The Mystery Gas that Paralysed a Town

About this episode

The episode explores the strange phenomenon of a mysterious gas that paralyzed residents in Mattoon, Illinois in 1944.

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

People in this episode

Host: This Paranormal Life

Topics covered

• mystery
• paranormal
• true crime
• gas attacks
• historical events

Keywords

• Mattoon
• mystery gas
• paralysis
• 1944
• true crime
• paranormal

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Mattoon, Illinois

More episodes of This Paranormal Life

• The Man Who Shot a Ghost - The Hammersmith Ghost Murder · June 9, 2026 · 57 min
• Is 2026 the Year They Show Us The Aliens? - UFO Evidence Released by US Government · June 2, 2026 · 1h 10m
• What are The Backrooms? · May 29, 2026 · 30 min
• Declassified CIA Documents - The Height 611 UFO Crash · May 26, 2026 · 1h 9m
• The Moonville Tunnel - The Midwest’s Most Haunted Ghost Town · May 19, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Alien Elves and Finland’s Most Famous UFO - The Imjärvi Incident · May 12, 2026 · 1h 6m