Residents Across Northern Virginia Report Mysterious Foul Smell

MANASSAS, VA – Residents of Prince William and surrounding counties spent much of the weekend asking, “what’s that smell?”

From Haymarket to Dumfries in Prince William County and in parts of Fairfax, Loudoun and Stafford on Saturday, residents were asking each other on social media, “do you smell that?” Comments quickly filled with people comparing the odor in the air to rotten eggs, raw sewage, feces, a landfill and more.

Potomac Local News reports that Prince William County Fire and Rescue responded to 21 calls reporting a possible outside gas leak on Saturday morning between 7:20 a.m. and about 1:20 p.m. but found nothing amiss. County water and wastewater plants also reported no issues.

On Reddit, users complained of a bad smell from Alexandria to Loudoun County. Potomac Local News has a list of locations where residents reported the odor to them.

Most residents seemed to agree that the smell faded by afternoon, but not all.

No source has yet been identified.