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Please Please please, not the old "Mass Hysteria" excuse. the Skeptical Inquiror uses this to the Nth degree for just about everything and its wearing thin, very thin. Industry Pollution or an actual Criminal I will believe, but not Mass Hysteria. Magnum Serpentine 14:30, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
It should be clearer up front that Scott Maruna wrote a book on this subject. The information on Farley Llewellyn seems closer to slander than factual information. In every article I've read about the Mad Gasser, his name does come up - but I've never seen any documentation regarding him. 74.136.9.70 02:29, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
Nowhere on the page do you discuss Hypnagogia, the actual physical condition that is described by the "victims" of the gasser. Most people experience this condition at least once in their lives and it is often brought on by sleep disruption, stress, and or being over-tired. E Warnke
I'm not sure what distinction this parenthetical hopes to make...:
... so I'm deleting it. 75.22.27.213 20:58, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
Large sections of this article appear to be near word for word copies of a chapter from Jerome Clark's Unexplained.
This needs sorting out as copyright violation need to be trodden on swiftly.
perfectblue 16:05, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
That new table needs to be wider - there's a narrow column of text down the right hand side. It looks terrible! Totnesmartin 18:34, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
Fixed
perfectblue 19:25, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
...this was, if anyone, obviously a human attacker, so wouldn't infobox Criminal make more sense? 68.39.174.238 19:25, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
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BetacommandBot ( talk) 16:57, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
Does this article really qualify? The belief is that it was either a human or mass hysteria, neither of which are things I usually find in legendary creature categories.-- 24.255.171.220 ( talk) 15:18, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
There's a pretty extensive section given to Scott Maruna's book and his theories. Based upon creation of Scott Maruna article and links being added to that article, it appears Maruna himself has probably editing this encyclopedia himself under one or more usernames, which would be a WP:COI. Whether that's the case or not, the publisher of Maruna's book is Swamp Gas Books, which turns out to be self-published. I don't think this meets Wikipedia criteria for reliable sources, as anyone off the street can create a book and publish it themselves. DreamGuy ( talk) 19:56, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
I have no idea if Maruna is working on this entry or not, but I did read his book a couple of years ago, and it's not bad. As far as the comment that it is self-published goes--I think the Mattoon part of the Gasser story is pretty old news and a publisher wouldn't be interested in something that old that took place in a small town. Plus--like many self-published books, it's short--kind of a monograph--and that limits its marketability. On the slander point--I don't know, I suppose that's an ethical question. I can only say that Maruna does his best to make his case. You can read it, and judge it to be a credible explanation, or you can judge it to be gossip or slander. At the very least, there are some details in the book that suggest what the mood of the place was like when these events occurred--including growing impatience and frustration with the restrictions associated with the war effort.
Well, I can't put this in the article because it is certainly original research, but I am astonished that no-one has mentioned leaking refrigerants. It was so obvious to me: I read the Huffman account and instantly thought "this woman has been poisoned by a leaking fridge." This was a big problem back then, and before replacement by freons (beginning in the late 1930s, but not complete in poorer neighbourhoods until much later), it was frequently fatal as the onset of symptoms is so rapid that by the time you realise there is a problem, it is too late for you to reach an exit. (Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard actually spent many years working on the improvement of refrigeration technology after reading about an entire German family that was wiped out overnight by a refrigerator leak.)
In the late 1920s the General Electric "Monitor Top" had repositioned the refrigerator market from commercial users and a luxury product for the very rich, to a merely somewhat expensive appliance for the upper middle classes. By the end of the 1930s the price was plummeting and some 60% of US households had refrigerators.
The earliest domestic refrigerators used sulphur dioxide or ammonia as refrigerants. These are toxic gases with very powerful irritating odours that are not at all similar to the described "gas attacks". However some "second gen" fridges instead used (much safer, but still quite dangerous) chloromethane, while the popular Monitor Top usually used methyl formate. Both of these gases have sweet ethereal odours, and moderately narcotic properties when inhaled. Here's a list of symptoms of chloromethane inhalation, from our own article:
"Victims may feel drowsy, dizzy, or confused and have difficulty breathing (with gasping and choking), walking or speaking. At higher concentrations, paralysis, seizures, and coma may result."
Sound familiar? Methyl formate is very similar, but also later develops irritation to the eyes and mucous membranes, which may swell. And two symptoms that we didn't include in that list, but which are very much worth noting, are that mild intoxication by chloromethane also causes hallucinations, and any significant exposure may cause convulsive fits for weeks afterwards [1]. Also some reports of chronic low level exposure PDF include both powerful visual and auditory hallucinations, and persecution fantasies. Let me make this clear: when you have been exposed to this material, you may see people who are not really there. You may hear them whispering outside the door or window. You may think that they are sneaking into your house at night to "get you" for ill-defined and nonsensical reasons. We're not talking about slight visual disturbances, we are talking about seeing, and hearing, and fearing, people who do not exist other than in your poor, poisoned brain.
Is your spine yet tingling with that oh-my-goodness-that's-it feeling?! Now don't get me wrong; I'm not seeking to identify the material involved solely through analysis of its symptoms, which is a frequent path of error. There are scores of closely related, small polarised alkyl molecules with very similar odour, volatility and CNS depressive properties. However, these two particular materials have all those properties and were commonly responsible for accidental household poisonings in that era because they were widely used in refrigerators, which sometimes leaked. On the basis of Ockham's razor, that has to push them to the top of the list. It seems extremely likely that at least some, if not all, of the non-hysterical reports in at least the 1930s outbreak, and probably both outbreaks, can be attributed to a known defect in a new commercial product which had just started to become common in households at precisely this time. I am astonished that no-one has mentioned this previously.
By the way, if this hypothesis is correct for both sets of incidents, I would expect Botetourt to be middle class or prosperous rural in the 1930s (hence non-users of first generation domestic fridges, but early adopters of second generation methyl chloride and methyl formate fridges), and Mattoon to be relatively economically depressed in the mid-1940s (hence late adopters of the newer, safer freon refrigerators.) Is there any information about the wealth of any of these victims, or specific information as to whether or not they owned a refrigerator? If so, does anyone know what type it was?
While I'm at it, I'd like to make a couple of other comments on the article:
Why are the Virginia attacks in this article? They were so separated by time and space. Do the reliable sources indicate any connection? Ntsimp ( talk) 14:40, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
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This article is incomplete and requires rewrites of its information. Some portions of information are unsourced and need to be given proper citations for its information. Portions of the article are ambiguously detailed and need to be expanded in more detail than what it currently has. The Theories section is poorly written and is missing important citations for some of its information. It needs to be rewritten and expanded, with proper citations given for its information. There was also another theory that the Mad Gasser was actually a paranormal entity which is mentioned in the article on Spring-Heeled Jack and this theory needs to be added to the article (with proper citations). The appearances section also should be renamed Description and placed in a more appropriate spot in the article. This article is coming along well, it just needs to have more work done to it in order for it to be classified as GA of FA status.-- Paleface Jack ( talk) 16:35, 26 June 2017 (UTC)
The section and resulting subsections on the purported attacks need to be rewritten and reorganized as it seems to be missing some information and some information is stated repeatedly.-- Paleface Jack ( talk) 17:30, 26 June 2017 (UTC)
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Please Please please, not the old "Mass Hysteria" excuse. the Skeptical Inquiror uses this to the Nth degree for just about everything and its wearing thin, very thin. Industry Pollution or an actual Criminal I will believe, but not Mass Hysteria. Magnum Serpentine 14:30, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
It should be clearer up front that Scott Maruna wrote a book on this subject. The information on Farley Llewellyn seems closer to slander than factual information. In every article I've read about the Mad Gasser, his name does come up - but I've never seen any documentation regarding him. 74.136.9.70 02:29, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
Nowhere on the page do you discuss Hypnagogia, the actual physical condition that is described by the "victims" of the gasser. Most people experience this condition at least once in their lives and it is often brought on by sleep disruption, stress, and or being over-tired. E Warnke
I'm not sure what distinction this parenthetical hopes to make...:
... so I'm deleting it. 75.22.27.213 20:58, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
Large sections of this article appear to be near word for word copies of a chapter from Jerome Clark's Unexplained.
This needs sorting out as copyright violation need to be trodden on swiftly.
perfectblue 16:05, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
That new table needs to be wider - there's a narrow column of text down the right hand side. It looks terrible! Totnesmartin 18:34, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
Fixed
perfectblue 19:25, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
...this was, if anyone, obviously a human attacker, so wouldn't infobox Criminal make more sense? 68.39.174.238 19:25, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
Image:Matton1.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 16:57, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
Does this article really qualify? The belief is that it was either a human or mass hysteria, neither of which are things I usually find in legendary creature categories.-- 24.255.171.220 ( talk) 15:18, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
There's a pretty extensive section given to Scott Maruna's book and his theories. Based upon creation of Scott Maruna article and links being added to that article, it appears Maruna himself has probably editing this encyclopedia himself under one or more usernames, which would be a WP:COI. Whether that's the case or not, the publisher of Maruna's book is Swamp Gas Books, which turns out to be self-published. I don't think this meets Wikipedia criteria for reliable sources, as anyone off the street can create a book and publish it themselves. DreamGuy ( talk) 19:56, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
I have no idea if Maruna is working on this entry or not, but I did read his book a couple of years ago, and it's not bad. As far as the comment that it is self-published goes--I think the Mattoon part of the Gasser story is pretty old news and a publisher wouldn't be interested in something that old that took place in a small town. Plus--like many self-published books, it's short--kind of a monograph--and that limits its marketability. On the slander point--I don't know, I suppose that's an ethical question. I can only say that Maruna does his best to make his case. You can read it, and judge it to be a credible explanation, or you can judge it to be gossip or slander. At the very least, there are some details in the book that suggest what the mood of the place was like when these events occurred--including growing impatience and frustration with the restrictions associated with the war effort.
Well, I can't put this in the article because it is certainly original research, but I am astonished that no-one has mentioned leaking refrigerants. It was so obvious to me: I read the Huffman account and instantly thought "this woman has been poisoned by a leaking fridge." This was a big problem back then, and before replacement by freons (beginning in the late 1930s, but not complete in poorer neighbourhoods until much later), it was frequently fatal as the onset of symptoms is so rapid that by the time you realise there is a problem, it is too late for you to reach an exit. (Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard actually spent many years working on the improvement of refrigeration technology after reading about an entire German family that was wiped out overnight by a refrigerator leak.)
In the late 1920s the General Electric "Monitor Top" had repositioned the refrigerator market from commercial users and a luxury product for the very rich, to a merely somewhat expensive appliance for the upper middle classes. By the end of the 1930s the price was plummeting and some 60% of US households had refrigerators.
The earliest domestic refrigerators used sulphur dioxide or ammonia as refrigerants. These are toxic gases with very powerful irritating odours that are not at all similar to the described "gas attacks". However some "second gen" fridges instead used (much safer, but still quite dangerous) chloromethane, while the popular Monitor Top usually used methyl formate. Both of these gases have sweet ethereal odours, and moderately narcotic properties when inhaled. Here's a list of symptoms of chloromethane inhalation, from our own article:
"Victims may feel drowsy, dizzy, or confused and have difficulty breathing (with gasping and choking), walking or speaking. At higher concentrations, paralysis, seizures, and coma may result."
Sound familiar? Methyl formate is very similar, but also later develops irritation to the eyes and mucous membranes, which may swell. And two symptoms that we didn't include in that list, but which are very much worth noting, are that mild intoxication by chloromethane also causes hallucinations, and any significant exposure may cause convulsive fits for weeks afterwards [1]. Also some reports of chronic low level exposure PDF include both powerful visual and auditory hallucinations, and persecution fantasies. Let me make this clear: when you have been exposed to this material, you may see people who are not really there. You may hear them whispering outside the door or window. You may think that they are sneaking into your house at night to "get you" for ill-defined and nonsensical reasons. We're not talking about slight visual disturbances, we are talking about seeing, and hearing, and fearing, people who do not exist other than in your poor, poisoned brain.
Is your spine yet tingling with that oh-my-goodness-that's-it feeling?! Now don't get me wrong; I'm not seeking to identify the material involved solely through analysis of its symptoms, which is a frequent path of error. There are scores of closely related, small polarised alkyl molecules with very similar odour, volatility and CNS depressive properties. However, these two particular materials have all those properties and were commonly responsible for accidental household poisonings in that era because they were widely used in refrigerators, which sometimes leaked. On the basis of Ockham's razor, that has to push them to the top of the list. It seems extremely likely that at least some, if not all, of the non-hysterical reports in at least the 1930s outbreak, and probably both outbreaks, can be attributed to a known defect in a new commercial product which had just started to become common in households at precisely this time. I am astonished that no-one has mentioned this previously.
By the way, if this hypothesis is correct for both sets of incidents, I would expect Botetourt to be middle class or prosperous rural in the 1930s (hence non-users of first generation domestic fridges, but early adopters of second generation methyl chloride and methyl formate fridges), and Mattoon to be relatively economically depressed in the mid-1940s (hence late adopters of the newer, safer freon refrigerators.) Is there any information about the wealth of any of these victims, or specific information as to whether or not they owned a refrigerator? If so, does anyone know what type it was?
While I'm at it, I'd like to make a couple of other comments on the article:
Why are the Virginia attacks in this article? They were so separated by time and space. Do the reliable sources indicate any connection? Ntsimp ( talk) 14:40, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
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This article is incomplete and requires rewrites of its information. Some portions of information are unsourced and need to be given proper citations for its information. Portions of the article are ambiguously detailed and need to be expanded in more detail than what it currently has. The Theories section is poorly written and is missing important citations for some of its information. It needs to be rewritten and expanded, with proper citations given for its information. There was also another theory that the Mad Gasser was actually a paranormal entity which is mentioned in the article on Spring-Heeled Jack and this theory needs to be added to the article (with proper citations). The appearances section also should be renamed Description and placed in a more appropriate spot in the article. This article is coming along well, it just needs to have more work done to it in order for it to be classified as GA of FA status.-- Paleface Jack ( talk) 16:35, 26 June 2017 (UTC)
The section and resulting subsections on the purported attacks need to be rewritten and reorganized as it seems to be missing some information and some information is stated repeatedly.-- Paleface Jack ( talk) 17:30, 26 June 2017 (UTC)
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