Maybe we're all pregnant?

Mystery Smell Of Syrup Returns To New York

NEW YORK -- For the second time in two months, a mysterious maple syrup aroma wafted over Manhattan on Thursday, and city officials still don't know what caused it.

Callers to the city's 311 help line and the Fire Department reported the pleasant scent around 3:30 p.m. in neighborhoods from midtown to the Upper East and West sides.

"The calls aren't exactly complaints," city Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Ian Michaels said Friday. That's no surprise in a city where a host of less appetizing smells are often on the menu.

Michaels said the odor appeared to be the same one people detected in late October, mostly in lower Manhattan.

The agency sent out its hazardous materials team to take instant readings of the air from neighborhoods where the calls originated, but nothing dangerous was found. Air samples brought in for additional testing were also negative.

"It is once again a mystery. It seems to be gone," Michaels said.