Transcript
4/1 MI
===
[00:00:00]
This is 45 minutes of rhythmic breathing, in a hotel room.
I bet the hotel lady was thinking we kind of looked a little weird bringing all this recording equipment into the Holiday Inn. I found the same thing. I was like in my, when you were checking in, I was like, in my head, I'm glad we look alike. Cause you know, we're like, [00:01:00] we're brothers. It's okay. We're not doing anything sorted.
Nothing for a fan site or one . Well, you know, this isn't the first time I brought recording equipment into a hotel. I told you about the incidents where. We were recording a hometown history episode and we had a little film crew with us. Oh God. They wanted to record. We were in Bloomington, Illinois, actually, so not far from where we are now, but we were recording in Bloomington, Illinois on the origins of the name Dorothy being used in Frank Baum's book, the Wizard of Oz.
Mm-hmm. and there in a very large cemetery in Bloomington is his niece Dorothy. So I was doing a hometown history on her being the origins of him writing his book on her and using her name Dorothy. [00:02:00] So we get to the hotel and we had all my recording equipment and I knew that we were going to also have the camera people showing up soon.
So I went and checked into the hotel and I was like, Hey, yeah, you know, we're here and I'm here to check in. And the guy's like, okay, cool. And he's like, what are you here for? And I'm like, for business . And he's like, what business are you here for? And I said, PornHub. . I told him PornHub because I thought I'm gonna have three other people here with me.
I'm gonna have a fun, a fun little day with this, you know? And I love a good little prank, A little harmless. Oh yeah. Harmless joke. Not hurting anybody. Yeah. And I also knew these people well, so that staff's day. Yeah. Well the guy's like, oh, so open . Yeah. Okay. And so I like turned around and I walked away.
And [00:03:00] Kim comes in and she was bringing some of the recording equipment, , and you could just see the guy's eyes just get real big and here comes, you know, Kim and . You could tell he is just looking at me and her and he's just wondering like, the heck's going on here. Yeah. Like I wonder if they're here, if they're, who's the, it's the top and who's the bottom?
Who's the talent or are they just the recording people? What's going on? And so we go on up to the room to set up and a little bit later we go down to meet with the film people who were showing up and they bring all the camera equipment in. And by that time you could tell that he had already told the other staff in this hotel Oh God.
And they were all waiting in the lobby. And as soon as we walked in, they all just get real quiet. And they're staring at us with like these big smiles on their faces, and. Of course no one knew yet to this [00:04:00] point what was happening. And so we go up and one of the people in the party that was with us was like, I don't know what's going on down there, but they seemed like we were a little weird.
They got a shit eaten grid on their face. ? Yeah, yeah. Something. Something's weird going on. They treated us a little weird and I was like, oh, hmm, that's interesting, . And so I fessed up. I told them what I had done and so we all had a really good laugh and then I would've limped out of the , like last time it'll start limping.
Oh, well. And then so we started filming and in the video you'll see that they recorded me doing the recording in the hotel, but then they also wanted to film me walking into the hotel and walking out . So I was like, oh, I would love to do that. So in the film, You'll see like me walking in the lobby and the hotel staff rubber [00:05:00] necking in the background.
Oh, they were all just like, oh my God, why in the world it's going on Jays eyes? Jesus. Yeah. But what was also funny is that prior to us arriving there, Kim had called ahead of time to see or to verify that the pool was open. Oh my god. You know, cuz you wanna make sure the pool's open. Oh, y'all ain't getting in the pool?
Well they closed the pool. Oh God. after learning that we were there for a PornHub. Nope, y'all ain't getting in. Yeah. . Yeah. So we had a good laugh about that too. But that was a side effect of baptisms. Only of humor. Yeah. . So that was a, a nice fun time. But Bloomington isn't too far from where we are. Josh and I have been teasing a little bit about us driving to two mystery locations where two previous.
Mysteries have happened in history. We followed the snow this morning. Yeah, there was sunshine when we left Indiana, and [00:06:00] the further we kept driving the gray air and snow air it got, yeah, it was kind of depressing too because I remember as we were pulling out, I like put my sunglasses on and the sun was like warming my skin and I was like, it's gonna road trip
And then like within 10 minutes, , the clouds are rolling in and I'm like, I got take my sunglasses off and put my grill glasses on and then it starts full on snowing. And I was like, well, this is kind of depressing. And then some kind of styrofoam like hail that was coming down. That was, that was so bizarre.
I've never seen that before. Like the hail was so light that it just seemed like it was that really, really light styrofoam. Yeah, it was so weird. It was. We've gotta love climate change . Yeah. One of the future episodes Josh and I will create for you guys is gonna be some of the mysteries that we looked into just from the little towns and things that we passed on the way here to ma.[00:07:00]
Mat. Mattoon. Mato. Mattoon. Yes. Like cartoon. Yes. Mattoon. Josh and I did a little research, and by that I mean as soon as we got into town, we went to Cracker Barrel as the waitress, and we asked the waitress, how do you pronounce the name of your wonderful city? And she was like, Maun. Well, a lot of people mispronounce it and they call it, why don't she say they called it, they called it Mak or something like that.
Yeah. And we're like, oh, that's awful. How do you say it? And she's like, Mato. Mattoon. Yeah. So we just kept, we just have to keep telling ourself. It's like cartoon Matt and then. Mattoon. Mattoon, like cartoon, but Mattoon, I'll probably forget that in five minutes. Start calling it something else. But Mat is what it is.
I'm horrible names and it's stuck in my head because I thought Mattoon [00:08:00] Cartoon, cartoon Network, courage. The Cowardly Dog. And now I want, I've been wanting to watch it ever. That's hilarious. That's how my brain works. That's how I remember things. . That's hilarious. All right. So what we're gonna do is Josh and I are recording in our hotel room.
We have our recording equipment all set up. We are on the first floor of the Holiday Inn. Mm-hmm. and showing my age. Right. But we are going to talk about this mysterious mystery that happened here in Mattoon, Illinois. And first Josh, why don't you tell me about the history of this small city? All righty.
Well, I will start with just a little something. I came up with a little Rae Tassle. Oh, great. . Hit it. I'm just kidding. , I'd like to . No, no. We jumped in the mystery machine and are [00:09:00] recording today in Mattoon, Illinois. The case of the Mad Gasser. Was it the devious plan of a mad genius or just mass hysteria?
Let's find out. Mattoon Illinois was founded in 1855, where the Illinois Central and the Terre Haute and Alton Railroads crossed the town's name honors William Mattoon, who helped construct the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad. The first settlers saw the open swamp land and prairies as a great opportunity to build a community.
The area was formerly known as the Great Prairie. In 1826, Kentucky Native Charles Sawyer became the first white settler known to settle in the Mattoon area just north of the Timberline. Known then as the Wabash Point Timber. Within a few years, several families very quickly settled around Sawyer in the area of Paradise Township, including [00:10:00] Dr.
John epk, the county's first physician settlers built log cabins using pegs, which require no irons or nails, and the luxuries of life were generally not seen the first years of the settlement, but appeared as the residents could obtain them. Corn was and remained a staple crop. Gardens of potatoes and other vegetables were maintained.
Hogs, which ran wild in the woods, provided pork, wild deer, bears, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens provided an abundant supply of wild meat and even wolves proved troublesome to domesticated animals. I had no idea we had wolves in this area. E, either. I knew we had coyotes. Yeah, it a lot. I guess we had wolves and bears and I mean, they were obviously chased out but had no idea they were native.
Mm-hmm. . Due to the busy railroad in the abundant farmland, Mattoon quickly grew into a thriving town that would be [00:11:00] a common pass through of Abraham Lincoln. Between the two World Wars manufacturing jobs became one of the main sources of income for locals. And when oil was discovered here in 1940, it gave Mattoon another boost in its economy.
The town was also home to the Kune Manufacturing Company, which made those awesome funky chrome and vinyl dining tables and chairs. And another fact about Mattoon, Illinois, the Burger King, unrelated to the Florida based fast food chain. Burger King is a Mattoon restaurant whose owner's claim it to be the original Burger King.
In 1968, they sued the National Chain Burger King, producing a well-known case in the United States Trademark Laws. A federal court of appeals ruled that the federal trademark registration has priority over state law, giving the National Burger King chain rights to the name beyond a 20 mile [00:12:00] radius around the original Burger King.
Today, the closest Burger King franchise is located 25 miles away in Tuscola, Illinois. And another little fun fact that I thought was cute and kind of on theme, Ryder Craig Tinley grew up here in Mattoon. He helped write scripts for the movies such as both of the Cheaper by the dozen ones, Percy Jackson and the Olympians movies.
Wow. And the 2002 Scooby Doo movie. I was like, oh, ain't that cute. That's so cute. Little did he know. And also we went to a neighboring small town of gays, Illinois and saw a 151 year old two-story gays. Outhouse. We then drove down the gay street and took a few pictures in the little gays park. I was disappointed by the sign though.
It was small and simple. You think a town called Gaze would [00:13:00] have something? A little flashier. , right? You really were. I was like, like coming in too. I'm looking like, where is it at? And I see this green sign with real small and like a big nice size sign. But the print was like real little, like they're ashamed of it.
I think it said like population 300. Yeah, , huge, thriving metropolis. That is all that I could really find about the history of Mattoon other than there was a tornado in 1917 that was really destructive. Hmm. Not too much history. They came, they had a railroad. They. Built stuff and and it's still here. Yeah.
So I did see that the population of Mattoon is currently 16,805, and that was figures from 2021. Our story, however, takes place in the 1940s, and at the [00:14:00] time there was about 1000 people less. So the Mattoon that we're seeing now is pretty much the Mattoon that was still back then. Right. So Josh and I, when we got to town after we left Cracker Barrel, we drove around and saw everything there was to see and explored the town.
That's how we discovered the Burger King and Discover on the maps gaze and the stop lights. Yes, they were odd, odd stop lights if you ever come to Mattoon. Don't look up, be prepared, because the stop lights are on the side of the street on poles. Like on the corners, very low to the ground, like at the height of stop signs.
And in the downtown area. Well, it's probably what they call the downtown. Yeah. But it's not a very big area. It's really easy to not see those stoplights. So [00:15:00] I was kind of confused in some areas, so I almost blow blew them. And it was thankfully I was behind the first car or I definitely would not have seen them because normally when you see stoplights, they're in the center of the street.
I kept looking like, where? Where are they? Yeah, how do we know? At first I was like, why is this car stopping? And then I saw, I looked over at the corner and I saw a stoplight and I was like, is that not for questions ? Which way does it go? Because there's one in every corner. . Right. So it was really confusing.
I'm not sure what that's all about, but something be different. Yeah. So in the early morning hours on Thursday, August 31st, 1944 in Mattoon, Illinois, urban Rafe and his wife were sound asleep. That early morning urban wakes up because of a strange odor. As he wakes up, he notices that he's feeling nauseated and weak, and he starts to vomit.
He started to think [00:16:00] that there might be a gas leak inside his home. Just a normal leak, and I'm sure everyone who's listening has smelt the smell of a gas leak in my home. I now have a gas stove, and I've accidentally bumped it. Bumped the mm-hmm. , the lot controller, and I've left it on, I'm like, oh, I smell gas.
You know, you just have to go click it off. So I definitely get the thought of, oh, maybe we left the stove on. So that's what he thought. He thought maybe they left the stove on or something was wrong with the stove. So he woke up his wife and asked her to go check the stove to verify that the stove wasn't leaking gas or that it wasn't a problem with the pilot light.
But as she wakes up, she realizes that she's partially paralyzed and she's not able to get out of bed. Within a few hours, the next incident occurs. [00:17:00] A young mother is awakened by the sound of her daughter coughing, but when she tries to get out of bed to go see what's wrong with her daughter, she discovers she also is partially paralyzed and is unable to get out of bed.
Good gravy? Yeah. The following day on September 1st, the third incident occurs, and this incident was the first incident that was reported to police. The first two that I just told you about hadn't been reported at all. So at 1408 Marshall Avenue, the third home from the corner, Josh and I found this home.
And we have pictures of it. So we'll post the photos on our social media pages. I wanted to knock on their door. . Did you know ? Yeah. Do you happen to to know ? Have you, and have you ever smelt weird smells? heard anything? Saw anything, right? So today, Illinois Highway [00:18:00] 16 now runs near the home. And if you missed the turn coming back from gaze as we did, you have to actually veer to the left to continue down 16.
You'll actually be led straight to the house. We actually found that out coming back from gays. Oh yeah. But at the time, if I read the reports right for 16. , it was actually located at a different spot during this time period. If I wanted to get from Mato to Paris, which is a town located to the east, you would have to take the highway, which was further south from here.
But they ended up moving that a little bit north. They needed basically more lanes because it was getting too busy. Okay. So in the sixties they moved the 16 to where it is now. And Josh, when we got off the interstate and we got [00:19:00] onto, we actually got onto 16 to get to Cracker Barrel. Oh, right. And that was the road that had all the lanes on it.
Right. So That's right. Right behind us. Yeah. Right behind our hotel. So this is a quote, and this is how Ms. Kearney, the lady who owned the home that we looked at, this is how she walks through what happened the night that the gassing happened to her. It was shortly after 11 o'clock that night when I went to bed, taking with me my daughter Dorothy, my sister, Ms.
Martha Reedy was in the living room of my home and my daughter Carol, too, and Ms. Rey's son Roger, who was two, was in another part of the home. I first noticed a sickening sweet odor in the bedroom, but at the time I thought it might be from flowers outside the window. However, the odor grew [00:20:00] stronger, and I began to feel a paralysis of my legs and lower body.
I grew frightened and screamed for Martha. She came into the bedroom, to which the door had been closed, and asked me what was the matter. I told her the sensation I had, but I was unable then to move from the bed. Martha at once noticed the odor, which seemed to come from an open window. She summoned a next door neighbor who called the police, and then Josh, when the neighbor searched the yard, when he came over, he couldn't find the prowler.
And from now on, I'm gonna call. The suspect, the person who could be doing this, the Prowler, because in all the old newspaper articles, that's what they were referring to this person as. Okay. The Prowler. And I thought that was a cool term. The gas, the Prowler. The gas prowler. The gas prowler. I told Shane earlier that the Mad Gasser, that has to be the worst evil villain name I've ever heard.
Well, you [00:21:00] know, that's probably what we would call our grandma. Right? Do you remember what she used to do to us in grocery? Oh my God was so embarrassing. What did they call that? Crop dusting. She would literally turn over in her grave. We're gonna be haunted tonight. Yes. Yeah. Just the thought of us sharing this story,
But Josh, you have to tell a short little story about what she would do to us. Just a little side note. Well, a lot of different things. Fart was one of her favorite humors. . And the thing that comes to my mind is she would blame it on you. Like if she would let one rib and if it stunk, she would turn back and look at, you'd be like, I can't believe you just did that right here in the star order.
Right. Shake your pants right here, . Well, and we were young too, so she probably likely thought that she could do it. and then no one would be around to smell it. . then like them kids would shit their pants. Uhhuh . Someone would turn the corner and then she'd have to blame it on a little kid and be like, oh my gosh Josh.
Uh, we have a lot of funny [00:22:00] instances where she would blame us for it, which I'm sure a lot of you mothers out there we're would be like, you know, I did the same thing when I had my kids and they were young. She was a good mix of feminine but still like had masculine qualities. Like when she'd walk in front of you, lift her leg and let one rip and then she had a, I called it her fart laugh cuz it was a distinctive, oh, I did something funny that involves a fart and kind of sound like Woody the woodpecker.
Like, uh oh my God. And you're like, oops, grandma's laughing. Her fart laugh. Don't walk in that room for a minute. Right. Somebody's car alarms coming off . That's funny. It was going off earlier too. I don't, I don't know who the hell style's car alarms. I know. I have an app for that. Did it stop? I think it stopped.
I think so. Okay, good. We told people we are at a hotel. You might hear weird things. Car alarms is one of them a murder in the next room? You know, you never know what, gosh, what's gonna happen? Oh my God. Speaking of being in a hotel, as soon as Josh and I walked [00:23:00] into our room, I looked, he was like, you know when you walk into a hotel rooms, the very first thing is the bathroom that's right there as you open the door.
And I looked into the bathroom and there is a phone or right next to the toilet, like a landline phone and it works. And I thought for, at first I was like, oh, it must be like for a few fall. Like you can just quickly pick it up. I'm like, , it goes straight to like the front desk or like an emergency line.
But no, like it is like a legit landline phone that you can use to call on. . So its like terrifying. I saw and I thought, oh, that's like if you're on the toilet and you're like, I need a pizza now. , . I might call Kim later, while I'm sitting on the toilet and be like, Hey, are you doing? I just, I thought I was doing something and thought, I, I thought of you, so I thought I'd give you a call, , and I know like there might be some people who are thinking, oh, it's probably, you know, just for a handicap [00:24:00] situation.
And, but the thing is, is like, I've never been in a room that has a landline phone in the bathroom. Right. And we're in a day and age where everyone has cell phones anyway. Like you'd have your cell phone in there and if you fall, you're not gonna, seems like something from like the eighties, like Yeah, that would be a fancy amenity to have in a hotel.
Ooh, a telephone by the toilet, or? Well, the thing is, is it's like right. Next to the toilet . Like it's not above the toilet. It's not, you know, it's never been wiped down between the toilet and the shower. It's above where the toilet paper is, you know, and ain't never been wiped down. It's not even above where the, it's not, I, I thought that it was like between where the toilet paper is and I pretty sure it's like right above the toilet, like the bowl.
Like not even the tank. Yeah. But it's so bizarre to me. I might have to go to the front desk later and ask you the questions. Why call 'em [00:25:00] from the toilet bowl phone ? Why is there to a phone here? Right. Well, I wonder if like, when you call and you use it and you call the front desk if it tells them that you're calling from like the toilet phone
Yeah. If it's like the main funk shows up as like room 1 0 1. M, you know, or, or tea as toilet. Oh, we'll need more toilet paper in this room. ? Uh, yeah. Uh, we just got to our room and the toilet's clogged. What the hell's going on here with this toilet phone? . I mean, it wasn't us. We are delicate roses, . Clearly it was not us, but we have a good fiber or diet of fruits and vegetables.
I know as another little aside before I promise we get back into this episode, I have to tell you, I know I have to tell you, and Kim's gonna be so mad at me for telling you this. No heavens. But we were going on a little history trip to record some interviews, and as soon as we get to the hotel, Kim C clogged the toilet and we [00:26:00] literally had to call the front desk, call the nurse to bring a plunger.
I know we need a buzz saw up here and a plunger. I know. I, it was so embarrassing. But anyway, it was taken care of. Listen, we are intelligent people, but we still laugh at far and stuff. Listen, more of a story is why don't hotel rooms just have a plunger in the bathroom? People would steal it. Then they should charge the room.
put it on a chain. , they charge you with a cure rig. Right? Or a little coffee maker. Right. They trust me with silverware in the little kitchenette, the microwave. I can fit that in my suitcase. . They trust me with the tv, the couch cushions. I mean, yeah. So like, and they'll charge, and like most hotels I think will charge you.
If you take like right, a blanket or a pillow, give me a plunger. So like put a little plunger in there. If someone steals it, you charge the room. Because I mean, it forces you to, every time [00:27:00] you need to plunge, to have to call down. Hey, now I have to involve somebody in my shame. Well, yeah. And no one wants to do that and you just want to get it taken care of.
But also it could be an emergency and like it starts overflowing, so. Right. Uh, I mean, nightmare. I know. But anyway. I don't know how we got onto this poo talk, but back to grandma, we talked about our grandma . I know she was fully continent, her whole life, , she was never, and she's not here so she, she can't come at us.
I know. She would be so mad and she really would. She No. Wake up with scratches. . Don't even . Okay, so back to what happened, the topic. Yes. . So the neighbor, as I mentioned, came over, searched the yard and they couldn't find a prowler. So they called the police, and as I mentioned, Josh, these were the first people to call the police.
So this was the first time that anyone took it serious [00:28:00] enough to get the police involved, which I'm not too surprised about because I hear a lot of instances talking to people, especially being a true crime podcast. For so long. I started in January of 2014, but a lot of times when something happens, people just don't report it and Right.
That would've been especially true in the 1940s. It amazes me the, uh, I don't wanna bother anybody mentality of a lot of humans . Yeah. Well, and also they may not have been Sure if it was a local leak to their home and they just, you know, couldn't have been Sure. Now, in my mind, I would've called someone because I'm always so fearful of gas.
Mm-hmm. specifically, so I'm always smelling. Yeah. Like, if I would've thought that my house could have possibly had a gas leak, I would be calling like the gas company and if they couldn't handle it, I'd call the police. Like I would be reporting it cuz [00:29:00] people are hurt over stuff like that. So I, it's the only reason I would ever have a bird.
Yeah. Ew. I I couldn't do birds. No. They, uh, are real sensitive to fumes. So any, like, that's why miners would bring canaries down with them. Cause if there's a gas leak, the canary would die suddenly. Yeah. I, I just don't like birds. I hate 'em too. outside chickens are okay, but not in the hose. I can barely handle people.
Josh, right. birds gave me my dog. I can barely take care of myself, let alone animals. But anyway, so when the police arrived, they found no evidence of anyone lurking outside the home. And so the police basically took a report and left around 1230 in the morning when Mr. Burt Kearney gets home. Who was Ms.
Kearney's husband? Just a little side note. He was a taxi driver, so he worked pretty late. , um, he returns home . He returns home and as [00:30:00] he's inside the home, he looks over at the window and he notices a man hiding outside the window and he goes outside to confront the man, and the man runs off. So he wasn't able to catch him.
He does flee to try to catch up to him, but the man gets away. So they end up calling the police again. The police come, they're not able to locate the man. They do search the entire neighborhood and they weren't able to find him. So, Mr. Kearney tells the police that his description was that he was a tall man dressed in dark clothing and wearing a tight-fitting cap.
Ms. Kearney because of this gas attack, suffered from a burning sensation on her lips and her throat. After the exposure. [00:31:00] It took her 30 minutes to regain use of her legs after the paralysis. And her young daughter, Dorothy, became very, very ill for a while afterwards. At first, police thought that the person's motive for doing this was probably robbery.
So the Kearneys actually had a large amount of money inside the home, and I thought this was a little interesting and a little weird, but all to their own. And the police thought that it's possible that the Prowler might have seen Ms. Kearney and her sister count the money that night. So that night before this incident happened, her and her sister were basically inside counting this money and.
They thought, well, maybe the person came up to the window and saw them counting the money. The only thing in my head, again, Josh, this is the house that we saw, the person would have been having [00:32:00] to scope the house out to want to rob them ahead of time. Right. Because how the house is situated, there would be no possible way you could see inside the home and specifically see people counting money.
You'd have to be near it like it's kind of on a little hill almost. Yeah. You'd have to be all the way up to the window watching them count money. Yeah. Lurking at the window. So I would say that the motive would've had to have already been pre-established for that to have been the case and. If that was the case, it wouldn't make sense to me of why the first two, they weren't counting money and also.
the person didn't attempt to go into the home to take money. So I think that was kind of an invalid thought. I don't think that it was a very [00:33:00] well thought out thing. Yeah, that's such a weird thing to do. Like that'd be like me coming over to your house to count your life savings on a Tuesday night. Like, Hey, let's come.
And they didn't say like how much money it was or where the money came from, $28, but also who is gassing people to rob them. Right. like, let me gas this house, wait for it to disperse and then rob them. Yeah, I'm gonna send gas into this room to paralyze her so I can go in and rob them and they can see me, but just can't get up to stop me.
I mean, that would be very extreme. Not gonna say it's never happened, but I've just never heard of it happening. If the person would've seen them count money. . It doesn't make sense to me why they would've only gased one person and not the sister knowing that the sister was also in the home and the other kids.
Right. So that didn't seem, that doesn't like a very valid point to me. I think it just so happens they were [00:34:00] counting money the day before. Yeah. I don't think that had anything to do with it. One thing that I will note while going through the old newspapers is the local newspapers here had incorrectly reported this incident as being the first gas or attack.
Okay. Only because they were the first people to report it to the police. And again, this was the third. Yeah, it was the third that that first reported that we knew about that seemed like it was related. Mad Gasser , the Mad Gasser. I want to draw like a cartoon version of what I think you would look like
In the following days, there were more attacks, all very similar to the first three incidents. No one was ever able to provide a clear description of the person responsible beyond Mr. Kearney, and there were no clues found at the scene of the attacks until the [00:35:00] first physical evidence was found. On Tuesday night, September 5th, when Carl and Bela Cordes at 9 21 North 21st Street, returned to their home around 10:00 PM This is a quote from Alula.
My husband and I arrived home around 10 o'clock Tuesday night, and according to our usual custom, entered our home through the rear door. We had been in the house a few minutes and were sitting in the front room. When we noticed a white cloth on the front porch against the screen door, I picked up the cloth, which was larger than a man's handkerchief, and unfolded it.
There was a large wet spot in the center inside the fold. And without thinking, I brought the cloth to my face and smelled it. No uhuh to his fa like right on a, [00:36:00] maybe a little wft of far underneath the nose. But, uh, yeah. Is this, is this pee? Or what is this
Why? People always smell stuff. Ugh. Bless her heart. Bless her heart. That's all you're gonna say. I am sitting there. We try not to laugh, but you're like, the couple cut back from date night came in the back door and then he had a wet thing, lifted the flap and, and put it to his face. Right? Well, she sees it like by the front door.
And it looks like a handkerchief with a little dribble of liquid in it, and she comes up and brings it to her. Maybe it's just the true crime person in me and I know better. . I mean, I don't want a victim blame smell, nothing. The last thing I would do is Uhuh be like, what's that? What's this? It's like those moms, when their kid comes up and they have something brown on 'em, they're like, is that pooper chocolate?
Is that [00:37:00] poop chocolate? You tell me now. It's like when someone's like, Hey, snowed my finger. Uh, yeah, that is a, a hetero man thing. No way. It is not, I I don't do it. Well, not, you know, I don't include you. It's an idiot thing. I do it. Let me, when I say hetero man, when I say those words, uh, muled red, white, and blue.
Let's rephrase it. It was a man who was not raised by his grandma. Yes. . My grandma taught me better. A man who had watch me in a mouth, , you know, I smelling nothing. No. Cuz she'd do it worse. You smell that. Smell this. Anytime I travel and I, and I see. Men not washing their hands in the bathroom. Oh my God. I immediately get my grandma's backhand and my, like, I just immediately want to smack 'em or walk out behind them.
And like, you also have to know that I'm much bigger than everyone else. I'm six nine and I'm much larger than you. Go wash your hands. I, I immediately wanna walk out and see if they're with a woman and go up to them and be like, do you realize. [00:38:00] That your husband does not wash his hands. Mm-hmm. , this is an intervention.
He is disgusting and he is the sole reason. I'm convinced, Josh, that these men are the sole reason why Covid spread. Oh, yeah. That thing would've not have lasted so long if these men would've been washing them damn hands in these bathrooms. We, we know J our first stop today when we stopped to charge and grab a snack, I went to the restroom and I sit down sometimes.
I'm like that it's better for you. Yes, there are health magazines, let's say. It's fine. It's more for you. It's more relaxing to sit down to urinate. But as I was a man came and used the urinal and then he walked over to the sink, ran the water, maybe like put his hands under it for not even two seconds, like barely got 'em wet and then spent at least a minute drying them.
I'm like, you just, you made it worse. Now you have your bacteria wet, and [00:39:00] now that wind is just squirting it all over the bathroom. Ugh. We just have to educate people basically as well. , just wash it, put the soap on, sing a happy birthday, whatever you have to do the. Good Lord. Wash your hands. Wash your butt,
Wash your face. Wash your feet. That's the song grandma would sing. . If you guys listening, think that we are overreacting about the pandemic of people, not of men not washing their hands in the bathroom. You have not been paying attention. in men's restroom, and if you're a woman, that's because you've not been in men's restroom.
Ladies, your man is not washing his owns, he's not doing it. It is seriously a problem. One out of 10, this is, and I'm usually that one. Yeah. It is a public service announcement. I will stare, especially at a restaurant, they'll go right back out there and start eating. Mm-hmm. picking up that, I'm like, that's why I don't share appetizers.
I'm like, you are disgusting. It takes literally one minute out of your life to wash them hands. Well, when [00:40:00] Covid really started getting really bad, people started noticing there were lines at the men's restroom, like there usually are in women's restrooms, and nobody could figure out why. And finally someone pieced together like, oh, there's a finally a line in the men's bathroom, because they're actually taking the time to wash their hand.
I'm like, oh my God. There should be a line the whole time. Well, during, when Covid was at its worst, I would bring my own little soap with me because the soap in the men's restrooms was actually being used. So I think, oh, yeah, running out. Yeah, it was actually running out, and I think like employees at these places weren't used to killing it to refill it so often.
So you would just go in there and there would be no soap, and I was just like, well, I'm not dealing with that, you know? So I would just bring my own soap. It does give me a little bit of a high and mighty feel when I'm sitting there washing my hands real good, and somebody comes out of the stall and just walks out.
I'm like, mm. Garbage [00:41:00] fill little
But. So all to say back to this lady who brought the cloth up to her face and smelled it, bless her heart. And I don't want to say that I wouldn't do it, but I don't think I would do it. But back in the time, it was a different time. You know, they didn't have true crime podcasts to listen to and she did it and maybe there would be other people who did it.
So was that when Coke was, I don't think should give her that hard of a time for doing it. Was that when Coke was still in Coke? Probably. They were all just tripping. I'll smell this. Sure. Right. So she continued to say, when I inhaled the fumes from the cloth, I had a sensation similar to coming in contact with a strong electric current, which I thought is an interesting way to describe it because I've never come to contact with a strong electric current.
It reminds me of being in high school. I'm like, I actually saw my [00:42:00] senior year a guy stick a fork inside of an outlet in heavens. Yeah. And it caught fire. And I just thought, well, Idiot. You know, how's he doing these days? . Right. I can agree with that cuz the strongest odor I've ever selt was mustard gas.
Mm. Not on purpose. I had put like a bleach tablet in the back of the toilet bowl to turn the water blue. Okay. And it had been in there for a few days. And then I use like an ammonia based toilet bowl cleaner. And so when I mix the bleach and the ammonia together, it created mustard gas. Mm-hmm. Or, uh, it created a gas that's bad for you.
I don't know if I'm allowed to say that , but, um, how to make the poison 1 0 1 , but it instantly hits you. And like my body's first reaction, like you just instantly can't breathe in and you start to like convulse a little bit. Like electricity just hit you. Like [00:43:00] you said, it's a mixture of what? Bleach and ammonia.
I had a bleach tablet in the back of the toilet so the water had bleach in it. And then as soon as that toilet bowl cleaner hit the water, it just instantly creates that toxic that'll do it. So she says, The feeling raced down my body to my feet, and then seemed to settle on my knees. It was a feeling of paralysis.
My husband had to help me into the house, and soon my lips were swollen and the roof of my mouth and my throat was burned. I began to spit blood and my husband called a physician Heaven. I know it was more than two hours before I began to feel normal again. You can see my lips and face are still swollen today.
The Lula thought that possibly the prowler used the handkerchief to knock out their dog, leaving it on the porch where the dog was normally kept. Then he [00:44:00] entered the home, but because they entered through the back door, they thought that maybe they spooked him and then he ran off. Hmm. And dropped his hanky.
Right? Well then on the sidewalk, At the edge of the front porch, she found a skeleton key that showed signs of it being used frequently. And she also found a large lipstick tube that was nearly empty. It puts the lotion on the, the skin . Oh my gosh. That re, did I tell you about that review that someone left me?
I for the sun foul play? Buffalo Bill . Yeah, they said the, I sounded like Buffalo Bill , and it was like a three star review, and I was like, that should have at least been a four star review, because if I sound like Buffalo Bill and I have a True Crime podcast that deserves four stars. It puts the lotion in the basket, puts the lotion in the basket.
Okay, so the cloth and evidence was taken by police, but no [00:45:00] chemicals were able to be found on it. Amen was picked up about a block from the home, a short time after this happened, and he told police that he was quote unquote, Lost and he was released. So nothing ever happened from them picking him up.
That same night, another incident was reported. This one happened on North 13th Street at the home of Miss Lenard Burrell. She reported seeing a stranger break in through her bedroom window and then attempt to gas her. And can I just say how absolutely horrible that would be to see someone trying to break in through your window and then I gas like comes in through your window and suddenly you can't move.
Mm-hmm. . So it's like a sleep paralysis nightmare. Right after these incidences, the public concern in Mattoon quickly rose, and I think for good reason [00:46:00] the f B I came to town to help with the investigation. So, They took it serious. There was a serial Gasser on the loose here in Mattoon, the commissioner and chief of police issued a public statement, and this is the public statement.
We want the public to know that everything possible is being done in this case, and we are grateful for the confidence of a majority of the citizens. However, we have a few points on which we hope to get 100% cooperation beginning tonight. They are one. Stay off the streets in residential districts.
Unless our business requires you to be there, there is no danger in the business districts, two roving bands of men and boys should disband. Roving means moving constantly, moving vigilantes out, [00:47:00] seeking the Gasser , right. They are engraved danger of being shot by some frightened property owners. Put away the guns now in the hands of individuals because some innocent person may get killed.
The only time Juan should shoot is upon seeing a man peering into a window of one's home. Then extreme care can be used. Even that seems like a lot just for looking in a window, gonna shoot 'em dead. Right? Looking in a window, right? Oh, your card rug. Ugly. Anyway, right? . Well, and there were some instances of false report of, well, I won't say false reporting, but of people who were calling the police to report gassing.
Attempt who people who thought were related to this and they weren't. And one of them was a man who locked himself out of his house. And so he was trying, he broke into a window of his home to get in. Can you imagine if [00:48:00] like a neighbor shot you trying to break into your house? It's me. I, you know that Well, and I know of several of my friends who have done that, who had to crawl into their windows.
No, I've done it into their house more than once. Yeah. Can you imagine getting shot and that's how you die? Because I'd be so mad people confuse you. Yeah. And number four, don't follow the police car when it is speeding. An answer to a call. Persons who do this will be arrested. . I can't. I never even thought about that.
People probably used to. Cars are on a chase, let's go follow the cops. Something to do it. It was before a time of police scanners, right? . Oh, they're going, let's sue. Yeah. What are they doing? We know there are people who just, you know, sit in front of police scanners basically all the time. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, that was back in the day.
You just follow the police. Not judging, just, okay, we're judging. But it also could have been, I know that people were rioting and there were also basically vigilante people [00:49:00] out patrolling neighborhoods. So if they saw police going, I mean, this is a small city, a very small city. So if they saw police responding to a call, these people could have thought, well, they're responding to people who believe the Gasser is in their neighborhood, so let's go to the neighborhood and see if we can find 'em, you know, trying to get away.
And so they go to the neighborhood looking around. So that's probably what the police are referring to. Mm-hmm. And yeah, so the police, you know, are basically saying, we don't need the help. We got it. Stand down. . Yeah, you're gonna get yourself hurt. Reports were being called into police, footprints being found under windows and of terror being found in window screens.
So those were a lot of reports being called in by September 12th. And again, Josh, the first incident that happened [00:50:00] was on August 31st. So basically 12 days later, local police announced that they believed the entire incident was likely mass hysteria caused by the anxiety of women, while local men were away for war service.
And when I read that, I wanted to slap the police chief. Just wanted to go find his grave and just. Bring him back to life and just slap him for just saying that. Right. There's nothing going on here. I will add that hysteria was one of the most common diagnosises given to women. It seems to me like they could have been blanketing the whole event as mm-hmm.
Oh, it's just the woman folk working themselves up. Nothing to see here. Yeah. To me, when they say that, it's like they're basically saying that all those women weren't smart enough to know that they were being barricaded in their homes or suffering from symptoms of gas [00:51:00] exposure. It's like, how dare you?
Right. I know it was the forties, but how did you woman put up with that ? Well, and you know, nowadays, if there was a police chief that were to say something like that, this is the hysteria of women who are afraid because the men are away at war, you know? People would be up in arms, I feel like. Right. You know, ready with their pitchforks and would burn buildings, you know?
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. back in the 1940s, that was more acceptable, likely. Right. You know, I didn't live back then, but I feel like the 1940s was a different time and that was more acceptable. Oh, they're just on their mensies since, yeah. Yeah. They ain't nothing going on. But I can say that was not the case. I mean, we had multiple people, including men, feel that they fell victim to this.
Right. So the thought that this was mass hysteria caused by women [00:52:00] is not a valid point to me. Mm-hmm. so that the thought the police chief would say, He was an idiot. Yeah, , there's no other way to go about it. So he blamed this police chief blamed the smell and this gas on local industrial plants. This is what his quote was at this time.
This again, Joshua was on the 12th day. He says, the fumes of carbon tetrachloride, or other similar chemicals did not necessarily originate at the Atlas Imperial diesel engine Company. Plant. Other industrial firms in the city also give off odors as a result of various chemicals used. Chemicals used in coloring, leather, bleaching, brooms, straw.
And cleaning clothing have fumes which may have carried to any part of a city by changing winds. The nausea and illness [00:53:00] suffered by victims and the quick recovery of the people definitely indicate that no serious or dangerous gas was used. No signs or serious gas have been found. In any case, dangerous gas, such as might be used in warfare in nearly all cases, clings to the ground for long periods of time.
Odors smelled by victims have dissipated rapidly, and then as soon as he says this, it gets reported. Of course, in the newspaper, in these industrial plants respond very quickly, and this is what they say. We deny that the strange gas, which has been described variously. As having a sickening sweet odor and smelling like gardenias.
It's coming from our plants. There is less than five gallons of carbon tetrachloride mentioned in Chief [00:54:00] Coles' statements at our plants at this time. This being the amount used monthly and small fire extinguishers, we do use a quantity of tri chloro ethylene and the plant. However, the fumes from it cannot be responsible for the mystery.
Gas for persons working in the plant would be the first to notice or be affected by any fumes. During four years of operation during which this gas has been used. We have not had one case of sickness due to fumes. This gas is used practically in every plant in the country, and it seems strange if a mystery gas is put out by factories using this gas that other communities throughout the nation have not been similarly affected.
Our factory has recently been inspected by the State Department of Health in a telephone conversation today, [00:55:00] they said there was no possibility of its vapors getting into the outside atmosphere and any amount of concentration that would even closely approximate a toxic condition. Chief Cole's statement was a great surprise to us as no one representing the local authorities has made any attempt to check the conditions of our factory.
We seriously question that the source of the toxic gas will ever be determined by the methods which we understand have been used in the past. And then after that date, after the date that the police chief makes this announcement that he thinks that this is all a mass hysteria and doesn't think that it's real.
It's kind of odd. The reports start tapering down. The police don't take the report seriously. So in my opinion, that's probably why the reports started tapering down because if you're [00:56:00] calling the police to report it happening, they're not gonna take you seriously. So why would you report it? Exactly.
There was one report that happened, I believe it was the day after the police chief made this announcement. It was reported by a lady named Bertha Birch, and one of the things that I'll mention about what she discusses during her gassing attack was that found at the base of the window that the Gasser used to put the gas into her home.
there was found a shoe prints, and it was actually women's shoes. The women's shoes were heel marks, like high heel shoes. Mm-hmm. . So I thought that was very interesting. Hmm. But in my opinion, I'm not surprised that after the police chief makes the announcement that he thinks it's all a hysteria, that was him telling everyone that [00:57:00] the police are no longer going to take this seriously.
So people who call in reports don't bother. Yeah. So people stop calling it in and eventually it fades and. So what ends up happening is it does eventually fade, at least in the reported incidents that we know about. Makes me think of like a supernatural episode. Like people are asleep in their home and then a obnoxious gas that smells like gardenias comes in and paralyzes them as it feasts on their blood.
Right. I'd watch that episode. , of course, put Jens and Les in anything and I'd watch it . Right. So were you able to find anything? I did after it happened. Just a little bit. It's not, you know, proven. I mean, there's really no way to prove anything anymore. Right. But a teacher from Jacksonville named Scott Mauna explains in his book, the Mad Gasser of [00:58:00] Mattoon dispelling the hysteria that this case has long been cited in college psychology classes as a perfect example of mass hysteria.
Occurring during World War II when so many men were off fighting and so many women were left alone, the gassings have been explained away as a product of paranoia, panic, and delirium. He goes on to dispel that idea, giving credits to many who came forward to report a smell coming through their windows at night, and in some cases, seeing a shadowy figure running into the darkness.
He then examines 11 traits common to mass hysteria, providing factual details to subvert each of these characteristics. For example, most mass hysteria cases involve women, as did the Mattoon Gassings. He also explains that during the high of World War ii, Mattoon would have naturally [00:59:00] had more women in residence.
Therefore, the victims would obviously include more females. In the end, he presents this solution. He dismisses the claim of mass hysteria and points to a real person as the culprit living in Mattoon was a town genius who could be found with his nose buried in books at his family's grocery store. His name was Farley Lou Wellen, and he drank too much, kept a secret laboratory and experimented with various chemicals.
There was even once an explosion from his lab that shook his neighborhood. Mauna says Farley, the obvious chemical genius behind the gases synthesis was the real Gasser. That is a quote from one of his books. In a fit brought on by mental instability in years of pent up rage against a town that would not and could not [01:00:00] accept him.
Farley tinkered and toyed with various organic solvents in an attempt to create a suitable weapon. Maroona even goes so far as to identify Farley's chemical as tero. Chloro ethane a chemical with all the properties to induce the symptoms reported in the gassing, such as irritation to the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and respiratory system.
I just thought I found that while we were driving around. I thought that was an interesting little, um, he has a whole book based on this event. I would've read it if I didn't learn about it just today. ? No. Well, I'm curious on why he like, believes it's Farley. Just the fact that he's a weird person and very intelligent and likes to pay with gas, known as a genius who plays with organic chemicals.
And I mean, it even said he made a laboratory explode and his neighborhood shook [01:01:00] from it. Yeah. But that doesn't mean you hurt people. Right. You know? Right. So in my mind, there would have to be a, and again, I did not read his book. You know, this is the first time I've ever heard of the author or of this thing, but hopefully there were examples of him.
Hurting people before the author, you know, suggests that he was respons responsible for doing this just off of evidence that Oh, he was a loner who knew about chemicals. Yeah. To me that sounds like a bad movie, like a, a kid's movie. Like, oh, it's the, something happened in town. Let's blame the weird guy.
Well, I, and I mean, I don't want to defend Farley, but in college I had to take chemistry courses. Right. And I thought, I thought chemistry was very interesting. Does that mean that I would harm people or gas them to the point of paralysis? Absolutely not. [01:02:00] You know, so who are we talking about? . . I'm just kidding.
I wouldn't do that. But yeah, that, that would just be my 2 cents. And. I would like to read his book to figure out Yeah. Why he believed. I'll definitely look it up cuz that's an interesting, I want to see like, did they find like old reports of him? Yeah. Or, and why would he have stopped? Or did people just literally stop reporting it just because of what the chief of Police said or exact To me, it just, it gives me the, let's blame the weird loner guy for what's going on.
But I mean, this was after the everything ha like years later. But also in my mind, I thought, I'm thinking about this. Wouldn't he be the first suspect that they would be looking at? Right. Why didn't they question him right away? Why you think that they would be, he's hanging out at the grocery store, know that he is this gas person who a literal, mad genius.
No. Why would they [01:03:00] not? People would be looking at him is what I'm thinking. Right. And it's, I mean, we're here in Mattoon right now. It's, he would've had to, in a small town, he would've had to have had something off with him too, because again, this was during the war, so if he was of sound mind and body, he would've been off fighting in the war.
Yeah. Unless, I guess, unless he was too young to go. Yeah. Maybe. Or too young or too old maybe. Yeah. No, no. Yeah. Just some food for thought, I guess. Yeah. Just, I found that and I thought it was interesting. I wanted to give everybody, yeah. All the information I found today, I like it and, but the thought of having a name for a guest that could fit the description of what everyone is suggesting is definitely valuable.
It's n neat to me in a bad knee, but still neat that there was, I didn't know there was like a gas that could do all of that. I knew the sore throat and eyes and whatnot, but I didn't know [01:04:00] could like Yeah, just paralyze you for a few hours. Well, and I think that's one of the things that. Makes me feel like this is not a mass hysteria, because at some point when you look at how people are reporting early on before the police are being called and before it's being reported in the newspapers, there are people who are reporting symptoms and they are talking about similar symptoms that are happening to them.
And not only is it like one person doing it and a household, there are multiple people in the household who are experiencing it. So to have these people who it doesn't seem have any connection to each other experiencing similar things exactly when it wasn't yet being reported in the national [01:05:00] newspapers, it wasn't this huge thing.
Now, After it started getting out into the national newspapers, later on, I believe it was like day nine or 10 maybe. That's when things come a little bit more questionable. When people are reporting things, people want attention and you know, yeah, maybe I could see that happening a couple, but, but the early people who are experiencing these similar things and they wouldn't have known other people were, yeah, and having multiple people in the household, I mean, that's like having six people in your house and then what a nightmare.
You're all experiencing it, smelling it. Some of you are seeing a person and you report it, and then 10 days later the chief of police say, oh, we think it's mass hysteria because of a problem with women. Excuse me. Uh, go die, dude. , right? Hey, wtf. We'll take that badge right off of [01:06:00] there. Yeah. Well call the Winchester brothers.
Right. Well, I love that. His first public statement. At first he was like, I'm doing everything I can. I need you guys to believe in me, and I'm taking this very seriously. And but then at the point where it becomes out of control and the FBI become involved and they're like about to take it out of his hands, because I, I mean, in my mind, I think it's just because the local police couldn't handle anymore.
And I'm not saying that's their fault because I'm sure with all of that attention, local police in a small city like this, You just wouldn't be equipped to handle something they're used to drunk and domestic disputes enough. Right. You're not, you're not used to a serial gasser. There's no s That's what we have the F FBI for.
So the F FBI come in. And the last thing that I have firsthand [01:07:00] witness of that, the very last thing that most law enforcement agencies want is help , right? And the feeling of them not being able to do it on their own. And so the idea of that being the case, I think for, for him specifically being the head honcho of this police department, he probably felt like, oh, let's just say that it's mass hysteria make me the one that solved the off the hook.
You know? So that was probably his easy way out. And he took it. And it doesn't matter how the case gets solved, it matters who solves it. Yeah. And at the point where people then, Know that the police aren't gonna take it seriously, so they're gonna stop reporting it. And even if they do report it, you're not gonna take it seriously.
Right? So it ends up. Working in the police chiefs favor stopped it from spreading even wider. Yeah. So to me, my, [01:08:00] just my own little personal conspiracy theory, didn't read this anywhere. Just my thinking from it is I mentioned earlier that they started, or they found oil around 1940 in the area. I'm like, is there a natural gas pocket that's a l, a big bunny making?
Mm-hmm. venture. You know, I'm sure the police and the whole town would try to cover that up anyway. I hope it's just mass hysteria. Nothing to see here. Right. Couple dead housewives ain't, you know, not oil's worth a lot more than they are. Nothing. That's just hysteria. Right. That's just, I don't fully believe that happened, but I could see that happening.
Yeah. You never know when it comes to people's money. Well, Aaron Brockovich type of situation. , right. All right, so we're gonna do something a little different for our unasked episode. Normally we only release them for Patreon and for Apple Premium. For our unmasked [01:09:00] episode, it's going to be released as normal.
So everyone could have a sample of what our unmasked episodes are gonna be like. So, Let's go ahead and start the Unmasked episode, and if you're listening, go ahead and switch over so you can enjoy what our unmasked episodes are. Yes, before we go tomorrow, we will be traveling again, but to a rural town where the body of a young woman was found near bridge, she was found without her feet, hands, and head, and went unidentified for over a decade.
We will check out that bridge and her tombstone on our next episode of Mystery Inc. Alright, let's go ahead and start Unmasked.
[01:10:00]
