Ghosts and Smells - What One Has to Do with the Other

Do you smell that? It smells like cigar and peppermint though I can't see any smoke from a cigar and I'm sitting in a hotel that hasn't allowed smoking indoors for two years. I get up and sniff around but the smell doesn't seem to be concentrated in one area and while I'm sniffing it disappears just as suddenly as it appeared. How does a smell do that? It isn't until a full day later that I learn one of the ghostly complaints in this previously private mansion turned hotel is the smell of cigars and peppermint, the first owner's signature. Though he died in the 1800's the smell still appears sometimes in all different parts of the original mansion. The staff tries to keep the ghosts very hush-hush but one did tell me that when they smell that they just say hello to him and go about their business. This is the nature of a certain type of activity commonly referred to as a perfume ghost.

While I have encountered several different kinds of "perfume ghosts" there are many more smells that I have yet to encounter, some of which I am grateful for. Even though the term has the word perfume in it the actual smell does not have to be that of a ladies perfume (though sometimes it is). It refers more to a particular smell that is thought to be caused by a specific ghostly presence. And though the definition of perfume is generally along the line of saying something is "sweet smelling" that is also not always the case when it comes to perfume ghosts. The best way I can describe this term would be to ask you to think of someone who you associate a specific smell with. For me I would pick my Grandma and the Oil Of Olay that she always wore. If I were to be driving in my car in the dead of winter with the heat blasting and get a whiff of that smell I would immediately think of my Grandma. The same thing works with perfume ghosts. Some just tend to bring a certain smell along with them as they pass by or enter a room. People who deal with perfume ghosts on a regular basis (such as a homeowner) might get to the point where they say hello when they smell that certain smell or conversely know to leave an area if that smell starts to become noticeable.

There are literally hundreds of well-known haunted locations around the world that include a perfume ghost. To name just a few:

- The Octagon (Washington D.C.) has a ghost that smells like lilacs.

- There is an Opera House in NY that is said to get wafts of roses at the oddest times (and when none are present). The smell is thought to come from the ghost of an actress who died in the Opera House many years ago.

- A high school in Wyoming deals with the occasional unidentified foul odor that they associate with their ghost. When this scent is noticed they try to leave the area.

While those cases are thought to be caused by a specific ghost there is also a phenomena that does carry a distinction and would not be labeled a perfume ghost. This different kind of phenomena does have to do with smells, which is what can catch some people up. The difference is that these smells appear to have more to do with being types of residual imprints left in the area at some time in the locations past. No actual 'ghost' is associated with these smells though an incident in the locations past may be the culprit. Here are some examples of non-perfume ghosts:

- Gettysburg (PA) has had several reports from people smelling gunpowder on the days that reenactments are not taking place.

- Chicken soup is often smelled in the Winchester Mystery House (Jan Jose, CA)

- A private home in Michigan completely revamped an old stable and turned it into a garage. Even with the cement floors and insulated walls the smell of horse stalls is sometimes overpowering.

- One hotel in California has a room that gets several complaints a year about it smelling strongly of gunpowder (a man shot himself in that room several years ago).

One interesting tidbit about perfume ghosts would be that they are rarely the only signs of a haunting. In the case where there is thought to be several ghosts only one ghost could give off the smell, thereby distinguishing it from the others. When looking into cases that claim odd smells it can be tricky to place the label of perfume ghost, as there are a lot of factors that have to be ruled out before hand. One example that I personally have dealt with would be a woman who contacted me about her basement smelling of roses at odd times of the day and night during the end of summer. She swore up and down that she never used rose scented anything (spray, candles, soap, rug cleaner, potpourri, etc.) and that she couldn't think of any logical explanation of why that smell would start every year near the end of summer. I went over a checklist with her of things she should look over including drawing a rough picture of how the room was laid out showing where the door, stairs and any windows were located. She ended up going a bit further and also drew how her landscaping was around the basement. (Are you thinking what I'm thinking yet?) She sent me her drawing and guess what I saw? She had a window that was placed less than ten feet from her rose bushes outside. When I mentioned this to her she swore that her window had no gaps but that she would have her husband check. It turned out that there was a little slit above the window that after being caulked stopped the mysterious rose smell in the basement. That example shows everyone that sometimes you have to think out of the box, or in this case out of the basement, when trying to rule out suspected paranormal phenomena.

As I said a little earlier, not all perfume ghosts are sweet smelling. In fact one smell that is associated with an entity is not thought to be that of a ghost at all, but a demon. Many demonologists will tell you that the smell of sulphur is a big hint to vacate the area. As with many things in this field though there is nothing definite. One great example would be one that a friend (and fellow investigator) in Arizona met with. He was investigating a home where a lady thought that her (deceased) husband was hanging around and making noise in the basement that was previously his workroom. The team got there and went to work. Almost immediately the smell of sulphur from the basement grabbed their attention. They all passed each other the "be careful" look and set out to find any more signs of this supposed haunting. Noises were indeed heard coming from the basement while the team was there. They stopped whenever a team member went near the basement door. Off and on through the night the team (as a whole and separately) would catch the smell of sulphur either in passing or strongly. At the end of the night they packed up and went home to review their findings. They had several EVP from a man and caught sounds on the camcorder from the basement that sounded like things were being moved around. When they went back to talk with the lady the lead investigator started off by asking about the odd sulphur smell. The lady laughed and waved it off. She said her husband often smelled of sulphur and the smell emanated from the basement while he was alive. You see, her husband was a licensed pyrotechnician and used to make his own fireworks (including sulphur) in their basement. Though she claimed that she never could stand the smell she always thinks of her husband when she smells it. Besides the semi-nauseating smell of sulphur perfume ghosts have been reported to give of the smell of decaying meat, excrement, vomit, body odor, sour milk and ripe garbage. While those sound bad we can temper them with the good, those being things such as roses, gardenias, lilacs, soap, sweet candy, butterscotch and lavender (to name a few).

One thing is for sure when it comes to perfume ghosts. Be they good, bad or horrible they are all distinctive in their own right. While some seem to blend smells most tend to stick with one, which is probably a good thing, as I can't imagine vomit and butterscotch smelling particularly good together. Keep perfume ghosts in mind the next time you get a whiff of something unexpected and unexplained.