Mysterious Craving for Pancakes Strikes New York

It’s been almost two years to the date since, on January 8 of 2007, a powerful smell of gas created brief chaos in Manhattan, forcing building evacuations and commuter train suspension, before dissipating just hours later. On January 5 of 2009–last night–between 9 pm and midnight, another mysterious olfactory phenomenon struck the city, New York’s Office of Emergency Management received 37 calls throughout areas from Harlem to Soho reporting an overwhelming smell of…

Maple Syrup!

Okay, granted, maple syrup is not as immediately scary as methane gas, but residents and city officials are finding it every bit as inexplicable. Monday’s incident marks the sixth time the city has found itself under siege by the sticky-sweet mystery scent, the first dating back to October of 2005, when the smell was permeated the same area of the city. “I thought it was like a baker was making sugar or something and they left it burning,” said one baffled New Yorker. This time, as with the previous five, it is unclear just where the smell is coming from, although local chatboard speculation offers a variety of explanations:

“It’s a new chemical they’re using to de-ice the roads because of the rising cost of salt.” Plausible, but illogical, as–again–the sporadic phenomenon dates back nearly four years.

“Mrs. Butterworth has gone over to the dark side and is preparing to blanket Metropolis with a layer of dense gooey-goodness which even the Bat Signal cannot penetrate.” Not so plausible, but much more fun to contemplate, visually.