# What is the worst smell you've been unfortunate enough to whiff? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918 "2003-04-10T23:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Kebert\_Xela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a87d85/32.png) [@Kebert\_Xela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kebert_Xela)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/121 "2006-07-08T19:48:26Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Decomposing human, killed by a lion. > > No, I’m not joking. For a few years I worked security at an amusement park to make money for college. A really foolish, arrogant worker in the “safari” section was notorious for tormenting the big cats, i.e. throwing firecrackers at them, gunning the jeep at them while they sunning, etc. Early one very hot, humid summer day, on his day off, he 1. entered the compound alone and 2. got out of the jeep, leaving even the emergency shotgun behind. He wasn’t fast enough. Some 10 hours later a few traumatized safari patrons noticed exactly what the lions were eating. I think we can safely chalk that one up to karma. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/122 "2006-07-08T21:29:50Z")
This zombie thread smells pretty rank. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/123 "2006-07-08T21:53:22Z")
A very rotten snake at work. It should have been preserved in formaldehyde, but it wasn’t. The Lysol spray I tried to cover it with only made it worse. I’m certain that if there’s a Hell, it smells just like that snake. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/124 "2009-02-19T20:48:20Z")
In my EMT days I was affectionately known as the decomp detector. How do we know we got a ripe one… **Drachillix** just tossed his cookies…yup this ones gonna be a goner. Living in a town where penny pinching old folks cross paths with 10 days straight 110+ degree weather results in many many unhappy smells. \ ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/125 "2009-02-19T21:05:31Z")
Twice-revived zombie thread smells even ranker. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/126 "2009-02-19T21:12:04Z")
> [@Rabid\_Squirrel](#): > > Come on **Incubus** , It’s not that bad. I had to work in the town council, which involved travelling to the oxidation ponds every day - during _summer_. Oh, and jumping down a sewage main to fit a stopper for flow testing. Ah yes, fun days… > > Any chemists around here? Does the phrase metacaptha-ethnaol rings any bells? For the non-sciency types, imagine the worst fart you’ve every smelt. Now add two dozen rotten eggs, a two month old garbage bag and a heft dose of Foul 'ole Ron. Oh and it’s toxic too. > > Then there’s my flatmate. It’s an odd b.o./old fart/mould/sweat and something else my other flat mate and I have never found out. Pyrimidine is pretty awful too. The worst smell I remember was from when I was in high school (1970s). My best friend’s grandfather was dying of colon cancer and had a colostomy bag. I walked into the room after they had emptied/changed that bag and thought I was going to die . Just the worse smell ever. That poor man… ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/127 "2009-02-19T22:06:45Z")
For me it was the large (bigger than your hand) spiders we had to disect at uni. Giant spider guts + formaldehyde + arachnaphobia. I am retching just thinking of it. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/128 "2009-02-19T22:14:28Z")
Working at a vet during the summer. A bunny with an open wound on it’s underside. Festering, decaying flesh with urine and feces soaked fur, the entire mess literally bursting with maggots. Yes, it was still alive and we spent a good hour picking the maggots out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/129 "2009-02-19T22:15:53Z")
I drove around in 90 degree weather with a couple rotting steaks under the seat of the car for two weeks before I figured out why my ride had the nasty stank. Fuckin’ awful!! ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/130 "2009-02-19T22:27:04Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > [Dead squid](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3264230#post3264230) in the fridge. > > :eek: A 4"x2" strip of rotting squid in the trunk of my car after two hot summer days. ---
**Author:** ![HolyFreakingMoly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@HolyFreakingMoly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HolyFreakingMoly)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/131 "2009-02-19T22:35:34Z")
Dead bloated bodies that have drowned or been left in warm buildings for many days… Srsly, those and when my husband blows ass under the covers. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/132 "2009-02-19T23:24:41Z")
I once decided that a pot of pea soup that I’d made had turned out a _tiny_ bit too watery, so I added a handful of rice to it to soak up the extra liquid. Unfortunately, the pot had been cooling for a while before I made this decision – and I immediately put the lid on the pot and then went out to spend the night at my girlfriend’s place. Although the soup was still too warm to go into the fridge, it was apparently not hot enough to kill whatever bacteria was living on the surface of the rice - in fact, the temperature was just about perfect for its incubation and inculturation. When I returned home the following afternoon, the pong coming off that soup when I lifted the lid was the most sickening thing I ever smelled. Ladling it into the toilet triggered my gag reflex repeatedly, and I was genuinely terrified that I would actually vomit, and that there might be splash-back involved. No amount of scrubbing could redeem the heavy pot, either - lots of hot, soapy water, filling with water and boiling, scrubbing again - the pot still smelled like puke from a terminal patient. I had to throw it out. ---
**Author:** ![MissIntent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/97f17d/32.png) [@MissIntent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissIntent)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/133 "2009-02-19T23:34:39Z")
When I was a child, my mom used to take me and brothers to the beach and let us wander or play in the water for hours. On one such occasion, on a beach between San Francisco and Monterey, a friend and I went wandering and found the body of a sea lion, with giant bite marks taken out of it, rotting on the sand. Covered in maggots, and combining both that bad fish and rotting flesh odor. But I have unfortunately known of something far, far worse. When horses give birth, after the foal comes out they also expel what’s called the afterbirth. This isn’t unique, I believe all mammals do this, humans definitely do. Anyway, the afterbirth smells terrible, but if it’s a horse, and a vet didn’t attend the actual birth, you typically save the afterbirth and ask a vet to look at it, to make sure everything came out and the mare did not retain any. So a horse at my barn gave birth, and we put the afterbirth in a bucket, and then put the bucket inside the office to keep the dogs from getting into it. And forgot about it. For a week. In the summer. That horrible smell lingered for months. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/134 "2009-02-19T23:39:10Z")
A tie: 1. an empty pig barn full of manure that burned to the ground; 2. a chickenhouse with 20,000 chickens that also burned to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/135 "2009-02-19T23:43:18Z")
:smack: I fed the zombie. Now it’ll follow me home. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918/136 "2009-02-20T00:13:56Z")
_Nothing_ stinks like a 21/2 year old zombie, I swear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-smell-youve-been-unfortunate-enough-to-whiff/167918.md?page=6)