A RIVER RUNS PUTRID: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

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

The year eight hundred forty-five AD. A chill wind whistled across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent carrying salt and fear. The Norsemen were upon us, a ravenous swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like wolves, sliced through the waters, their standards waving in the wind. A city once confident now trembled beneath the th