Abnormal Psychology
The "Phantom Anesthetist" of Mattoon
A Field Study of Mass Hysteria
by Donald M. Johnson, Ph.D.
The story of the "phantom anesthetist" begins in Mattoon, Illinois, on the first night of September, 1944, when a woman reported to the police that someone had opened her bedroom window and sprayed her with a sickish sweet-smelling gas which partially paralyzed her legs and made her ill. Soon other cases with similar symptoms were reported, and the police organized a full-scale effort to catch the elusive "gasser." Some of the Mattoon citizens armed themselves with shotguns and sat on their doorsteps to wait for him; some even claimed that they caught a glimpse of him and heard him pumping his spray gun. As the number of cases increased--as many as seven in one night--and the facilities of the local police seemed inadequate to the size of the task, the state police with radio-equipped squad cars were called in, and scientific crime detection experts went to work, analyzing stray rags for gaseous chemicals and checking the records of patients recently released from state institutions. Before long the "phantom anesthetist" of Mattoon had appeared in newspapers all over the United States, and Mattoon service men in New Guinea and India were writing home anxiously inquiring about their wives and mothers. After ten days of such excitement, when all victims had recovered and no substantial clues had been found, the police began to talk of "imagination" and some of the newspapers ran columns on "mass hysteria"; the episode of the "phantom anesthetist" was over.
Journalistically the story died in a few weeks. In the police records the last attack was reported on September 12. Scientifically, however, the episode demands attention as a fascinating psychological phenomenon. Only one case of a "mental epidemic" has been reported in recent years: an outburst of hysterical twitching in a Louisiana high school was described by Schuler and Parenton (7). They were unable to find any reference in the standard sources to hysterical epidemics in the United States for over forty years, and they raise the question whether these phenomena are disappearing. The writer, therefore, undertook an investigation of the Mattoon case, with two general aims: (1) to preserve, for the sake of the record, an accurate account of the events, and (2) to attempt an analysis of the psychological factors involved in these events. The investigation consisted chiefly of an analysis of the records in the Police Department and interviews with those who reported physical symptoms from the gas. The study was begun in the middle of September and continued until the end of the year, but most of the interviewing was done in October. All the work was done by the writer, who assumes responsibility for this report.
The Facts of the Case
Mattoon is a small Illinois city, located about 50 miles southeast of the center of the state. The population, according to the 1940 census, was 15,827, of which 98 per cent were native-born white. It is surrounded by rather prosperous farm land, and its economy is largely determined by this fact. In addition, it is a junction for the Illinois Central and the New York Central railroads, both of which maintain repair shops at this point. There are a few small industries, a shoe factory, a furniture factory, Diesel engine works, a foundry, and the like. All in all it is a fairly typical midwestern city. As a result of the war it has enjoyed a mild boom, but not an upsetting one.
The outlines of the story can be quickly set down as a background for discussion of specific questions. On September 1 about midnight Mrs. A had a friend telephone the police that she and her daughter had been gassed. The police found no signs of an intruder, but Mr. A reported that, when he came home about two hours later, he saw a man run from the window. The police were called again, and again they found nothing. The next evening the Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette carried a front-page story on the "gas attack" and a headline: "ANESTHETIC PROWLER ON LOOSE."
On the following day, Sunday the third, Mr. B reported to the police that he and his wife had had a similar occurrence. In the middle of the night of August 31--the night before Mrs. A's attack--he woke up sick, and retched, and asked his wife if the gas had been left on. When she woke up she was unable to walk. At first they had attributed these symptoms to hot dogs eaten the evening before. About the same time Mr. C, who works nights, told the press that his wife and daughter had likewise been attacked. The daughter woke up coughing and, when Mrs. C got up to take care of her, she could hardly walk. They did not suspect has until they read the papers next day. These two accounts appeared in the Mattoon paper on September 5, since no paper was printed on Sunday the third or Labor Day the fourth.
On the evening of September 5 two new attacks were recorded. Mrs. D came home with her husband about 10:30, picked up a cloth from the porch, smelled it, and reported that the fumes burned her mouth and lips so badly that they bled. Mr. E, who works nights, reported that his wife heard someone at the bedroom window, smelled gas, and was partially paralyzed by it.
On the sixth three more cases occurred, according to police records. On the seventh, none; on the eighth, four; on the ninth, five; and on the tenth, seven. This apparently was the climax of the affair, for no cases were reported on the eleventh, only one on the twelfth, and none thereafter.
The symptoms reported were nausea and vomiting, palpitations, paralysis of the legs, dryness of the mouth and throat and, in one case at least, burns about the mouth. All cases recovered rapidly, hence there was little possibility for outside check on the symptoms. Four cases were seen by physicians, who diagnosed all cases as hysteria.
In at least three cases, so the testimony goes, the family dog "must have been gassed also" since he did not bark at the intruder.
Those who reported smelling the gas described it as "a musty smell," "sickish," "like gardenias," or "like cheap perfume." In some cases, though symptoms were reported, the gas was not smelled.
Police activity took several directions. Most important, probably, was the attempt to catch the "mad gasser" in flagrante delicto. The police answered all telephone calls as soon as possible and, when the state police came in the picture with modern radio equipment, were often able to surround a house, in the words of the Commissioner of Police, "before the phone was back on the hook." Despite all this and despite the amateur efforts of an excited citizenry no one was ever apprehended "in the act." Less direct procedures revolved around examination of a few objects found near houses where attacks had been reported, particularly chemical analysis of the cloth found by Mrs. D, and the usual round-up of suspicious characters. The results of these attempts were also negative. On the eleventh the Commissioner of Police put a note in the paper requesting that "roving bands of men and boys should disband," and that guns be put away "because some innocent person may get killed." About the same time the police adopted the policy of having the victims sent to a hospital for examination.
Gas or Hysteria?
Obviously something extraordinary took place in Mattoon, and for its explanation two hypotheses have been advanced. The "gasser" hypothesis asserts that the symptoms were produced by a gas which was sprayed on the victims by some ingenious fiend who has been able to elude the police. This explanation was disseminated by newspapers throughout the country, at the beginning of the episode at least, and it is widely believed in Mattoon at present. The alternative hypothesis is that the symptoms were due to hysteria.
The evidence for the "gasser" hypothesis comes from the reports of the victims concerning their symptoms, reports which are notoriously difficult to check. The fact that vomiting did occur was authenticated in a few cases by outside testimony but, since vomiting could produced by gas or hysteria or dietary indiscretions, the fact is not crucial. There is plenty of evidence from the police and other observers that the victims were emotionally upset by their experiences, but this too is not a crucial point.
Another difficulty with the "gasser" hypothesis is the self-contradictory demands it makes on the gas. In order to produce effects of the kind reported when sprayed through a window it would have to be a very potent stable anesthetic with rapid action, and at the same time so unstable that it would not affect others in the same room. It would have to be strong enough to produce vomiting and paralysis, and yet leave no observable after-effects. Study of a standard source on anesthetics and war gases (3) and consultation with medical and chemical colleagues at the University of Illinois indicates that the existence of such a gas is highly improbable. Chemists are extremely skeptical of the possibility that such an extraordinary gas could be produced by some "mad genius" working in a basement.
Several people reported seeing a prowler who might be the "anesthetist." This too is not an important matter since prowlers have been reported to the police in Mattoon once or twice a week for several years. And, of course, prowlers do not produce paralysis or dry throats.
A minor weakness in the gas hypothesis is the lack of a motive. No money was stolen, and the circumstances were such that there would be little gratification for a peeper.
The best evidence for the hysteria hypothesis is the nature of the symptoms and the fact that those cases seen by physicians--though there were only four-- were diagnosed as hysteria. All symptoms reported are common in hysteria and can be found in the medical literature for many years back. For example, here is a description of a mild hysterical attack dated about a hundred years ago. Janet (4) quotes it from Briquet:
I choose, for an example, what happens to a woman somewhat impressionable who experiences s quick and lively emotion. She instantly feels a constriction at the epigastrium; experiences oppression, her heart palpitates, something rises in her throat and chokes her; in short, she feels in all her limbs a discomfort which causes them in a way to drop; or else it is an agitation, a necessity for movement, which causes a contraction of the muscles. This is indeed the exact model of the most common hysterical accident, of the most ordinary hysterical spasm.
The hypothesis of hysteria accounts for the rapid recovery of all victims and the lack of after-effects. It explains why no "gasser" was found in spite of mobilization of local and state police and volunteers. It accounts for the fact that nothing was stolen and that dogs did not bark. The objections to the hypothesis of hysteria come from the victims themselves--quite naturally--and from others who do not realize the intensity and variety of effects which are produced by psychological forces.
Some who like compromises may argue that these two explanations are not exclusive, that there may have been a "gasser" at first even though the later spread of the symptoms was a hysterical phenomenon. The "anesthetist" soon became scared and ceased his fiendish activities. We may grant the charm of compromise as a general thing but insist that the above arguments still hold--for the first part of the episode as well as the last. The hypothesis of hysteria fits all the evidence, without remainder.
Quantitative Data on Chronology
If we consider the whole affair as a psychogenic one, as a "mental epidemic" due chiefly to suggestion, the sequence of events takes on a particular significance, and fortunately a more-or-less objective chronology of the case is furnished by records of telephone calls to the Police Department. In the Mattoon Police Department the desk sergeant regularly records the date and time of all calls and a brief note of the nature of the call and subsequent police action. From these records calls specifically reporting a "gassing" were easily segregated. Another category of calls, usually designated as "prowler calls" by the police, was found to be useful. This designation means that someone phoned and reported that a man was acting strangely on the street, or that noises were heard on the back porch, and that, when the police answered the call, they could find no evidence of any damage or break-in. The records were broken down in this way for the period of the excitement and a few weeks before and after*
(*The writer is very grateful to Sgt. Edward Davidson for carrying out a day-by-day analysis of these records.) Figure I shows the trends which appear when these data are grouped into weekly intervals.
The "gasser" curve starts from zero, reaches a peak rapidly, and rapidly returns to the baseline, as one would expect. (The decline is actually quite sharp, as noted earlier, though in the figure it appears more gradual than the rise because of the grouping into weekly intervals.) The "prowler" curve rises and falls with the "gasser" curve, a parallel which cannot be merely coincidental. Since the police do not list a call as a "prowler" call if they find evidence of damage or entry, it is likely that these calls result, in many cases at least, from psychological causes operating in a vague or ambiguous perceptual situation. Thus, during a period of great excitement like a manhunt, when anticipation is intense, the number of "prowler" calls would increase.
Similarly, as the excitement subsides, the number of such calls would subside.
The most striking fact is that there were so few "prowler" calls in the last part of September and none whatever in October until just before Hallowe'en. This is very unusual, according to the police, and a check of the records for the same months in 1943 discloses no similar fluctuations. The only plausible explanation is that the lack of "prowler" calls results from the development of contra-suggestibility. After hearing of the "phantom anesthetist" and then of "imagination" and "hysteria," the people who ordinarily would have called the police when they heard a suspicious noise became critical and inhibited their "imagination."
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AUG. SEPT. OCT.
Fig. 1. Analysis of Records of Telephone Calls to the Mattoon Police Department.
Gasser calls begin on September 2, increase rapidly, and decrease rapidly to zero. Prowler calls, which develop out of an unstructured situation, begin in this graph at their average level, rise with the excitement of the gasser episode, and fall to zero as contra-suggestibility develops. Total calls at the police station begin at the average level, rise with the increase in gasser activities, decline as contra-suggestibility develops, then return to the average level.
The curve for total calls is similar. Police business in general increased for a few weeks before coming back to normal.
In the light of the evidence presented thus far it seems proper to speak of a wave of excitement or a "mental epidemic" sweeping through Mattoon. The people who succumbed to the epidemic can be grouped into three classes according to the intensity of their response. In the first class are those who merely put off their evening stroll and locked their windows more carefully than usual. Such conduct would of course be called "sensible" and hardly requires any explanation, but it must be remembered that there were many in Mattoon--perhaps a majority--who completely ignored the incident. In the second class are those who reported to the police that they saw or heard a prowler. A report of this kind indicates a higher level of susceptibility since it means that suggestion enters into and complicates perception. The third class is made up of those who reported physical symptoms from "gassing." The occurrence of the physical symptoms indicates a high degree of suggestibility, on the average at least, and perhaps some constitutional predisposition to physical complaints as well.
Agencies of Communication
How was the suggestion carried to all these people so quickly and uniformly? There are three possibilities: direct face-to-face contact between victims, indirect conversation or gossip, and the newspapers. In talking to the victims the investigator attempted to determine when and how each had first heard of the "phantom anesthetist." The replies gave very little evidence of face-to-face contact. With the exception of four cases in which two people lived together and were "attacked" at the same time it seems that the victims were practically unknown to each other. The possibility of indirect contact through neighborhood chatting is a more likely one, and one which is difficult to check. The chief argument against this avenue of communication is that it takes time, and the "epidemic" spread rapidly. The cases were widely scattered throughout the town, and, as we shall see later, only about a third of the victims had telephones.
As a means of communication the newspaper is, of course, the most effective. According to 1941 figures (9) 97 per cent of Mattoon families read the Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette every evening except Sunday. This is the only paper with a large circulation in Mattoon, and obviously it is the source to which most residents would turn for information in a case of this kind. It is necessary, therefore, to examine the Journal-Gazette's treatment of the story and to analyze its psychological influence.
The Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette, which usually runs to about eight pages, resembles other small newspapers both in size and in editorial policy. In general its treatment of the news is conservative, and one would expect that its readers have confidence in its reliability. No one would consider it a "sensational" paper. When a headline "ANESTHETIC PROWLER ON LOOSE," appeared, therefore--as it did Saturday evening, September 2--it was no doubt taken at face value. The story which ran on the front page in a full column headed "Mrs. (A) and Daughter First Victims," was written as a straightforward news item. Including the headline it covered 47 square inches.* (*Measurement of newspaper space, as for our purposes, is not well standardized. In the present analysis the square inch is used, and the figures given include headlines and photographs as well as text. Those who like to think in terms of the column inch can halve these figures and get the length of a standard two-inch column which would contain the material.) In retrospect it makes rather interesting reading. The careful reader's eye is caught particularly by the word "First" in the heading, since only the one case is mentioned. Whether this was an instance of prophetic insight or merely an error is not known, but the word does now, and probably did then, arouse a tingle of anticipation.
On the next two days, Sunday and Labor Day, no paper was printed, but on Tuesday, the fifth, 26 square inches appeared on page six. On the sixth there were 40 square inches, including a headline, on the front page. On the seventh 29 square inches were used, including a headline, "MAD ANESTHETIST STRIKES AGAIN." No headline was used on the eighth and only 28 square inches of space. Objectively and in terms of newspaper space the excitement seemed to be dying down.
But note the first paragraph:
Mattoon's "mad anesthetist" apparently took a respite from his maniacal forays Thursday night and while many terror stricken people were somewhat relieved they were inclined to hold their breath and wonder when and where he might strike next.
Several attacks were reported that night, and on the evening of the ninth a three-quarter-inch headline was used, crowding the war news to a secondary position. In all, the story took up 51 square inches of space. Evidently the climax is approaching. Up to this point the reader is treated to an absorbing horror story--with a mysterious marauder whose "maniacal forays" increase in a fantastic crescendo, a frightful new scientific device for gassing the victims, and a succession of tantalizing clues. His interest may be aroused to the point where he participates in the manhunt--vicariously, through reading about the scientific investigations of the state crime-detection experts or trying out his own hunches, or actually, by following the police cars or patrolling the streets. In other cases it was not the thrill of the chase which was aroused but apprehension and fear. It was in these people that the hysterical symptoms appeared.
On the eleventh (the tenth was Sunday) the tone of the story, the headline contained the phrase "few real" and the treatment is critical. No headline was used on the twelfth and the keynote phrase was "hysteria abates"; the story took up 28 square inches. The next evening a comical twist is given to the affair, expanding it to 59 square inches about two false alarms which turned out to be a black cat and a doctor trying to break into his own office after he had forgotten his keys. On the fourteenth the account falls to 19 square inches, and next evening it is put back on page six with only 14 square inches, although a box of 10 square inches appeared on the front page telling how widely the story had been circulated.
The Journal-Gazette dropped the affair from this point to the twentieth, when an editorial was printed, apparently in reply to some ribbing by a Decatur paper. The editorial asserted that, although much of the excitement may have been due to hysteria, there really had been some odors in Mattoon--perhaps blown up from Decatur. With this epilogue the drama takes its leave from the columns of the Mattoon Daily Journal-Gazette.
Of the out-of-town newspapers the Chicago Daily Tribune and the Chicago Daily News have the largest circulations in Mattoon, with coverages of 24 per cent and 20 per cent respectively (9). The Tribune started the story on the sixth with 10 square inches each day thereafter until the fifteenth. The editorial viewpoint of the story became skeptical about the twelfth. The Daily News' treatment was similar except that it ran photographs and did not question the authenticity of the "anesthetist." These papers have enough circulation in Mattoon to have an important influence but, since they came in late and since their readers read the local paper also, their influence was probably merely one of emphasis and reinforcement.
The Chicago Herald-American, though its coverage in Mattoon is only about 5 per cent (9), handled the story most thoroughly and most sensationally. Its text and photographs were often cited to the investigator. It started late--on the eighth--with 41 square inches, including a photograph. The opening paragraphs of the front-page story which appeared on the tenth are worth quoting:
Groggy as Londoners under protracted aerial blitzing, this town's bewildered citizens reeled today under repeated attacks of a mad anesthetist who has sprayed a deadly nerve gas into 13 homes and has knocked out 27 victims.
Seventy others dashing to the area in response to the alarm, fell under the influence of the gas last night.
All skepticism has vanished and Mattoon grimly concedes it must fight haphazardly against a demented phantom adversary who has been seen only fleetingly and so far has evaded traps laid by city and state police and posses of townsmen.
By the eleventh the story was up to 71 square inches, including a 1-1/2-inch headline: "STATE HUNTS GAS MADMAN." On the twelfth it was given 95 square inches, with pictures of crying babies on the front page. After that the account becomes somewhat critical but continues to carry hints that the "gasser" may be a woman, or an apeman, and the like. On Sunday, the seventeenth, however, after the other papers had dropped the story, the Herald-American printed a long interview with a psychiatrist, Dr. Harold Hulburt, beginning at the top of the front page above the headline, and covering 196 square inches, with several photographs. This article discusses the dynamics of hysteria in general and includes some sympathetic conjectures regarding unconscious motives of Mrs. A. Further articles resulting from the interview with the psychiatrist appeared on the eighteenth and the twentieth. On December 3 The American Weekly, a Sunday supplement of the Herald-American, carried a full-page article by Donald Laird entitled "The Manhunt for Mr. Nobody."
The story was carried by the press services and was used or ignored by newspapers throughout the country according to their editorial policies. The New York Times, for instance, did not refer to it, while PM had 12 square inches on the seventh and 5 on the twelfth. The Stars & Stripes (London Edition) carried 7 square inches on the eleventh. Among the weeklies, Newsweek for September 18 carried 20 square inches, while Time for the same date carried 26. Both of these accounts were skeptical--Time was even sarcastic--but neither dared come to any definite conclusions. Time elevated the number of cases at the peak from seven to seventeen. Dispatch, a weekly of the Persian Gulf Command, gave it 13 square inches on the eighteenth.*
*Radio treatment of the story was not considered important enough to warrant study. There is no radio station at Mattoon, and no one in Mattoon or elsewhere mentioned a radio account to the investigator. In general, radio editors treat these stories conservatively.
Striking evidence of the interest aroused by these accounts comes from the large number of letters and telegrams--estimated at about 300--which were received by Mattoon officials from all over the United States. The writer examined a sample of 30 of these and found half of them more-or-less sensible, though ill-informed, containing suggestions for capturing the "menace." The other half could be judged psychopathic--on the basis of ideas of self-reference, intensity of affect. and the combination of poor judgment with good vocabulary and expression. Paranoid trends were common.
