What is the worst thing you've ever smelled?

[TipsyTraveler]

Ha really?? No I haven't. But we did feed the cheetahs a little bit of fish as a variable. Anything that eats fish smells awful.

I used to work in a lab that ran progesterone assays on the fecal samples of endangered animals. There were two labs, actually -- one for herbivores and one for carnivores. Trust me, you wanted to work in the herbivore lab. But even in the carnivore lab there were special considerations given to the fishing cat. They'd work with those samples on off hours, people were given a heads up when it'd be happening... It was bad.

Least offensive animal poop? Pandas. It was barely more than a pile of dried grass.

 

[bcla]

I've asked a handler what is smells like in an indoor penguin enclosure. I've been to an outdoor one at a zoo, but that's apparently nothing like being trapped in a box with penguin poop.

 

[VandVsmama]

When I was a kid, I came down with the stomach flu late one night and threw up in the doorway of my bedroom. My mom cleaned it up, but the carpet was that horrible 1970's shag carpeting and...well...from the smell of it for months and months afterwards, she didn't quite get it all out.

There is nothing more awful than the stench of dried up stale barf on a hot day. I had to sleep with the window open quite often because the smell was so horrific. Whenever I'd walk into or out of my bedroom, I'd have to hold my breath because of the smell. I can still smell it in my mind to this day.

 

[Uncranky Donald]

When people get drunk horrible things come out of their bodies...sometimes its my turn to clean up. One night I and others THOUGHT the smell of fresh seafood/Italian was a meal ordered by someone in the band. Nope. I opened one of the bathroom doors to the most horrific odor of my life, barely digested shrimp scampi projectile vomit ALL over the floor, base boards, toilet, walls, EVERY where. It took over an hour and the help of one of my staff who works in a hospital to get it all cleaned up cuz everyone else was gagging so hard.
The 2nd worst was projectile poop, if you could call it that? Someone had tar colored liquid diarrhea all over another bathroom;on the toilet, the floor, the walls and it smelled like rotting nail polish! As if they were SO sick/drunk that I could smell like, chemicals in the fecal matter...it was rough, that one I only had a staff member outside the door cheering me on

 

[minnie1012]

Downtown New York in the days/months following September 11th. Undescribable smell that I will never forget.

 

[SC Minnie]

Another good one is the paper mill along I-95 in Georgia. Every we pass that section of 95 when we drive to/from Florida we both laugh uncontrollably...it's like a mega fart.

In the pulp and paper industry we call that smell the 'smell of money'. Imagine visiting one of those mills and smelling like that the rest of the day.

 

[Heidict]

Gangrene / rotting flesh.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Days old dead mouse. Gag.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I've smelled durian before. Even accidentally ate something that contained it and spit it out. It's an offensive smell for sure. Some of the descriptions are that the smell changes with proximity. One time I thought it smelled like ripe urine in a public bathroom that hadn't been hosed down yet. Or like a group fart.

Come to think of it, one pretty bad smell is sulfurous gases from geothermal features. There's a variety of nasty smells at Yellowstone. Black Dragon Cauldron is pretty intense. It may not beat Kilauea for sheer stink though. I've heard it described as the smell of a thousand farts. The National Park Service closes down the road when the levels are so high that people get physically sick.

Group fart

 

[bcla]

Group fart

There are some great stories about farts. I read Chaucer in college, and one tale was about how a priest was only given an offering of a fart. His issue with that was that all his offerings were to be shared with his colleagues, so how could he equally distribute a fart to his fellow priests.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

One of our dogs ate some other dog's poop. Then projectile puked it all over. Yuck.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Rotting grass clippings

Anything that my cat does in a litter box

My youngest was hospitalized in kindergarten with rotavirus and I remember he had to give a stool sample that was pretty nasty....the dr mentioned it would be due to the virus, so I guess it really *is* a thing!

 

[lovin'fl]

Vomited bile due to cancer.

 

[Lanshark]

A class full of middle schoolers on a hot day after PE

 

[Disney Doll]

I'm a nurse. Take a guess.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I hear that bear poop smells pretty bad but I've never never encountered it for myself.

Darn, I was going to ask if you found it in the woods.

 

[Poohlove]

Darn, I was going to ask if you found it in the woods.

Lol, I didn't but my mom did

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Either DSs receiving gloves from football or a pit toilet at Arches National Park on a 104 degree day.

I agree with the pit toilet at Arches NP!!! We were there last August and oh my!!! I had to go so bad, but couldn't even stay in there long enough to unzip my shorts. I stepped out and grabbed a small container of hand sanitizer from Bath and Body works from our car that had a wonderfully strong smell! I instructed my husband to come in with me and hold the open sanitizer container under my nose while I went. (We have been married for almost 30 years, so going to the bathroom in front of him was a non issue. Also there was nobody around to wonder what the heck we were doing!) However, that didn't work either, it was so bad!! We ended up driving up the road a little bit and I went on the side of the road. Arches was amazing and we have so many great memories of our visit there, but will NEVER forget that pit toilet!!!! Ugh!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

When people get drunk horrible things come out of their bodies...sometimes its my turn to clean up. One night I and others THOUGHT the smell of fresh seafood/Italian was a meal ordered by someone in the band. Nope. I opened one of the bathroom doors to the most horrific odor of my life, barely digested shrimp scampi projectile vomit ALL over the floor, base boards, toilet, walls, EVERY where. It took over an hour and the help of one of my staff who works in a hospital to get it all cleaned up cuz everyone else was gagging so hard.
The 2nd worst was projectile poop, if you could call it that? Someone had tar colored liquid diarrhea all over another bathroom;on the toilet, the floor, the walls and it smelled like rotting nail polish! As if they were SO sick/drunk that I could smell like, chemicals in the fecal matter...it was rough, that one I only had a staff member outside the door cheering me on

Your post brings to mind "The Great Ryan's Steakhouse Story".

 

[Figment Mom]

A corpse that had been decomposing in the river for quite some time.