
The Smell That Ruined My Life
Episode 16 | 14m 5sVideo has Closed Captions
A young man seeks to utilize trauma in order to forget about a horrid smell.
A young man ponders the powerful influence trauma can have over perception, recounting his own trauma caused by discovering a beached whale. The foul smell of death and decay leaves him with olfactory hallucinations and a fear of oceans, associating them with mortality. In an attempt to face his fears, he is met with surreal encounters with people that may be key in beating his own affliction.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
WHRO Public Lens is a local public television program presented by WHRO Public Media

The Smell That Ruined My Life
Episode 16 | 14m 5sVideo has Closed Captions
A young man ponders the powerful influence trauma can have over perception, recounting his own trauma caused by discovering a beached whale. The foul smell of death and decay leaves him with olfactory hallucinations and a fear of oceans, associating them with mortality. In an attempt to face his fears, he is met with surreal encounters with people that may be key in beating his own affliction.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch WHRO Public Lens
WHRO Public Lens is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- I'd like to have a little bit of trauma.
Trauma helps you remember things you know, you know, no more.
So I'd rather switch a memory or two out with something else.
These pills are fucking useless.
You know why I take these?
It's 'cause I saw a dead whale once.
Now that is a smell that never leaves you alone, man.
Have you ever smelled a dead whale?
No.
It's life changing.
It's scary how life changing it is.
And that's just one thing I would say the scariest part of it all is the ocean itself.
Like this smell, this deathly smell it.
It comes from the ocean.
And that's all I think about when I see the ocean now.
Just death, you know, like whale strandings and pirates and sharks and sonar impacts and the Titanic.
But none of that.
With the Great Lakes though, everything's just peachy and lively over here.
You have no idea how debilitating that smell is.
- Sir.
- Sir, are you okay?
- I'm fine.
- It just looks like you're gonna pass out.
- No, I'm, I'm, I'm fine.
- Do you need me to get you anything?
I'm - Fine.
Fuck off, - Asshole.
- It's so strange to me because I'm here.
I know I'm looking at Lake Michigan, but it still feels like I'm looking at the ocean.
I wonder why scary things tend to stick Sometimes all you can really do is hope they get replaced by something even scarier.
- Excuse me.
Are you sniffing an air freshener?
- Yeah.
- Oh, alright then.
Yeah.
I got something for you.
I mean myself.
Quite a coincidence, eh?
Yeah, for sure.
Well make sure you give that a sniff.
- How is it?
- Did you follow me?
Yes.
How is it?
Salty sea.
Salty.
Exactly.
That's why you walked over here.
I knew you would.
Can you go away please?
I'm here to help.
Do you think you're gonna go back east or route down here?
- Who are - You?
Forget about it.
Just keep smelling it.
What?
I said keep smelling it.
This'll help with the whale.
- Whatever the fuck that was.
It almost worked.
Like I smelled sea salt here and there.
Like it.
It almost sort of, kind of got rid of the smell, but it didn't last very long.
It guess it wasn't enough anyway.
I didn't mean to bother you, man.
I'm sorry.
- Yeah man.
I'm just trying to fish here.
- I only came over to ask if you had seen two girls here at some point.
- No.
- One of 'em forgot to take their hoodie back.
That was really nice of her.
Why did I do that?
- I think I can do it.
Okay.
Just a little bit more.
Oh, nope.
Oh my gosh.
- Hey, are you okay?
- No, I'm not.
Do you guys not smell that?
Smell?
- What?
- This The, the rotten eggs, the gas, the shits.
- There is no smell.
I don't smell anything.
- It's literally everywhere.
- I don't smell anything.
- Why not?
What's his problem?
Because I don't know.
Whatcha you looking at?
Nothing.
You're being creepy.
You don't know me.
You don't even know why I'm here.
I don't wanna know you.
Fuck you.
Fuck, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.
- Hey, - Where's your friend?
- I don't know where she went.
- She went forest.
When - Memory's afraid of oceans.
- Really good thing is in an ocean.
- We've been working on it.
She's been slowly going further out.
I don't know what happened this time.
- I'm afraid of Oceans two.
I actually used to live near one, but I came here to get away from it.
- Why?
- Too many, too many things die in too many different ways.
I knew someone who drove off a bridge once.
They called me to help him stay awake, but I fell asleep.
So did they.
- Something like that happened here before.
- It's all the same no matter where you go.
I guess - She was doing so good.
- Oh, I'm sure she's okay.
- If I leave it with you, can you give it back to her for me and tell her I said thanks, - Buddy.
If it's not working, then just go inland.
You don't have to be by water.
- Well, I'm just talking about the hoodie.
- Go see a doctor.
- Yeah, I did.
It didn't work.
What else?
- Sorry.
Support for PBS provided by:
WHRO Public Lens is a local public television program presented by WHRO Public Media















