Like we're getting to a point where anyone walking at night, it's like, it's the bad gasser. I just think if you're someone,

if you're an individual like this who enjoys strolls in the evening, don't call yourself a night walker. Because if you start saying like... I didn't say night walker one word. I'm like, night space, walker. I just thought I would be threatened. A walker of the night.

No, even that is that. No, no, I'm just like, I don't know, what's the best way to say it? Sort of, um, darkness man. I don't know. A midnight stalker. No. Like we said, Kit, the only kind of comparative case that we have today is Springheel Jack. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, which I don't know if I can recommend our listeners because it was a very old one.

I don't know if we really did it justice. Debatable. For those of you who don't know, Spring Hill Jack was a mysterious figure who terrified Victorian London in 1837. Mows, a long time ago, almost, well, just over 100 years from the Mad Gasser. Interestingly, just like the Mad Gasser, he was described as a tall, close. unlike the Madgasser, he was also said to have glowing eyes, he could leap extraordinary heights, clearing walls and rooftops with one jump, and he didn't spray gas, but he did breathe blue fire into women's faces. That's a lot, yeah.

It was a lot. He had kind of a lot going for him, which I think is why people put him in the kind of supernatural cryptid world. Yeah, yeah. He was seen maybe slightly more often doing madder shit, yeah. Yeah, which you think the maddest. stuff would come from the mad gasser. Yeah. We could have just called him the gasser. That's really all he did was just gas people. I find it interesting that there was so much emphasis placed on it being some kind of like, what's his motive, man? And it's like, did they not just think this was some kind of undercover

like German agent? That's kind of where my head would have first gone is like a sleeper cell. Yeah, is this just like someone, yeah, working for the access powers. I do. I love it. the idea of there being like a busy late night police office and the chief of police is like, damn it, another report of a gassing on 21st Street. I need to send two men down there to investigate. Stephen, Hans, you guys go check it out. I actually don't know about that, chief. I think the women of this town, they're just missing their brave American soldiers. Sure, or we're never spoken, Hans. I can't believe I didn't think of that.

God, you're our best man in the force. You've really turned this place around ever since you got here three years ago in 1941. Perhaps they're just worried about their weak American men fighting the brave Germans on the front line. Well, I don't know about that. Listen, we've reached the end of the podcast

so I know what you're all wondering. Rory, why does anyone think this is paranormal? And it comes down to some very simple facts. And that is, the Mad Gasser was never really confidently seen by anyone. His identity still kind of remains a mystery. Several people saw people break into their houses, go on. Two, he didn't want anything. The Mad Gasser never stole anything.

He never killed anyone. He was in it for the love of the game and for the love of the gas. That was it. Like a cryptid, no one jaded. no rules, just terrorizing for the sake of it. And three, police, officials, and scientists never found out what the gas was. It still remains a mystery. They never identified it or the source or ever found any way that a human would have been

capable of transporting gas over such large distances in one night to gas individuals for no reason. It didn't make any sense. I can't believe I'm going to be backing the mass hysteria hypothesis I can't believe I've been I've been I've been led on such a circuitous route I don't have to like become my own worst enemy this I'm Wesley Snipes with the tears in my eyes pointing the gun at the case

alright my disbelief sure it's it's there it's on life support but you know it's I'm not saying it's cut and dry but this is really tough. Because what we essentially have is our evidence, which happens often, I'm not criticizing this case, what happens often is our evidence of the paranormal is the absence of evidence. Sure. It is like, oh, we can't explain it. So is it just unexplainable?

Right. But we also have an absence of motive, an absence of identity. There's more than just explanation here. Well, yeah. Although, as I said, I mean, it's kind of like, you know, using that analogy again of like the Russian operatives at the moment. The motive is chaos in Gotham City. You think he's just going Joker mode. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, it's a terror attack. The point is to incite fear and terror and misery on the people. Sure. Yeah. And, you know, it should be said, I think the problem

with this is this individual, the Mad Gasser, has not done anything that defies the rules of physics and the real world. It's not like someone saw him like coming through a wall or disappearing into thin air. He stuck his hands down, like, Iron Man and flew into the sky. If anything, when he was caught by a house, he just ran away. Yeah. It didn't even disappear in, like, a puff of gas or smoke or something. Because that was that was not good.

That was at least the only thing about Spring Hill Jack was it was like, we really got into the weeds of like, high, did he jump? Because, like, there's a limit. Like, if you tell me he jumped two meters vertical, it's a yes, you know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. where this individual yeah

kind of displayed no supernatural capabilities all right time for conclusions mad gasser of matoon um kit

what do you think um kid um yeah man I think I think I kind of said it it's a familiar place

in this paranormal life we end our episode with an absence of evidence an absence of explanation similar to, you know, cases that I've got a bollicking for, from Rory or the audience, things like, you know, the Watcher or recently the Circle of the Letters in Ohio, where it's like, okay, it's kind of unexplained,

but like there's guys nearby. There's guys involved. Sure. Guys were seen. Now, can we pin it on the guys? You know, that's another question. Yeah. So, let's pit it on the guys.

Let's pin it on the guys. Yeah, we should record that. So double no this week. I think it just has to be in them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, I still, there are some cases that I'm like, oh, this is true crimey, but I think it could fit in our podcast because it's like a mystery. I actually do think today's case is very like involved in the world of the paranormal.

Well, yeah, like it's what people thought it was. You know, that's the thing. Yeah, people largely thought. It's not what it looks like in retrospect. It was some like human figure. old creepy man. I mean, if you're watching the video, you saw the picture of it. It's like a creepy old man floating in on a cloud of gas, like intoxicating people and making them paralyzed. It's crazy stuff. But it could have also just been a guy pumping gas into people's rooms, unfortunately,

which is why it's going to be a no from both of us this week. Bit of a bummer. That's not how we wanted to open up the new office with a new round of investigations. But you know, Kit, as two individuals, who are now taking this seriously. We've built... For once in our f*** eyes. Yeah, we've built an office here. We're investigating the paranormal more intensely than ever.

You know, I'm proud to come down on a no. I'm proud to debunk these paranormal stories because everyone we say no to gets us closer to the yes. It's a great way to spin it. I have another thought. Oh. We don't have time to go back, but like we have to remember...

We have time. We can open it up. No, no, no, no. I'm not saying it's not a yes. Undo the nose. It's no, no, no, no. We've never done that before. No, it's a no. It's a no. Okay. But I'm just remembering that, like, remember with, like, when we investigated, like, MK Ultra and the CIA experiments and stuff? Yeah.

America, like, we don't even need to look to Germany. The CIA gassed civilians. You're so... You're so... And gave them LSD and shit. Oh, my God. I didn't even think about this. They did do that. And those people, if that had never been declassified,

those people would just never have an explanation for why they tripped balls one day. Yeah. And by the way, Some of them were like hospitalized. I think some people were kind of irrecoverable, to be honest. That is so true. And you know, this was wartime when, you know, American military would have been experimenting with possible different weapons. You genuinely never know. Yeah. Does that still mean it's paranormal? No. No. No. That would edge into the conspiracy world, which is cool. Cool idea, yeah. Very cool. Hey, I like that. I like that a lot. That, you know,

is maybe worth looking into and researching a little bit more and talking about on this Friday's after party. That's right, guys, if you don't know about the after party, every week, we continue the investigation on a Friday and talk a little bit about the theories that didn't make it into the episode. We also read some emails and feedback from listeners, comments from YouTube, etc. We also talk about this paranormal life behind the scenes, building this set, working on projects together, what the next cases are going to be. We talk about it all on the after party. And that is a little show that you can get over on patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. Oh! It is one of the many amazing rewards you can get over there by just supporting the show.

Yeah, as little as I think four pounds, five dollars, ish pending your local currency over on patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. You can get access to everything, the whole vault. It's actually a great place to even just consume this paranormal life in general. Like it's not just you go there just to get the bonus stuff every single episode, including the main ones in video. Everything is there painstakingly maintained by the whole team here, including Phil. And it's a cool community on there too. You can see comments every week right there on the post from our lovely patrons who've been supporting us for years and make this show possible. Honestly, everything that you're seeing right now, this new set that we were able to build the research that we're able to do,

the fact that we're able to continue to do this podcast and have been doing it for almost nine years. every single week is only possible because of the people that support us on Patreon. If you'd like to join that community, engage with listeners, and help support the show, that is the best place to do it. And we are immensely grateful for all of your support. So thank you. I had to put a little presentation thing together this year, actually just a few weeks ago, as like a little roundup for how the year is gone for the company and everything.

And part of that was like talking about the community and the different things. things that they've done for us and we've done for them. And it was so sweet to look back at old tour photos, read old emails, look at nice screenshots and messages from people in the Facebook community or on Reddit. It was amazing. It brought a little tear to my eye. So it was very sweet and made me, it was a nice reminder for myself to express how grateful we are for our listeners on the next podcast. Absolutely. Yeah, it's not just about, yeah, supporting the show on Patreon. I know so many of you have been listening for many years and have even come to a live show or dropped us a little review on Apple or Spotify or whatever.

And couldn't do it without you. So appreciate you listening to this paranormal life. And if you don't support us on Patreon, do not worry. It is not a problem. Enjoy that little sweet smell we got coming for you tonight. That's all I'm going to say. Take a big old deep breath. Have some pleasant dreams.

It's a bit of a dark joke. It's not a joke. What? It's not a joke. I bought some gas. Bought some gas, brother. Do you want to... Okay.

Sorry, that's a lot to take in. Like, what do we... Not a joke. But like most people listening aren't on Patreon, just kind of by the numbers, so... Remember earlier when I said, can you hold this canister for a second? That was to get your fingerprints on the canister, brother.

Yeah, you were wearing gloves. I was wearing gloves. What? Yeah, I told you. I was doing like a micro... Jackson thing and you just didn't even bat an eyelid because I do so much weird stuff in the office. And then I handed you the canister and then you just touched it all up with your little fingers. So, Ed, thought it was weird to be doing a Michael Jackson thing at all like in 2026?

Wow. Okay, I've got to make some calls, I think. Yeah. So thank you to everyone that supports us on Patreon. We're so grateful. We hope you love the new set. If you're listening to the podcast, check out the video or check out our Instagram or something and you can see this amazing new office that we have built here was a double no this week unfortunately to the mad gasser but come back next week we might just have that double yes