The Mad Gasser of Mattoon, 1944 - Of all the strange entities that showed up in the Twentieth Century, none was quite as weird as the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. This real-life "super-villain" dressed like a character out of DC's All-Star Comics, prowled the streets of Mattoon, Illinois (population 18,291), during August and September 1944, "appearing at night at the bedroom windows of houses, in most cases those of women. Sometimes he sprayed a noxious gas inside. Some people reported various ailments and a general malaise after the gassings." One theory is that the reall Mad Gasser was not an escaped Nazi, a crazed ape-man or a figment of the imagination, as many other publications have reported over the last several decades. Instead, the gasser was actually a well-known resident of Mattoon--someone from an influential family who had a grudge against many area residents and desired revenge against a town that would not accept him. That person was Farley Llewellyn, the son of a grocer who was considered a pillar of the community. Although his father was highly respected, Farley never fitted into the Mattoon community. - ?Topfoto / Fortean