Everyone unlucky enough to have class on the second floor is guaranteed to have noticed the odor that has been wafting around the halls lately. CRLS is no stranger to odd emanations, every day here tends to bring new surprises, however, this one is one of the strongest to conquer the halls.
The new stench has been described by several CRLS students using very colorful words that all get at the same point: it’s really bad. Maddy Monestime ’26 described to the Register Forum it as “the most ‘gaggable’ smell,” while Anneliese Mattox ’24 said to Register Forum it’s “foul, ghastly, unacceptable.”
Many suspect that the odor is tied to the boy’s bathroom. Considering the fact that the boys’ bathroom lies in the epicenter of the horrible effluvium it’s hard to ignore that theory. Paired with the new “bathroom doors must be propped open” policy, all signs point to the second-floor boys’ bathroom being the culprit.
Others speculate that the smell is something that died somewhere in the building. CRLS is known for having a rat problem making it hard to discredit the idea that one may have died and has yet to be located. Considering that the smell seems to get more and more unbearable every day, the “dead rat” theory is definitely a plausible one.
The issue goes deeper than just being uncomfortable the moment one passes through the hall. Various students mentioned that the smell ruins their mood and affects their day-to-day lives; Elijah Bartholomew ’26 confessed to the Register Forum: “If that stench didn’t exist I would have a 4.5 weighted GPA.” Knowing that somewhere in the building is an odor so foul Shrek himself would cower can admittedly be quite distracting.
At the end of the day, CRLS will always be riddled with peculiar smells no matter the hallway or stairwell you may find yourself in. While the infamous aroma of the second floor of the Rindge building may have scarred us all, we can find peace in the fact that the worst is over. Nothing will top the odor that traveled through the halls on the last day of school last year.
This article also appears in our October 2023 print edition.
