Strange smell...

Back in 2005 I found myself homeless and in a women and children's shelter in San Diego Ca. They housed us all in the basement of a 5-7 story building there were bunk beds set up and there were approximately 30-40 people...I woke up in the middle of the night and quietly crept to the elevator doors where the light was and was getting my cell out of my backpack to see what time it was when suddenly air started wafting out of the vents above the elevator doors there was a specific smell to that air but i couldn't place it sort of musky sweet but subtle. For some reason it scared me so I asked the lady If I could leave and when I got outside I was so relieved to be in the fresh air. The following year that very same smell was everywhere in what I would like to say a grid like fashion I would be walking along and suddenly there it was again even outside it was coming from the grates that led underground. My friends started noticing this as well...It was not gas leaks...I even called the agricultural dept. and they had no answers does this ring a bell with anybody?

Didnt know SF buldings have basements; I'd be inclined to suspect mold or otherwise stale air.

Anyways, it's happening in SoCal too, may have to do with seismic-related release of vulcan sulfur!

Cadaverine

and when it is in very small quantities, too small to be consciously perceived via smell, it causes irrational fear

reply to post by below

This was in San Diego not SF the building was an unfinished type of clinic It was being renovated I know that sounds weird but there was a basement in the building one rather large open room we took turns on the elevator to the basement after they fed us above on the ground floor, This was right after the katrina hurricane and San Diego was a little stressed to house the homeless that came from New Orleans as well as the already homeless in the city so I guess thats why they were housing us in this renovated but not quite finished clinic.

Well duh, how else will the government dogs kill all the poor people? they can't do it fast or else people would notice, they gotta take it slowly ya know, slowly poisoning the poor people. So now they call it sulfur but lets be honest, sulfur smells nothing like that.

reply to post by below
It was not a rotten egg smell more like incense. It was also in northern Calif. It came from underground into the air there as well.

reply to post by shells4u


Maybe some one was smoking (something) and using incense to mask the smell.

You say that you were happy to get out into fresh air. What were your emotions/feelings at the time prior to exitting? Panic? Not feeling well? etc.

And did you experiance the same feelings the second time around?

Being that the building was being renovated, chances are that some chemicals, such as paint thinner & glue, were being used in a area that was not very well ventilated. Those can be harmful.

reply to post by TDawgRex
I am positive it was not incense to cover a smell of pot I would know that smell and yes it freaked me out every time I smelled it and on numerous occasions when I was with someone i would ask them if they could smell it and yes they could but we could never quite locate the exact place of origin as I said it was coming up through grate coverings like in gutters for water to drain off and I also noticed the smell on several occasions coming from the open ground where county construction work was being done on streets...I smelled it in oklahoma a couple years ago as well. I am now in Montana and have not smelled it here as of yet...The closest thing I could find was Ions in high concentration. It definately triggers me, makes me hold my breath and walk quickly past whenever I smell it.


One sweltering day in Philadelphia this summer a man sat before a small metal box resting atop a hospital file cabinet. It was plugged into an ordinary wall socket. A doctor flipped a switch. Inside the box a small fan whirred; the box hummed distantly, like a high-tension wire, and gave off a faint, sweetish odor. Soon the man felt alert, magical, refreshed, as though he had been taking deep gulps of sparkling October air. The doctor turned the machine off, switched on another that looked just like it. The air grew quickly stale. The man's head felt stuffy. His eyes smarted. His head began to ache. He felt vaguely depressed and tired.
With this simple experiment, the scientist, Dr. Igho H. Kornblueh, of the American institute of Medical Climatology, demonstrated the effect that atmospheric ions can have on human beings. The first machine generated negative ions; the second positive ions.
source altered-states.net.../ionizers/ozonemyths.htm

reply to post by shells4u


Overall, I would say that if the smell triggered a flight response, you were good to go with your instincts to get out of there.

I worked for a decade in the military in CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) warfare and many of the various chemical agents have a sweet smell to them.

I love the smell of a newly mowed lawn, but it always still reminds me of phosgene.

phosgene [ˈfɒzdʒiːn]
n
(Chemistry / Elements & Compounds) a colourless easily liquefied poisonous gas, carbonyl chloride, with an odour resembling that of new-mown hay: used in chemical warfare as a lethal choking agent and in the manufacture of pesticides, dyes, and polyurethane resins. Formula: COCl2

My bad, so there's basements in SD?

Most be cool, literally. Anyways so its not incense, cannabis, nor even just sulfur/rotten eggs smell associated with increase volcanic/seismic activity...

Could it be.. CHEMTRAILS descending upon such populated areas as SD, LA & SF? Delivering a slow death..

reply to post by below
Chemtrails are in the sky this was being sent via air vent directly into a room full of homeless women and children while they slept...I wish it were chemtrails then at least I would know where it was coming from.

Oh

Some sort of germicidal air sanitizer sprayed into the vents? (My own AC has this, injects aerosol spray of sanitizer every half hour, or so when on)

Forgot to ask, have you done any investigating? Don't think calling and asking would get you a straight answer..

Maybe go sleep over and do some detective work?

reply to post by TDawgRex
Looking back at when I first smelled it in that shelter San Diego was constantly on orange alert. So I even thought perhaps it was something DOD was doing due to some threat (biological) that happened back then but didnt want to scare the public...maybe some sort of experimental substance put in the air to counteract...who knows...maybe somebody will read this that was in that area at that time 2005 and can shed some light.

reply to post by below
I too thought that was it as well but then when I was walking around it was coming up out of the ground. and also when the county would do roadwork...this smell popped up in a grid like fashion all over and for several years I smelled it from southern cali. and sacramento as well as crescent city cali. and then again just 2 years ago in Oklahoma.

reply to post by below
I no longer live in California I am living in Montana so its out of the question to go back to that shelter and sleep and investigate. I did call the agriculteral dept. once because the smell was coming from the ground and in the vicinity was a fruitfly trap in a tree next to the gutter vent I thought maybe it was something they were using to kill off the fruit flies that get into San Diego area via mexico. They said it was not anything of their doing.

After the shelter vents it was coming from outside and into the air from places like this and this

Originally posted by nobeattles
Cadaverine

and when it is in very small quantities, too small to be consciously perceived via smell, it causes irrational fear

Right.... It's found in rotten flesh, and urine... Must be why all those city alleys soaked in piss frighten young woman...

You forgot to add the "can" in your "cause irrational fear." statement, not everyone has this response. In fact there are even those that find the smell arousing.

Originally posted by shells4u
After the shelter vents it was coming from outside and into the air from places like this

and this

edit on (5/14/1313 by shells4u because: (no reason given)

Definitely Cadaverine as listed above. Likely from decaying flesh, or urine. I wouldn't worry about it too much. The decaying flesh would likely have been a dead rodent or other small critter. Again the urine could be from rodents as well, this substance is produced when Amino acids break down.

Pretty high likelihood that is what you smelt. Even if it wasn't your first thought.

reply to post by Hijinx
I did go and read some on the cadaverine and although that would seem to be the most logical it still doesn't fit the smell it was not an amonia or a decaying smell, it was not an unclean smell but something more synthetic. but I appreciate all the possibilities and suggestions, the important thing is now its out of my thoughts and in the open and that is one of the great things that ATS does for folks...helps alleviate brain clutter and also helps with the fear of the unknown...