Over the holidays, there were a number of points when I noted a pungent smell in the little hallway at the back of our kitchen — a cloying stench, like rotting fish.
(I do not care for this little hallway. It feels off to me, somehow. There is a mirror of it upstairs and the one gives me a vague sense of unease as well — though I have not noticed any phantom smells there.)
More than once I looked everywhere trying to find the source of the smell — searching in the hallway as well as the adjoining rooms. But there was nothing. And, oddly enough, the smell seemed to fade away as I searched.
Other times, most times, there was no smell at all.
I mentioned it finally to my wife who said she’d had the same experience on numerous occasions but couldn’t find an explanation for the smell either.
It was puzzling and — not surprising, given my usual temperament — a bit eerie.
Late one evening as I was getting ready for bed, I was in the shower — the bathroom is located off of the little hallway — when the same rotting smell suddenly rose up around me, permeating the steam of the shower. I gagged, nearly vomiting from the sudden, overpowering stench.
And, inexplicably, every hair on my body and scalp stood on end. I was chilled, despite the heat of the shower.
After a few moments, it passed.
After I got out of the shower, I checked the drains — the most likely source of the smell. Nothing.
We have not experienced the smell since.