# Tell me about the most awful thing you’ve ever smelled **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 17, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762 "2015-11-17T00:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/61 "2015-11-18T16:04:28Z")
I was a van pool driver. One warm summer day a truck from an animal rendering plant dumped it’s load right in the middle of southbound I-5 just north of Seattle. We sat stuck about 200 feet from the truck for over 2 hours. The odor had people gagging and some even vomiting along the freeway. They finally brought in an empty truck and a front end loader to clean up the mess. The scooping of the putrefied animal carcasses made the smell even worse. The smell hung with me for months. ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/62 "2015-11-18T16:39:19Z")
Pet rabbit with an open, festering sore on its tail end that was rotting away and was coated with dried feces and urine and filled with maggots. It was still alive and we had to remove the maggots with tweezers one by one. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/63 "2015-11-18T16:45:38Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > People always feel sorry for me when they find out I have no sense of smell. I think I’m just lucky. 😃 That reminds me of an article I saw like 25 years ago. Some guy literally had NO sense of smell. He purposely funked himself up with a dedicated funk suit with the whole nine yards. And he hired himself out as a bill collector (or some such), for places like tire stores, doctors offices…anywhere you had a concentration of customers waiting their turn. Apparently his funk was funk enough that many places would pay the bill right away to get him the funk outa there. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/64 "2015-11-18T16:59:07Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > That reminds me of an article I saw like 25 years ago. > > Some guy literally had NO sense of smell. He purposely funked himself up with a dedicated funk suit with the whole nine yards. > > And he hired himself out as a bill collector (or some such), for places like tire stores, doctors offices…anywhere you had a concentration of customers waiting their turn. > > Apparently his funk was funk enough that many places would pay the bill right away to get him the funk outa there. The literary equivalent: [http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Foul\_Ole\_Ron](http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Foul_Ole_Ron) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/65 "2015-11-18T17:48:27Z")
We’d rounded up all the cattle for branding and were cutting the cows from their calf’s. One cow was looking a little different when we realized it had a small leg hanging out of it’s backside. These were free range cattle and calving season was a few months back. So this cow had been carrying a dead calf inside itself for a few months. When we tried to pull it out, the calf was so rotten the leg pulled off. We had to tie a rope through it’s hip socket and tie that off to a heeling horse who slowly backed it out of the cow. Along with the calf came a few gallons of foul smelling slimy liquid. It was pretty terrible. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/66 "2015-11-18T17:55:05Z")
Well, I don’t know how bad that smelled but I think we might have the current winner for grossest “sounding” smell as it were/ ---
**Author:** ![CrabRangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9e8a1a/32.png) [@CrabRangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrabRangoon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/67 "2015-11-18T18:30:38Z")
I’ve got a story from my years as a grad student in entomology. Well - there are many smaller stories related - since trapping bugs is pretty common, and then cleaning out traps with large amounts of dead rotting insects must come next. But in this case, it was during my immature taxonomy class. The class is offered in the fall semester and part of the class calls for creating a collection - so every week we went out beating the bushes for immature insects. There was one “Special” field day however. That special day was Road Kill Day. It is exactly as you imagine - a van full of grad school kids, one instructor and a lot of disgusting road kills. We found a deer, a racoon, something else (??) - we would park next to the animal - get out of the van - and go get us some maggots using our long forceps. The first and only time I have been offered the vics vapo-rub for under the nose application. I used it. Smelly maggoty road kill. Mmmmmm. We also had a cow shit day - but that was nothing comparatively. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/68 "2015-11-18T20:08:43Z")
My story is nowhere near the winner but I hope you fins it interesting. Years ago I had a Weber electric bullet style smoker similar to [this one](http://smile.amazon.com/Weber-721001-Mountain-18-Inch-Charcoal/dp/B001I8ZTJ0/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1447872358&sr=1-1&keywords=weber+smoker) with the exception that the bottom was filled with gravel upon which sat an electric heating element. The idea was to put the wood chips on the gravel next to the element to generate the smoke. What I didn’t know is that my lazy dog thought it looked like the perfect fire hydrant and would use it as his personal commode. Not knowing this I smoked a Christmas brisket in it one December. Since it was quite cold outside I wasn’t out there long enough to notice any unusual smells. After I brought it into the house though it was pretty obvious that something was wrong with it. I cut a piece off and tried to feed it to the dog to see if he wanted it. He looked at me like I was bat shit crazy, I figured that if he wouldn’t eat it there was something wrong with the meat and threw the whole thing out. I didn’t catch on about why the brisket smelled so bad until the following spring when I accidentally turned the smoker over and 3 months of reduced dog piss came flowing out of it. $150 smoker sent to the trash hauler. My family still ribs me about the time I tried to serve brisket steamed in dog piss. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/69 "2015-11-18T20:11:10Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > My story is nowhere near the winner but I hope you fins it interesting. > > Years ago I had a Weber electric bullet style smoker similar to [this one](http://smile.amazon.com/Weber-721001-Mountain-18-Inch-Charcoal/dp/B001I8ZTJ0/ref=sr_1_1?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1447872358&sr=1-1&keywords=weber+smoker) with the exception that the bottom was filled with gravel upon which sat an electric heating element. The idea was to put the wood chips on the gravel next to the element to generate the smoke. > > What I didn’t know is that my lazy dog thought it looked like the perfect fire hydrant and would use it as his personal commode. > > Not knowing this I smoked a Christmas brisket in it one December. Since it was quite cold outside I wasn’t out there long enough to notice any unusual smells. After I brought it into the house though it was pretty obvious that something was wrong with it. I cut a piece off and tried to feed it to the dog to see if he wanted it. > He looked at me like I was bat shit crazy, I figured that if he wouldn’t eat it there was something wrong with the meat and threw the whole thing out. > I didn’t catch on about why the brisket smelled so bad until the following spring when I accidentally turned the smoker over and 3 months of reduced dog piss came flowing out of it. > $150 smoker sent to the trash hauler. > My family still ribs me about the time I tried to serve brisket steamed in dog piss. Awesome post/username combo. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/70 "2015-11-18T21:58:57Z")
> [@Orange\_Skinner](#): > > …We first isolated the odor to the Whiskas section… This would make a great opening line in a noir detective novel. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/71 "2015-11-18T22:14:20Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > $150 smoker sent to the trash hauler. Shit, I would’ve taken it. Why didn’t you just give it a good scrub? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/72 "2015-11-19T00:06:53Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > We’d rounded up all the cattle for branding and were cutting the cows from their calf’s. One cow was looking a little different when we realized it had a small leg hanging out of it’s backside. These were free range cattle and calving season was a few months back. So this cow had been carrying a dead calf inside itself for a few months. When we tried to pull it out, the calf was so rotten the leg pulled off. We had to tie a rope through it’s hip socket and tie that off to a heeling horse who slowly backed it out of the cow. Along with the calf came a few gallons of foul smelling slimy liquid. It was pretty terrible. I’m surprised that didn’t kill the cow. ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/73 "2015-11-19T04:22:45Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > That’s called a tracheotomy. If you want to teach your kids why it’s not good to smoke, take them to visit a tracheotomy patient. They’ll get the message :eek: Thank you, I was just too lazy to look up the correct term. I got as far as “trach” and drew a blank. Oh, and I forgot to include that the guy smoked, still. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/74 "2015-11-19T04:39:52Z")
Honestly? Apparently, rancid beer is a good slug-repellent/slugicide. Pour a Bud Light in a paper bowl and leave it there for 2 weeks. In your whole life you’ll never smell something so awful. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/75 "2015-11-19T05:55:04Z")
It doesn’t come close to other things in this thread, but I drove by a country sausage factory on my way home yesterday. It’s a surprisingly clingy smell… ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/76 "2015-11-19T07:25:56Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > A crazy old man came up to talk to me at the public pool one day. Something was dying in his mouth and the smell was a solid wall of force that hit me. He only spoke for a few minutes and I was polite enough but I couldn’t face him. That smell stayed in my nasal passages and throat for days and I am convinced that smelling it took a few years off my life. Was he mumbling something like “Bugrit! Millennium Hand and Shrimp!”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/77 "2015-11-19T11:34:32Z")
Well, this isn’t at the same level as the other examples, but what makes this memorable is that people actually _eat_ this stuff. [Andouillette](http://www.thegrubworm.com/2010/12/andouillette-or-the-dish-of-death/). Imagine the exploding whale brought down to sausage size, and then put it in your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/78 "2015-11-19T12:17:19Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > That’s called a tracheotomy. If you want to teach your kids why it’s not good to smoke, take them to visit a tracheotomy patient. They’ll get the message :eek: My grandfather was afraid of having a tracheotomy when he was diagnosed with throat cancer after decades of heavy smoking. The doctors were considering it. Then, he got a lucky escape: the cancer was beaten with other means and he avoided the tracheotomy. A few months later, he started smoking again :rolleyes:. The cancer came back and he didn’t get a third chance. To the OP. When I was a student, I was lucky to have a dorm room all for myself right on the campus. After a couple of months I met a girl, we started dating and I moved in her flat very quickly. Fast forward 7 months later. I got a notice saying that all students who were not planning to stay on campus in the Summer were to clean their room and hand over the keys until the beginning of the following academic year in September. There was this huge cupboard where I stored all the snacks that my parents used to give my on my weekend visits. I opened one of the doors and noticed a terrible rancid smell. But I was puzzled. The whole space was filled with biscuit packs, most of them still perfectly sealed. OK, some had been left open since November but biscuits don’t really go bad. At least, they don’t smell like _that_. I started taking out the packs one by one. And then I noticed something at the back. It was not a biscuit pack. It was a milk carton. An open milk carton. An open milk carton that had been sitting there for 7 months. I grabbed it carefully and made my way towards the sink. I turned it upside-down over the sink. Nothing happened 😕. Then, a greenish-yellowish-greyish purée started slowly oozing out. It splashed in the sink. A couple of seconds later the stench hit me with full force. I got goosebumps. Started shivering. I had tears in my eyes. I was not only about to gag: for the first time in my life I felt that I was going to pass out. I barely made it to the window and opened it. I have no idea how I dealt with it afterwards. I have erased all memories of it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/79 "2015-11-19T12:55:35Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > Well, this isn’t at the same level as the other examples, but what makes this memorable is that people actually _eat_ this stuff. > > [Andouillette](http://www.thegrubworm.com/2010/12/andouillette-or-the-dish-of-death/). > > Imagine the exploding whale brought down to sausage size, and then put it in your mouth. From the Wikipedia page on Andouillette: > [@](#): > > True andouillette is rarely seen outside France and has a strong, distinctive odour related to its intestinal origins and components. Although sometimes repellant to the uninitiated, this aspect of andouillette is prized by its devotees. > **[Andouillette](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouillette)** > > Andouillette (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}French pronunciation: \[ɑ̃dujɛt\]) is a French coarse-grained sausage made from the intestine of pork, pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings. > Andouillettes are generally made from the large intestine and are .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-... I don’t think I could get into a food whose main selling point is that it smells and tastes like poop. even _Kaester Hakarl_ at least smells like disinfectant ammonia. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762/80 "2015-11-19T13:19:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > From the Wikipedia page on Andouillette: > > [Andouillette - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouillette) > I don’t think I could get into a food whose main selling point is that it smells and tastes like poop. even _Kaester Hakarl_ at least smells like disinfectant ammonia. When on holiday in France, I’ve accidentally ordered and semi-eaten it. Twice ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-most-awful-thing-you-ve-ever-smelled/737762.md?page=5)