What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Smelled?

New York City is a smorgasbord of pungent odors. At every turn there are stenches reeking from the sewers, crusty crevices of the homeless, and giant rank dumpsters that attack your nostrils and water your eyes. It’s kind of horrible. We hit the streets to ask pedestrians in the Rotten Apple what are the worst of the worst smells they’ve encountered.

Veronica: A really ripe homeless person.

What did he look like?
I dunno how many layers of clothes he had on, but he looked really fat. He had fabric wrapped around his legs, covering all kinds of sores and stuff. He was in really, really bad shape.

John: It was either this mouse that died in my wall in my current apartment, or the time I was visiting my dad in the hospital and I was plugging something in for him and he farted like right in my face.

Taylor: Probably when I was cleaning out the shower drain of my old apartment. The water was flowing really slow, so we tried pouring some stuff down the drain. It didn’t do anything, so I put on some gloves and got in there and pulled up this giant ball of black hair and goo and, you know, sewage.

That's gross.
When it first came up, it didn’t smell that bad. But I guess I had unblocked this trapped capsule of stench that was suctioned out and hit me in the face.

Matt: Uh, I did a play where the other actor and I fought onstage with fake blood and actual vomit. He vomited every night on stage, and I had to pee on stage at the beginning of the show. I’d say that the combination of those things was the worst.

Jim: Let me think for a moment.

Take your time. 
OK. A dead horse that had been, like, lying out in the field for a long time.

Where was this?
In Vermont, where I used to spend summers as a kid.

Previously – What’s the Greatest Threat to Humanity?