Sources from Lore 231

  1. “Who was invited to the annual washing of the lions at the Tower of London?” Smithsonian Magazine, March 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/30/washing-lions-tower-london

  2. “Anesthetic Prowler Adds Victim.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 6, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681200

  3. “‘Anesthetic Prowler’ Covers City.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 5, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681179

  4. “‘Anesthetic Prowler’ on Loose.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 2, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681104

  5. “‘Ape Man’ Now Suspect No. 1 As Gas Maniac.” Rock Island Argus. September 15, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/548001458

  6. Ballenger Charles. “Fear, Perhaps Gas Too, Fills Mattoon’s Air.” Chicago Tribune. September 12, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/370396797

  7. Ballenger, Charles. “Mattoon’s Gas Fiend Attacks Girl, 11, In Home.” Chicago Tribune. September 9, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/370379662

  8. Baloh, Robert W. & Robert E. Bartholomew. Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria (Springer Nature, 2020).

  9. Bartholomew, Robert E. Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking (Prometheus, 2003).

  10. Bartholomew, Robert E. & Hilary Evans. Panic Attacks: Media Manipulation and Mass Delusion (The History Press, 2004).

  11. “Black Flash in Old Provincetown Says ‘Booh,’ and Are Folks Scared!” Boston Globe. October 24, 1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/431852373

  12. “Boys on Cape Start Search for Prowler.” Boston Globe. October 26, 1939. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/431856404

  13. Carlson, Debbie. “The Mattoon Mad Gasser – Looking Back At A Textbook Case Of Mass Hysteria.” Belt Magazine. June 4, 2015. https://beltmag.com/the-mattoon-mad-gasser-looking-back-at-a-textbook-case-of-mass-hysteria

  14. “Chief Denies Current Rumors.” Provincetown Advocate. November 9, 1939. https://provincetown.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=black%20flash%20tarvers&i=f&d=01011856-12311967&m=between&ord=k1&fn=provincetown_advocate_usa_massachusetts_provincetown_19391109_english_1&df=1&dt=10&cid=3034

  15. “Citizens Seek Action to End Mattoon Gas Raid Mystery.” Decatur Herald. September 9, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/88425524

  16. Coleman, Loren. Mysterious America (Pocket Books, 2007).

  17. Desroches, Steve. “The ‘Black Flash’…The Legend Lives On.” Provincetown Magazine. October 16, 2011. https://provincetownmagazine.com/index.php/2011/10/16/the-black-flash-the-legend-lives-on

  18. Downes, Jon. “In Search of the Mad Gasser.” Fortean Times. November 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20090903034909/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/83/in_search_of_the_mad_gasser.html

  19. “Fall Brings Out The ‘Black Flash.’” Provincetown Advocate. October 26, 1939. https://provincetown.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=black%20flash&i=f&d=01011856-12311967&m=between&ord=k1&fn=provincetown_advocate_usa_massachusetts_provincetown_19391026_english_1&df=1&dt=10&cid=3034

  20. “‘Gardenia Gas’ Prowler At Mattoon, Ill.” Belleville News-Democrat. September 7, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/769373198

  21. “Gas Breaks Up Church Meet.” Austin American-Statesman. December 18, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/357923319

  22. “‘Gas Calls’ At Vanishing Point.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 13, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681538

  23. “Getting Gassed In Mattoon Becomes Most Popular Fad.” Dayton Journal. September 12, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/391696936

  24. Heflin, James. “The Uncanny Valley: Jumpin’ Black Flash, A Cape Cod boogeyman.” Valley Advocate. May 27, 2015. https://valleyadvocate.com/2015/05/27/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-6

  25. Hereford, Robert A. “Mattoon Argues Over Denial That Prowler Exists.” St. Louis Star and Times. September 13, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/205455415

  26. “History of Coles County.” Coles County, Illinois Homepage. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://www.co.coles.il.us/genInfo.html

  27. “Hunt Escaped Nazi Here.” Daily Journal-Gazette. August 31, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681016

  28. “Hurricane Damaged Water Heater Blamed For Fumes.” Galveston Daily News. December 19, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/30166877

  29. “Intensify Hunt For Gas Prowler.” Chicago Tribune. September 7, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/370374182

  30. Johnson, Brooke. “Debating the Mad Gasser.” Journal-Gazette & Times Courier. August 17, 2005. https://jg-tc.com/uncategorized/debating-the-mad-gasser/article_9813e265-c321-522b-81c1-42078c176093.html

  31. Johnson, Donald M. “The ‘Phantom Anesthetist’ of Mattoon: A Field Study of Mass Hysteria.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 40(2), 1945: 175-186. http://ergotism.info/en/hysteria/mass_hysteria_mad_gasser_jasp_1945_40.pdf

  32. Ladendorf, Bob and Robert E. Bartholomew. “The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: How the Press Created an Imaginary Chemical Weapons Attack.” Skeptical Inquirer 26(4), July/August 2002: 50-58. https://skepticalinquirer.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2019/03/Issue-04-23.pdf

  33. “‘Mad Gasser’ Adds Six Victims!” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 9, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681408

  34. “‘Mad Gasser’ Case Limited To 4 Suspects.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 12, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681496

  35. “Mad Prowler Takes It Easy For Night.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 8, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681348

  36. “Many Prowler Reports; Few Real.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 11, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681453

  37. Maruna, Scott. The Mad Gasser of Mattoon: Dispelling the Hysteria (Swamp Gas Book Company, 2003).

  38. “Mattoon Citizens Watch for Insane Prowler; Gas Victims Mount to 17.” Daily Clintonian. September 8, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/133994468

  39. “Mattoon Fiend Fells Two More With Poison Gas.” Chicago Tribune. September 8, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/370377270

  40. “Mattoon ‘Gas Prowler’ Just Mass Hysteria, Police Assert.” Alton Evening Telegraph. September 13, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/26061102

  41. “Mattoon, Illinois Population 2022.” World Population Review. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/mattoon-il-population

  42. “Mattoon’s Mad Anesthetist.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 8, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681355

  43. “Mattoon Memories.” Souvenir Program of the Mattoon Centennial. 1955. https://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/oca/Books2008-06/mattoonmemoriess00matt/mattoonmemoriess00matt.pdf

  44. Mio, Leslie. “The Mattoon Gasser: Victims and Locations.” Eastern Illinois University. Accessed September 10, 2022. https://www.eiu.edu/localite/gasservictims.php

  45. Moreno, Richard. Myths and Mysteries of Illinois: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013). 

  46. “Mystery Fumes Fell Churchgoers.” El Paso Herald-Post. December 18, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/798206437

  47. “No Gas, Not Even Madman Seen During Night.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 15, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681718

  48. “No New Cases In Gas Mystery.” Decatur Herald. September 14, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/88427234

  49. “The ‘Perfumed City’ Speaks.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 20, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681877

  50. “Poison Gas Prowler Adds Two Victims To Previous List.” Belleville Daily Advocate. September 7, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/768245656

  51. Revai, Cheri. Haunted Massachusetts: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Bay State (Stackpole Books, 2005).

  52. “Safety Agent To Aid Police In ‘Gas’ Case.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 6, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681233

  53. Sampson, Bob. Email correspondence. October 1, 2020.

  54. “Sidelights of ‘Mad Gasser’s’ Strange Case.” Daily Journal-Gazette. September 12, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/93681517

  55. Smith-Johnson, Robin. Legends & Lore of Cape Cod (Arcadia Publishing, 2016). 

  56. “Some Say ‘Madman of Mattoon’ Is Hoax.” The Dispatch. September 8, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/340095570

  57. Stalker, Harold. “Mattoon Gas Scare Laid to War Plant Fumes, Hysteria.” Decatur Herald. September 13, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/88426660

  58. “Sweet Gas Ends Songs At Church.” The Austin American. December 18, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/384919416

  59. “Sweet Gas Sickens Many At Yule Party.” Denton Record-Chronicle. December 18, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/24379522

  60. Taylor, Troy. Monsters of Illinois: Mysterious Creatures in the Prairie State (Stackpole Books, 2011).

  61. “Three Killed By Mysterious Gas.” St. Joseph News-Press. February 1, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/560113681

  62. “Total Gas Victims Now 27.” Decatur Daily Review. September 9, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/88438557

  63. “Two Mattoon ‘Gas Victims’ Found To Have Hysteria.” Alton Evening Telegraphy. September 11, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/26061078

  64. Waters, Dustin. “The mystery of the ‘Mad Gasser of Mattoon’ who terrorized an Illinois town.” The Washington Post. October 30, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/10/30/mad-gasser-mattoon-illinois-mystery

  65. Weiser-Alexander, Kathy. “Mad Gassers of Virginia & Illinois.” Legends of America. January 2020. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mad-gassers/

  66. “‘Whiff’ Left by Phantom Gasser Puzzles Police.” Star Tribune. September 10, 1944. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/181829078