It's Back: Mysterious smell returns to Manhattan

Mysterious sweet smell returns to Manhattan, without explanation

The Sweet Smell came back.

Call it molasses- or maple syrup-like, the mysterious fragrance that confounded the noses of perhaps thousands of New Yorkers seven weeks ago returned to several spots in Manhattan Thursday.

Once again, no one knew what it was.

"Sweet," said Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the city department of environmental protection, which received a handful of calls Thursday afternoon from lower Manhattan to midtown. He added: "We keep sheets here for phone calls that we get and it's just, 'sweet, sweet, sweet.'"

Dozens of calls also came in to 311, and 911 Thursday afternoon, and by 4 p.m., the city's office of Emergency Management was once again acting as the sweet smell sleuth, coordinating the efforts of multiple agencies. "We have reports of it above 96th street," said Jarrod Bernstein, a spokesman for the office of emergency management. "Maple syrup. Same as last time."

By all accounts, the smell tsunami seemed to center in the center of Manhattan this time around. A fire department spokesman said a rash of calls came in from the West 40s; Michaels said one lone call came from Maiden Lane, near Wall Street.

More...

This is so bizarre...

Here's a conspiracy for you... It sounds like the best way to perform a 'dry run' to see the distribution pattern of a chemical attack. Note that this time the odor appeared strongest in the the center of the city...

Here are related links to a similar occurrence in October:

Suspicious odor in New York City

Fighting bad odors: Possible answer to Sweet Smell in NYC.

[edit on 13-12-2005 by loam]

I blame Canada.

Sounds like all the Manhattan Bakers are gearing up for Christmas.

On a serious note though, has anyone gotten any farther to figuring out what this is exactly? I hope it's nothing like this...

Nerve gases are clear and colorless. Some have no odor but some do have a faint sweet smell. They are extremely dangerous because they affect the nervous system. Nerve gas can enter the body through the air or on contact with the skin. They can be released using bombs, missiles, spray tanks, rockets and land mines.

Emphasis mine...

I remember the thread about this same thing not to long ago interesting.

I can really buy the chemical distribution test . The goverment has done pretty much that same thing before in the New York Subways and they never used anything as obvious as a Chemical that smelled. Most chemical weapons are colorless and orderless.

It would be so much smarter to a use perfectly safe chemical with no smell, taste or color and then have sensors rigged up all over to detect how it spread. Using anything that would be able to be detected by humans would be rather crude and stupid.

Heres info on a proven Chemical/Biological test by the goverment

1966

U.S. Army dispenses Bacillus subtilis variant niger throughout the New York City subway system. More than a million civilians are exposed when army scientists drop lightbulbs filled with the bacteria onto ventilation grates.

Nobody smelled anything or even knew the test was conducted.

link

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
It would be so much smarter to a use perfectly safe chemical with no smell, taste or color and then have sensors rigged up all over to detect how it spread. Using anything that would be able to be detected by humans would be rather crude and stupid.

Not sure if it would actually be crude and stupid. Having people call in reporting this smell could be all the sensors they really need anyway. Why waste the money and manhours putting up all those sensors around the city when you can just have people calling in about a "strange sweet smell?" This could be testing dispursal systems rather than the agents themselves though.

Either scenario is pretty scary.

Human accounts are horrible inaccurate. Plus if your going to use the population as lab rats its not smart to make it obvious the people dont seem to be too keen on that subject.

I would much rather have data from chemical sensors so I could measure exactly how much spread to what extent. That way I cant get real accurate data to use.

They could do a program like that in the 60s without anybody the wiser, so Im sure they could do it even better now.


You did get me thinking though Shaker perhaps it was a test by a org. that did not have the resources of say the US goverment. It could give you a general understanding IMHO all be it a crude way.

[edit on 13-12-2005 by ShadowXIX]

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
You did get me thinking though Shaker perhaps it was a test by a org. that did not have the resources of say the US goverment. It could give you a general understanding IMHO all be it a crude way.

[edit on 13-12-2005 by ShadowXIX]

Terrorist dry run perhaps? That way they can get an idea of how well it will dispurse without actually causing harm to people before they utilize the dangerous gas in a multiple city timed attack?

Scary thoughts there...

Yeah thats what I was thinking. I remembered those chemical attacks in Japan and how little they actually killed considering the nasty stuff they used. If they researched and tested how the stuff spread they might have killed alot more people.

Now I actually wonder how many recently returned military people used some of their chemical agent detection strips (M9 paper and the like) to see if this was anything out of the ordinary. Though I'd admit on here that they can bring up false positives...

Any military folk in Manhattan try this yet?

Hmm, I'm in Manhattan and I haven't smelled it yet, although I just have one window open since it's cold outside. I'll let you know if I smell it on my way to work.

I haven't smelled anything. I did smell it last time though.

On Oct. 27th -- also a Thursday -- reports of the smell concentrated south of midtown, with an abundance of calls around City Hall and Chelsea. By the next morning, the smell had shifted to entice olfactory senses in Astoria, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Officials deemed it harmless, if mysterious.

Thursday was a windy day, increasing the possibility that the smell was more widely dispersed, officials said.

This was last Thursay when the smell came back?

Okay, I've confirmed this happened last Thursday.
khon.com...

Observation:
When the smell was there in October, the wind that day was 5 mph / 9 km/h (WNW). Thursday the wind was 6 mph / 10 km/h (WSW).
www.wunderground.com
Hypothesis: The different wind directions suggest to me that the smell must be coming from inside the city limits and not being blown over from outside of the city.

Oh so this supposedly happened last Thursday?

Well I didn't smell it then either.

If the smell is caused by a group of someones who are trying to get a range on how far the smell will carry, then they are very intelligent and that could be dangerous.

I mean what better way to test it on a group of people who probably don't even pay attention to much of this stuff, but to make the smell "sweet" would be to catch anyone's attention. Now this is just New York City where it is happening, what if in fact it really is a test for something a whole lot more deadlier.

Now that would be something. A timed attack on all the major cities of the world with an odorless, colorless, and could deadly substance.

djohnsto77, I think it is a little odd that you didn't smell anything and they are reporting on this 4 days after it happened. I remember in October New Yorkers were reporting it on ATS before I even seen it in the news.
I'm getting suspicious if there even was a sweet smell on Thursday. There are plenty on ATS members from NYC. Hopefully someone can confirm the smell.

Also I need to correct my last post. The wind was actually in the same direction 10 mph / 16 km/h (WNW)
www.wunderground.com.
I was looking at the wrong city. The Only difference was the wind speed. It was windier last Thursday compared with the October smell.

Here are some other weather comparisons.
October 27th the high temperature was 50 °F / 10 °C and the max humidity was 65. Sea Level Pressure was 30.18 in / 1022 hPa
December 8th the high temperature was 32 °F / 0 °C and the max humidity was 62. Sea Level Pressure was 30.63 in / 1037 hPa.
There was no precipitation on either day.

Both days fall on a Thursday. There are 42 days between the occurrences.
Maybe if this happens again we can find a pattern.


Edit: I just wanted to add that calls to 311 started at 3:30pm last Thurday and in October Djarums noticed it at 7:30 pm with www.wnbc.com reporting the smell at 9pm.

[edit on 13/12/2005 by Umbrax]

I'd like to take this time to apologize to the city of new york and its wonderful inhabitants.

you see, on sunday my daughter had her birthday party at dylans candy bar and, well, I normally don't partake in the sweets but I couldn't resist. Sweets give me a bit of the winds. Fortunately, my gas smells like what I eat and that day I had licorice, gummy bears, m&m's and a myriad of other sweets.

the upset stomach is gone so you should all be smelling the normal rot and decay smells that you have come to associate with our fair city.

added portion:
couldn't you find a more recent pic of the city? the met life building hasn't been called the pan am, building since pan am went bust about 15 or 20 years ago

[edit on 13-12-2005 by Crakeur]

I think you guys are looking in completely the wrong direction, jumping to theories of terrorism and biological tests and attacks without looking at simpler reasons. Smell itself and how it moves is influenced by the enviroment around it. So if it is windy then the smell will quickly be carried downwind. When it is not windy smell can only permiate (I think thats the right word, with the browning motion of random particle movement smell will spread without air movement) and will not even get close to the distance and speed that moveing air can give it.

That's why I think this is just one particular source for the smell that is in one place and is constantly emiting the smell. The wind speed seems to be the key. We'll see if the smell returns.

It being New York City,

I just figured it was the "sweet smell of excess."