Help? Weird phantom smell...

[starla]

I'm at my wits end!

For about 48 hours there's been a foul smell in our bedroom that I cannot find the source of. We live in a 200 year old cottage near a field, so obviously my first thought is that a mouse has crawled in and passed away. However...me and my husband (who can also smell this) have stripped our bed, lifted the mattress, are currently in the process of deep cleaning the room and have still not found a source.

The smell comes and goes. It seems to be at the foot of the bed (which is in the centre of the room), doesn't appear to be emanating from any electric or plumbing source, there are no spillages, plants in the room or animals living there. We have thought it might come from the loft, but if it were doing so we'd be able to smell it from the hatch in the study which we can't. We will investigate this later.
Neither is it coming from the chimney which runs up the back wall of the room. I've currently got the windows closed to see if it's coming from inside. We've had the windows open for two days so there's a possibility it's an outdoor smell coming in - but if that were the case it'd also be coming in downstairs.

I've even removed light bulbs (which I hear can give off strange odours if they're old) and unplugged all electrical items. All to no avail.

The smell smells different to both of us. My husband describes it as 'fusty, as though something has died or something fungal.' I describe it as like burning rubber or poop. The fact that this smell seems to come and go, is at head height, seems to have no source and smells different to both of us makes me wonder if there's a supernatural cause.

Has anyone had experience of this? My priest is the local exorcist (I know...all getting a bit mad here) and apparently in his own home had an untraceable smell of vomit for some time that he and his wife were unable to get rid of. He's very open minded and will help but before I call him in we'll finish our investigations on the earthly side of things. I also wondered if you guys had any experience of this and whether you were able to solve it without resorting to Hollywood style interventions...

It's making me uncomfortable and no amount of scented candles will get rid of it. Help???!


love Starla
x

 

[amethyst57]

have you looked into the history of the place?
could be residual scent from previous owners....


don't overlook what you called 'hollywood style interventions'...
scent of any kind that can't be explained is usually residual or
otherwise...by otherwise i mean, do you associate that smell with anyone in
your collective past?

i.e., when i sense my dad around, there's a scent of Irish Spring...
with one of my grammas, rose water scent...

foul odors smell awful, but could mean residual haunting, maybe from a
barn, blacksmith shop, slaughter building, etc that may have been at that
spot...

 

[starla]

I do know a bit about the history of the building. In fact, I even know some relatives of people who lived here over a hundred years ago. I know that it was tenanted by stone masons and earlier on, thatchers. They are mill workers' cottages so any other people living here would have been either working in the mill or on the mill owners' estate, spinning cotton, farming or being other general labourers.

I have had a few experiences here before, but never anything like this in four and a half years.

The investigations are continuing, but I'm liking less and less what's going on in there. Our electricity went out some hours ago and I found the culprit to be the vacuum cleaner which was in the bedroom as we were in the process of using shake n vac! It wasn't even in use when the power went. After changing the fuse in the machine, tripping the switch on the fuse box and plugging it in again, the vacuum blew up spectacularly - smoke and all. Now I have a broken vacuum cleaner, a floor covered in shake n vac, and still a strange smell.

*sigh* It really is turning out to be one of those days.

Once I've put everything back under the bed and finished cleaning (sans vacuum) I will then reassess the situation. If the smell persists I feel I should get the landlord out to check the electrics and plumbing in case I've missed anything. Following that, Father gets a phone call.

Thanks for your ideas on this - interestingly, my sense of smell is my strongest psychic sense. I regularly pick up smells that others can't sense and if I'm conducting a reading, or trying to tune into a place the smell is one of the first things that I talk about. Perhaps this is why this smell, something so foul and that my husband can also sense, is bothering me so much.

I will keep you updated!

Starla
x

 

[Carla]

If a mouse or other critter died in the wall or a crawl space of any sort..that could be it. Do please update us, this is interesting to me as I also associate smells with people and places, and my sense of smell is my strongest psychic (for lack of better word) sense. Funny, huh?

 

[Disa]

How interesting! I also associate smells with people who have passed, but I've never had a foul odor before. The strangest one is when I smell roast beef cooking in the mornings at work. It's an office building, there is no one cooking roast beef at 6am or any other time of day. No one else ever smells it.

I agree it may be a residual thing. Maybe if you can figure it out, it will go away. Best of luck and keep us posted.

 

[canid]

How cool is that? If that's the only thing that's been happening, it seems pretty benign. From the scent you're describing, it sounds like what a nursing home smells like. Have you ever been in one to compare? Perhaps someone in the past (& since the house is 200 yrs old, this certainly is within the realm of possibilities) was ill for a while & died there? Maybe doesn't realize they're dead & need help moving on? There are a lot of ways for you to do this yourself, but since you have access to a 'professional', I'd try to have them around for the occasion just in case. Ghosts can certainly have many smells & sometimes it lets us know their personalities while they were alive, or even the circumstances of their deaths. It does explain why it comes & goes, is at a certain height, etc. Let us know what happens.

PS: I've never heard of light bulbs emitting odors.

 

[Milfoil]

What is the floor made of? Is it a wood floor? Could there be stagnant water under the floor? The reason I ask is that (as a plumbing firm) we have had these kind of things before. One was a dreadful smell, 7 other plumbers inc the Gas board had been out with gas sniffers etc but only when we looked under the kitchen floor did we find that there was a foot of stagnant water under there!

If it is a solid floor, it's still worth checking under the floor covering to make sure there is no damp penetrating up.

 

[Padma]

hmmm...Milfoil gave you a pretty good answer. lol!

The only time I ever had this happen to me was years ago when we lived near Stonehenge, in the Salisbury plains. We lived in a small neighborhood (military base). The houses were quite old and we were surrounded by tumuli. (burial mounds).

There was one corner of my living room that gave out incredibly sulfurous odours, rather - um - fart-like. I tried everything to get rid of the smell. Finally I removed the chair that was in that corner, and let it stand empty. Once I did this, the smell stopped.

My neighbors had a permanent smell of burned toast in their house, and yet another neighbor had the smell of old gym socks. So I guess the spirits there did not enjoy our presence...

Perhaps you can try moving your furniture around, maybe the spirit present (if there is one) does not like where you have put the bed.

 

[The crowned one]

What is the floor made of? Is it a wood floor? Could there be stagnant water under the floor? The reason I ask is that (as a plumbing firm) we have had these kind of things before. One was a dreadful smell, 7 other plumbers inc the Gas board had been out with gas sniffers etc but only when we looked under the kitchen floor did we find that there was a foot of stagnant water under there!

If it is a solid floor, it's still worth checking under the floor covering to make sure there is no damp penetrating up.

This was my first thought too.

 

[starla]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. The smell continues to come and go. My parents came round to see what was going on. My step dad is well versed in renovating houses and also clearing houses. He says it's not something that's decomposing, it's not damp, rot, water, electrics or...etc. Tonight it is pungent and distressing.

I have broken a second electrical appliance today. A brand new washing machine that was fitted last week has developed a fault.

I really don't know what to do. I'm very upset - the smell is upsetting me because I don't know where it's coming from and no matter how much we clean, it doesn't go. My husband is unwell at the moment and I am having a rather difficult pregnancy. It feels as though everything's dropping to pieces around me and I just feel frightened that it's me causing it somehow.

Given what we've tried through the course of the day, I feel I've got to put aside my reservations and call the priest. I might email him as it's late and I'm likely to cry at him.

thanks for all your thoughts everyone. I'm always open to more suggestions.

starla
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