‘What is a smell that we should all recognize as immediate danger?’ – 17 odours everyone needs to be aware of

There are certain scents that people are naturally repulsed by. We’re sure you don’t need us to go into the details of these pungent pongs.

But there are other odours which seem innocent enough on the surface, but actually suggest that danger lurks just around the corner. To sniff out these sinister smells, scarlettohara1936 put the following question to r/AskReddit:

‘What is a smell that we should all recognize as immediate danger?’

Nose pegs at the ready, here are the top answers…

1.

‘A combination of a horse stall/petting zoo and coffee grounds.

‘That’s male bear piss.’
-SL1Fun

2.

‘Idk the name for it but there is a smell I’ve smelled on 4 separate people and they all died a week later. It was like mold, old chicken and a heavy sour smell. I wish I was joking.’
-DumbestBitchYouKnow

3.

‘The smell of sulfur inside your home.

‘Indication of a gas leak.’
-B_man77

4.

‘Sour apple juice. If your pee smells like this, and you are not purposefully dieting, it could be diabetes. Have your blood sugar checked immediately. Most pharmacies can help.’
-TruCelt

5.

‘Rotting fish if you’re out hiking.

‘Bears, but grizzly bears in particular, smell very strongly of rotting fish, especially in the fall when they’re eating nothing BUT fish.

‘Bears also tend to be more aggressive during this time, because it’s both mating season and heavy feeding time. They get a sudden boost of eating energy to eat as much fatty foods as they can lay their paws on before hibernation, and they get kinda cranky.’
-totallynotalaskan

6.

‘Cat piss. I toured a house that was for rent, but it smelled like cat pee so I turned it down. I was weirdly sick for ten days afterward. I finally mentioned it to a doctor, who brought in their security guy (off-duty police officer.) It turns out that cooking meth smells like cat piss, and I had inhaled some pretty nasty chemicals.

‘I gave the officer the address and they were going to investigate. All I know from there is that they called the Dr. and confirmed the meth residue. She was told they would quarantine the building.’
-TruCelt

7.

‘If you’re out in the woods and you randomly smell bananas; back away as carefully and quietly as you can… angry bees release a “fight” pheromone that smells like bananas to us.

‘Also not a good idea to eat bananas near a swarm for the same reason.’
-Background-Bee-2659

8.

‘Ozone

‘I smelled it in my backyard once, then heard a hiss and then KABOOOOOM!!!! Lightning struck an apple tree that was about ten meters from me.

‘The whole event took fractions of a second but my brain picked out each step like that.

‘In fact, I think the hiss came first, then the smell of burning air and then the blinding white light and then the soul-splitting cracking sound ⚡💥😱

‘Lightning sounds totally different up close like that. It was terrifying jfc.’
-LowerBed5334

9.

‘Ketones on someone’s breath.

‘If they aren’t doing a Keto diet and intentionally triggering this, it’s a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis and could be life-threatening.

‘I recognized this on my husband and told him that he needed to see a doctor; he was diagnosed with diabetes a week later.’
-Walmartian_Beta