Mystery AtlasMad Gasser Mass Psychogenic Illness Explanation
The explanation for the Mattoon panic established by psychologist Donald M. Johnson's contemporaneous 1945 field study, holding that the reported gassings were chiefly a form of mass psychogenic illness driven by wartime anxiety and spread through sensational local newspaper coverage, rather than the work of a single physical assailant.
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Connected to
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Theories & Explanations
Mad Gasser Mass Psychogenic Illness Explanation contradicts Farley Llewellyn Suspect Theory — The psychogenic explanation and the single-prowler theory offer mutually exclusive accounts of the same reports; most historians favour the psychogenic reading.
People
Mad Gasser Mass Psychogenic Illness Explanation was discovered by Donald M. Johnson — Johnson's 1945 field study first established the psychogenic explanation, tracing most residents' awareness of the 'gasser' to sensational local newspaper coverage rather than firsthand experience.
Events
- Mad Gasser of Mattoon1-13 September 1944, with isolated later reports
Mad Gasser Mass Psychogenic Illness Explanation attempts to explain Mad Gasser of Mattoon.