Seattle Gets Doused in a Mysterious 'Stinky Fog'

It's one of the most sublime weather events out there: a massive fogbank moving through a major city, clamping a cottony filter on noise, turning skyscrapers into shadowy, ethereal monoliths, perfuming the air with notes of "pulp mill" and "sewer."

Wait—that last part doesn't sound nice. Yet, that's what happened Tuesday night in Seattle when a mysterious mist with a putrid smell crept into town. Theories about its source have abounded: a foul miasma brought in on a low tide; a factory spewing sulfurous emissions; something gunky going on in the city's drainage system. So far inspectors responding to citizen complaints haven't found anything.