A RIVER RUNS PUTRID: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that parched the metropolis. An even more repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial effluents had transformed London's lifeblood into a foul-smelling mire. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobbleston

The year the year of our Lord eight hundred and forty-five AD. A chill wind blasted across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent carrying salt and fear. The Norsemen were upon us, a stormy swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like prowling predators, sliced through the waters, their banners waving in the wind. A city once proud