A RIVER RUNS PUTRID: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

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

The year 845 AD. A chill wind blasted across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent of salt and fear. The Norsemen were upon us, a horde swarm of warriors seeking riches. Their longships, like beasts of the north, sliced through the waters, their standards billowing in the wind. A city once peaceful now trembled beneath the threat of the comin