Appalachian History

(…continued from yesterday) The “Anesthetic Prowler” or “The Phantom Anesthetist,” he was supposedly a dark, mysterious figure responsible for dozens of Virginia victims falling ill from mysterious gasses flooding their homes. Whole families reported sudden attacks of choking, dizziness, headaches and various respiratory ailments. However, lacking tangible evidence of a culprit or culprits, the press [...]

Whether or not gas will be employed in future wars is a matter of conjecture, but the effect is so deadly to the unprepared that we can never afford to neglect the question. General John Pershing, 1919 At 10 PM on December 22, 1933, Mrs. Cal Huffman detected a gassy odor in her Fincastle, VA [...]