In 1944, Mattoon, Illinois succumbed to the "best known" and "most commonly cited" case of mass hysteria in the twentieth century. For two weeks a "mad gasser" or "phantom anesthetist" who sprayed a gas into the bedroom windows of innocent women terrorized the small town's populace. It was, though, all in their collective imagination...
Or was it?

Author Scott Maruna, after much research, investigation and interviewing, finally exposes the truth behind the Mad Gasser of Mattoon and manages to dispel the hysteria once and for all.