I was the disturbance in the neighborhood. David worked late, and the two Johns were in Tennessee. When I went out to get the mail, I smelled something awful. It was a chemical smell like nothing I had ever experienced before. Our common odors are liquid fertilizer applied to surrounding fields and the paper mill in Canton. This was far worse. Going back to the computer, I realized the smell was invading the bedroom. In fact, it was in every room, as well as on the porches and the deck. I texted four (yes, FOUR!) neighbors to ask them what they thought the smell was. Bless their hearts, all of them stepped outside and sniffed the air. They didn’t smell anything amiss.
Following is the message I sent to these wonderful neighbors:
“Thank you all very much for sniffing the air two days ago. Because I had a head cold, I went to bed early, not waiting up for David and the Johns to get home. I asked the first one up what he thought the smell was.
“Asking like I was a mental patient, he questioned, ‘Do you still smell it?’
“’Yes!’
“He said, ‘Well, there isn’t any bad smell here. The others didn’t smell anything, either.’
“A few hours later the odor in my head went away by itself. In all my born days, I never had anything like that before.”
Have any of you smelled something that no one else could, and did it go away by itself? I need company here!!!
Mehrling Muse 
I have never experienced this, but my mother sometimes did. She had a very sensitive nose and would smell things no one else did, but only occasionally. It does seem unusual, unless it had something to do with your head cold.
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I wouldn’t claim that awful smell for my own! It had to have been the head cold. I’m sure, at a minimum, I’ve had at least 77 colds. None were like this one!
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Likely, your cold was wreaking havoc on your sense of smell. If it makes you feel better, my family regularly laughs when I ask questions such as, “I smell gas. Does anyone else smell gas?” (and then I check the stove burners😄) There is an ongoing joke that I’m the only one who smells cigarette smoke a mile away. One of my kids bought a used car that I swore smelled like smoke and I have smelled it since the day she bought it. Sure enough, the previous owner was a smoker (but the rest of my family say they don’t smell it..?). I think people like you and I are just extra sensitive!😄
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The day I smelled the awful odor, I wished for less sensitivity.
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Hopefully, it was just a one-time strange happenjng for you.
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Yes, once was enough. If it happens again, I might burn incense.
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😄
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Head colds will get you one way or another. Maybe it was just that your smeller was haywire? All’s well that ends well– and with a story to tell.
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I’m so glad I couldn’t share that awful odor!
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I sometimes smell things others do not smell. I have no idea why this happens but many times it does turn out to be something awry. Never doubt your inner feelings!!
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I now doubt my inner nose!
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Good gracious Anne! That was a real corker! Hope smells have been replaced by delightful fragrances 🌺
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I’m thankful that I’m not smelling much of anything today!
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I have never heard of this. I hope you are feeling better soon. xo
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I am relieved to smell nothing! xo
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I too am a sensitive smeller! I can smell things no one else does. My biggest thing is the furnace filters, I know exactly when they need to be changed! I can spot a smoker miles off! I can smell them! Drives my hubs crazy, but I am always right! I have allergies too (I don’t even have to see or be near poison ivy to get it) and I get it sooooo bad, when I do, that I have to be hospitalized. I think the two are related, hyper sensitivities.
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Smelling too much has a down side!! That’s a pity you are so sensitive to poison ivy.
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I’ve been there, and done that, Anne. It was horrible. Were you on any new medication for the cold? I was given antibiotics in the hospital once that triggered the same thing. I have it on my blog, from 2014
https://ronscountry.com/depotblog/the-old-redbull-joke-is-no-longer-funny/
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Oh! You had it much worse than I did! I haven’t taken anything for my cold. Until the SMELL, it was just a common, ordinary cold.
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Well gosh I’m glad it wasn’t anything serious like a gas leak or chemical spill but it must be frustrating for you not to know what it was. I hope you feel better soon.
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Thank you. The cold will run its course, and I hope I never have anything like that again. The neighbors were very kind.
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How strange….but at least it wasn’t a fire in your house.
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You are right, Beverly. The smell could have been a real indication of a crisis.
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Certain pollens will do that to me once in a while, Anne. Let’s be glad it’s once in a very rare while, eh?
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Once was enough!! I hope you don’t have it often.
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I have a good sniffer. I have detected gas leaks when no one else did and there was one! I often drive people crazy because I go running around trying to find the source.
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You could hire out as a safety dog.
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You are super anti-COVID. Others get that and lose smell. You prove you are just having a normal cold with super smell !!! Glad you are feeling better. What an odd occurrence.
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If it happens again, I have several things I might try.
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Phantosmia, yes. I trot into a room and smell food that isn’t there or sometimes a perfume. I chalk it up to ghosts messing with me but I would say yours is because of your sinuses. That or you’re being forewarned of an upcoming gas explosion somewhere. Take your pick. I would stick with the sinuses. Glad it was nothing and glad you have such great neighbors. I prescribe treats and a good nap. God bless.
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I like your advice. I’ve had lots of naps.
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Naps cure everything. Almost everything.
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Oh no, I hope you are okay and that the smell did not return. Your neighbors were really nice though.
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The smell did not come back. What a relief!
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I too have smelled things that others can’t, but my superpower is hearing. Once I smelled gas, no one else did, but we called the fire dept. anyway. Good thing, we had a leak. Another time I smelled perfume, and another time I smelled smoke. I don’t recall anything outstanding about those times. Unfortunately, I can smell dead things when no one else seems to, which has led to some grisly discoveries, usually due to my very apt cat bringing me “presents” like the time I found a long-dead mouse under the buffet. 😦
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Usually if I smell something dead, others smell it, too. I’m envious of your super hearing. I used to be able to hear snow falling, but I’ve lost my edge.
Grandson David has taken my place.
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My boys tease me that I could hear a flea fart on the moon, but I don’t think it’s quite that good! 🤣🤣
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LOL!
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I had that happen once at work and thought there was smoke in the ladies’ bathroom. No one else could smell it and there was not a problem. That is the only time it ever happened, and I didn’t have a cold.
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That is interesting. Gee! The ladies’ bathroom? Smoke and mirrors, perhaps?
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LOL
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well at least you know you don’t have Covid Anne!
Did you figure out what the smell was?
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The smell was in my head and did not exist for anyone else. I have a head cold, but this is the first time I’ve had such a thing happen. I’m relieved it lasted only two days.
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You should mention that to your Doctor.
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This was the only time it happened to me. Crazy!
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Did you have somebody else beside you? You could smell it but they couldn’t?
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No, I was alone. David worked until 11 pm, and husband and son were on the way back from the next state. I had a cold, so I went to bed. It wasn’t until the next morning that they told me there was no bad smell, even though I could still smell it.
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Ha! I would never have guessed that YOU were the neighborhood disturbance, Anne. I hope your sense of smell is back to normal!
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I can’t smell much yet, because I still have the cold. At least I’m not smelling bad things that no one else smells.
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I have not done that, but I’ve heard noises in the neighborhood when folks on either side of me never heard them. We had a huge explosion about five years ago when a drunk driver plowed into the side of a natural gas pipe. He lived, got his hand slapped only, while it caused people to be evactuated, their siding to melt on their homes and caused me much angst at about 3:00 p.m. when it exploded maybe 4-5 miles from here. I had the A/C on and heard it … neighbors on either side heard nothing. I looked out the front door and saw a huge ball of fire in the distance. Such fear to wonder what it was and I could not get to the all-news station fast enough.
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That was terribly dramatic!
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Yes, it was terrible and I could not understand why everyone did not have their door open and looking out. Even me, who never opens the door in the dark (even in light, I look through the peephole), looked out because through the peephole I saw orange in the peephole. It made a loud noise when it exploded … neighbors said they didn’t hear a thing.
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Amazing!
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Goodness me. It is interesting how different people smell different things. My son is so sensitive with his nose, yet in his teenage years, could not smell his own B.O on a stinking hot summer day! I do get what you mean though. Hopefully it won’t return.
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This makes sense to me Anne. Whenever I used to go to my Grandma’s house I thought it smelled like natural gas. I would ask others if they smelled it and no one ever did! It is a mystery to me to this day why I smelled that and I was the only one.
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Did her house have natural gas??
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It did but no one else smelled it.
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You must have a very sensitive nose.
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