Second Annual Methane Mystery Stench in Suffolk

Okay, so, for as-yet unknown reasons, New York City smells like maple syrup. And while New Yorkers aren’t thrilled about the mystery-scent, it may ease their minds to know that things could be worse. As of this morning, Suffolk smells like methane gas.

Residents and commuters in the area of the St. Saviour’s roundabout area in Bury St. Edmunds began reporting the odor early this morning. “It was really overpowering,” said James Samuels, who caught a nasty whiff from his car on his way to work. “The nearest thing I could compare it to is the smell of a gas leak, but I could not tell where it was coming from.” The smell was also reported by staff at the nearby British Sugar Factory who, like Samuels, remain baffled as to its source.

A similar phenomenon occurred in New York City on January 8 of 2008 (incredibly, within ONE DAY of being PRECISELY a year prior to the current January 7 Suffolk stink), when a powerful smell of gas created brief chaos in Manhattan, forcing building evacuations and commuter train suspension, before dissipating just hours later. In that case, no gas leak was ever discovered, and it is believed that the smell was actually caused by a leak of the substance ethyl mercaptan, a manufactured sulfur compound which is deliberately added to odorless-but-dangerous natural gas as an olfactory warning trigger.

The National Grid is currently investigating the source of the stench plaguing Suffolk.