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 baked the metropolis. An even more detestable force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial waste had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was oppressive, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and pervad

The year 845 AD. A chill wind whistled across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent emanating from salt and fear. The Norsemen were Paris 845 AD upon us, a horde swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like wolves, sliced through the waters, their banners waving in the wind. A city once confident now trembled beneath the shadow of