Mysterious Maple scent in Manhattan confounds officials

[Legs]

It was as if someone poured a vat of maple syrup on City Hall Park.

Or maybe it was vanilla coffee, one police officer downtown suggested. Hazelnut, said a passerby. Pancakes, glazed doughnuts and roasted peanuts, suggested others.

It doesn't smell like it's usually supposed to smell out here, that's for sure," said Danny Alvarez, 26, of Brooklyn, who stood at what appeared to be the eye of the scent storm.

By 9 p.m., from Battery Park to Chinatown, scores of reports (http://www.nynewsday.com/news/printedition/newyork/nyc-nyair284487415oct28,0,6150221.story?coll=nyc-nynews-print) had wafted in to 311, the city's information hotline, and to 911, of a "sweet smell" that was out of the ordinary. One person interviewed on the street noted that certain noxious chemicals often smell that way.

And so, in a city where suspicious packages cause daily, hours-long traffic delays, the calls were enough to prompt a brief but immediate response by emergency officials, who fanned out, armed with sensors trying to determine the source of the smell.

[alphamale]

It's a plot involving canadians and al qaeda.

[Dingfod]

I can think of a lot worse things to smell than maple syrup.

[livius drusus]

Damn. That list of flavours sounds like paradise to me. The property values probably just skyrocketed.

[Dingfod]

Imagine living downwind of that smell and a bakery? Heaven.

[The Lone Ranger]

Some sort of glycol ether, perhaps -- ethylene glycol (antifreeze) for instance? Glycol ethers tend to have a sweet smell and taste (unfortunately, they're poisonous, which is why antifreeze spills wind up killing animals -- they're attracted to the sweet taste and drink the stuff), and they're about the consistency of maple syrup, so the odor would linger for awhile.

Maybe somebody spilled a bunch of the stuff somewhere in the area?

Cheers,

Michael