The story of this terrifying attacker begins with Botetourt Country, Virginia. A series of attackers rocked the rural area to its core. Rather than the typical home invasion, robbery, or even murder that is regularly thought of due to the media, this person would flood peoples home with an unknown gas.



The series of attacks in Virginia set the community ablaze. People were piling into one another’s homes hoping to have safety in numbers, while others took to the streets at night to find the assailant. A handful of times throughout the attacks produced evidence and even less, a dark the figure was spotted fleeing the area. Due to attackers ability to evade officers, law enforcement eventually dubbed the gasser as being nonexistent and that the attacks were nothing more than the effect of mass hysteria.



People involved in the attacks, including certain police officers, were not convinced. The victims suffered nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, occasional burning or lungs or eyes, headaches, sometimes for days after the attack. The evidence consisted of nails that were removed from windows in order for them to be opened. People also reported seeing the strange vapor entering their homes.



One officer by the name of Lemon, who repeatedly investigated the crimes, found footprints leading away from the crime scene on three separate occasions. Each time the footprint was that of a woman’s shoe. One victim reported seeing a figure dressed in all black flee to a car. When Lemon investigated the area where the car was parked, he found the same female footprint.



This attacker was never given an official name and these attacks were committed in 1933-1934. The Gasser of Mattoon was dubbed in 1944 and was named after the small, rural town in Illinois which this time around, was the only town where attacks were committed.



The Mattoon attacks were much more frequent, up to four times within five days. Each person was reported as feeling sick and being paralyzed for a short amount of time.



Things began to horribly escalate as the FBI tried to determine the type of gas being used and the police attempted to hold back armed citizens seeking justice. At this point, the Mad Gasser was dubbed imaginary and the case was said to be mass hysteria.



On September 13th, Bertha Bench and her son Orville were attacked. Orville noticed a room in the house filling quickly with visible gas. The two were able to escape the house with minimal consequences. They described the attacker as a tall woman dressed in a man’s clothes. The next day authorities investigated the scene. They found footprints made by high heels, the same footprints that were found in Virginia ten years earlier. Though the two incidents were said to be entirely separate, one cannot help to think that the Virginia assailant is one and the same with The Mad Gasser of Mattoon.