A RIVER RUNS PUTRID: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sought in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that scorched the metropolis. An even more repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial effluents had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was oppressive, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and pe

The year 845 AD. A chill wind whistled across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent carrying salt and fear. The Norsemen had arrived, a ravenous swarm of warriors seeking riches. Their longships, like prowling predators, sliced through the waters, their standards fluttering in the wind. A city once proud now trembled beneath the shadow of the