THE THAMES RAN FOUL: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London breathed in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that scorched 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 overwhelming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone a

The year eight hundred forty-five AD. A chill wind swept across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent emanating from salt and fear. The Norsemen had arrived, a horde swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like prowling predators, sliced through the waters, their flags fluttering in the wind. A city once proud now trembled beneath