'Sweet smell' wafts through lower Manhattan

[shraby]

Apparently around 8-9 o'clock there was a sweet smell throughout Manhatten. Did anyone on du smell it? It was also posted at dailkos..some of them smelled it.

<http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-air1028,0,861248.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2>

<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/nyregion/28odor.html>

[BattyDem]

1. I'm across the river and yes ...

I smelled it. It was making me sick. I wondered what the hell they were hitting us with. :scared:

[phusion]

2. WTF?

Could this be some kind of chemical?

Just in time for indictments?

Stay safe NYers... :scared:

[BattyDem]

5. It was a weird smell. Sort of like maple syrup ...

but it wasn't quite as pleasant. It was disgustingly sweet. Imagine sticking your face in pancakes, LOL! Like I said, it made me sick. After about 20 minutes, it gave me a headache and made me a little nauseous. :-(

[phusion]

7. Disgustingly sweet like antifreeze?

Your description reminds me of an antifreeze leak I had in my car once...You sort of want to smell it because it's sweet, but it will make you sick.

[BattyDem]

8. Yes, antifreeze ... that's a very good description of the smell.

:toast:

[TomPainesBones]

3. Uh, yeah

It happened a couple times.
Came out of nowhere and then was gone.
Smelled like maple syrup.

It was strong enough to take notice of it.

Now you've got me concerned.

[Swamp Rat]

4. Begnets and hot chocolate and coffee with chicory!

... and Brie on a baggett! :9

[pox americana]

6. A Bloomburger by any other name would smell as rotten. n/t

[soothsayer]

9. Prepare for cases of rabbit flu to start cropping up, just like here in

DC

[kenny blankenship]

10. The Hoboken trout are spawning

[belle]

11. Oh, shit, yes! Earlier I was thinking, "weird, maple syrup." And I live

in an outer borough...eep.

[JVS]

12. Wino reports seeing 800 foot tall vision of Mrs. Butterworth!

[Fridays Child]

20. Hey! Oral Roberts saw her, too!

Oh, wait. That was a 900 foot tall Jesus.

Never mind.

[smirkymonkey]

24. She's replacing the Statue of Liberty

[Tace]

13. Damn, I Smelled It, Too -- About 10 P.M. Local Time

I thought one of my kids might have had a toaster waffle with syrup. But, I knew they hadn't. So, I was confused, and didn't give it another thought until I saw this thread. I live in "Curry Hill," between Murray Hill and Gramary on the East Side of Manhattan.

I think I'm getting a whiff now... but it may be my imagination.

I wonder...

[Tace]

14. I Did A Little Googling And This Is All I Came Up With -- Fenugreek

It's a common ingredient in curry that is used to flavor artificial maple syrup.

Fenugreek would make sense in my case, because I live very near about 30 Indian restaurants. But, it wouldn't figure for the entire metro area.

[Dunvegan]

15. Mayhaps the Canadian-US "Tree War" is heating up...

...and Canada has responded with a first-strike flying water-tanker "Maple Syrup" attack.

Blame Canada.

(Of course, being married to a Canadian, I'm fortunate enough to get to do that on a daily basis. :) ) j/k

[obreaslan]

19. Yes, It's Canadian WMD's...

Weapons of Mass Deliciousness! :rofl:

[TheCentepedeShoes]

16. Smelled something like that

here (Amarillo) a few nights ago. It was early evening and hubby called me out to the deck to play "what's that smell." Not refinery, not cattle crap. Sweet, like a light perfume. Who knows? :shrug:

[sandnsea]

17. Just mentioned on CNN

Everybody okay?? :shrug:

[ucmike]

18. maybe something from trees in response to first frost???

[MsTryska]

21. it could be the second coming.....

maybe jesus came down from heaven (in the middle of lower manhattan of course, where else) and his scent is what everybody smelled.


hmm - i need to start writing an apocalype movie.

[belle]

22. maybe some kind of massive spill or something, an accident, still...

you'd think it'd be on the news. Anyway, seems to be gone now. up here, anyway.

[smirkymonkey]

23. I smelled it last night as I was going to sleep - It smelled like

maple syrup and I was wondering why my room smelled like that. Now it makes sense. (I live in the West Village). WTF?

[phusion]

25. kick

so, uh, anyone know what this was?

[NorthernSpy]

26. some lubricating oils smell like maple syrup

And benzoic acid has a sweet maple smell.

:think:

[NorthernSpy]

27. from google's cache: outbreak of maple odor in a municipal water supply

It happened in Peachtree City, Georgia in 2002. From the Citizen News:

Sunday, January 20, 2002

Officials trying to sniff out source of water odor

By DAVE HAMRICK
[e-mail]


Water officials should find out Tuesday why the water in south Peachtree City has recently had a sweet smell that some users have likened to maple syrup, others to antifreeze.

One resident, Patty Culjak, complained that officials at the Fayette County Water System and in the county government have showed a lack of concern about what she considers a potentially serious problem, but Water System Director Tony Parrott said the system is doing all it can to find out the source of the odor and correct it.

"I have no idea at this point how my baby's been affected by it," Culjak said Thursday.

Culjak, who is expecting, said she first noticed the odor about ten days ago but "didn't pay too much mind at first. I thought it was me."

But as time went on and the smell persisted, she decided to phone the water system.

Apparently others went through the same thought process, because the system was deluged with about 50 phone calls this past Monday, all from the south Fayette area, mostly Peachtree City, said Parrott.
(...)

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:h4eSq86gy_4J:www.thecitizennews.com/main/archive-020120/fp-03.html+maple-syrup++odor++chemical+-urine&hl=en

[Bamboo]

28. Maple scratch and sniff stamps from Post Office.

I have heard chemical weapons have a smell like almond extract,was it a windy day which would spread things far and wide? Have you ever thought you smelled something but were not sure if it was your imagination?You probably inhaled very little but enough to send signals to your brain-interpreting the smell becomes important and where things break down.Dilute odors without a source (like grandma's kitchen) are difficult to describe so people grasp for things like maple syrup.I have driven by factories which produce such strange odors and there is always a maple element-it is like saying it tastes like chicken.
If there was an actual release of chemical weapons everybody would know but a substitute would produce just this effect.A strong wind would spread it around quickly and then evaporate,a joker or a disaster simulation nobody knows about are possibilities.If someone was sharp enough they could have captured some air in a jar for analysis.New York is a test bed for advertising,actors talk back to the screen during a movie ad perhaps this smell will reappear from the openings of Starbucks and draw people in like a subliminal message.People have time to inhale on the weekend so if anyone is flogging maple flavored crap (which is a cheap flavoring) on Monday you have experienced wind born advertising.

[Cleita]

29. A sewage spill?

Sometimes sewage has a sweet sickening smell because of the chemicals that it's treated with. Anyone who has ever owned an RV knows what I am talking about. Could a ship have lost it's black water holding tank contents accidentally?

[AirAmFan]

30. Some building manager may have gotten a "deal" on some "heating oil"

This is the season for odd smells around buildings that make heat with heating oil pumped into building tanks by tanker trucks.

Since it's the beginning of the heating season, many of the trucks that have delivered "heating oil" recently previously carried something else. If a truck is not cleaned out properly before switching over to heating oil, what some buildings receive may not be 100 percent what their managers think they are getting.

For many years, and especially years ago, I've often noticed odd smells around this time of the year, and seen plumes of thick smoke emanating from some old buildings. Most of what I've smelled hasn't been "sickly sweet", though.