That smell

January 9, 2007 10:42 PM

NYC and New Jersey locals - that smell. Did this have a life before in local lore? (more inside, Jack Bauer stuff)

The impact of the smell and the apparent unknown nature of it sort of rings false. If there was a swamp big enough to do that in winter why didn't it ever do it in summer and then be a known source of such a one of a kind odor. Nobody is saying the odor was "that NJ smell" like everyone knows about it. The point being - if the smell is NOT from the "swamp" then isn't this a perfect way to test the impact of a real gas attack in metro NYC and the spread pattern of the release of another gas has maybe been tested? All it takes to disprove that is a couple facts about this "swamp". Is this idea of the swamp making, for the first time, an odor to do this needs a little more than some report that it is true, who lives near this place and does the thing exist? I sure hope it does.

posted by Freedomboy to law & government (8 comments total)

isn't this a perfect way to test the impact of a real gas attack in metro NYC

Only if the goal is to scare the populace with fear of the unknown, which under a fascist-style government can be a useful end.

Otherwise, it is "easy" enough to place sensors at street corners and measure dispersion of an odorless chemical above background levels.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:14 PM on January 9, 2007

Well, if you really think we're being messed with, you should probably also check out the Maple Syrup Smell. As far as I know, we never found out what it was.
posted by lampoil at 4:32 AM on January 10, 2007

AskMeta thread on the maple syrup smell.
posted by Yorrick at 4:56 AM on January 10, 2007

Look how easy it is to freak out and disturb an entire island of people. A terrorist doesn't even have to plant a bomb or fly a plane into a tower. Just release some stinky gas and you've got the media and populous in a tizzy. Then take credit for it.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 6:24 AM on January 10, 2007

My tinfoil hat grew two sizes that day.
posted by sonofslim at 6:54 AM on January 10, 2007

I feel certain that our chains are being yanked. I was working in what I think was the epicenter of the stink (23rd and 7th), and I find it hard to believe that the smell came from NJ, and that it was organic in nature. It smelled exactly like mercaptan, and it was very very strong, especially in the subway station. From the maps and reports I've seen, the concentration of reports was in Chelsea and the West Village, and the reports "diversified" as you went out from that area. Between that and the maple syrup, you'd have a hard time convincing me that there aren't some sort of shenanigans going on.
posted by kimdog at 7:05 AM on January 10, 2007

I make the lovely drive back from EWR to Hoboken every Thursday night on my return home from business travel. Driving over that swamp weekly reminds me that I live just a few miles away from the stankest spot in all of America.

Frankly I think its more than plausible that someone dumped an additional something, or some noxious mass floated too close to some other and caused some sort of reaction that allowed the holy noses of Manhattan to be reminded how close they live to said swamp.

Point being it does stink over there on a regular basis. Whether it was the winds changing or some other action taking place, it seems a reasonable explanation to me.
posted by allkindsoftime at 7:06 AM on January 10, 2007

So I hear today 1/17/2007 that NYC and NJ are GIVING UP finding the source of the smell. I guess that SWAMP thing is somehow portable and scampers into the fog to avoid being caught in the act of stinking.

So what else is impossible today? I think a non human directed smell wouldn't be able to hide like that.

I'm just sayin'.
posted by Freedomboy at 9:07 AM on January 17, 2007