Distinct smells with no source

I thought this might be a good topic, as I know it happens to a few of my friends. My significant other keeps getting the smell of smoke, as if from a smoker walking past him. It's strong and shocks him every time. There is no source for this - we both don't smoke and there is no other source but a spirit walking through. It lasts less than a minute but seems to be consistent. It happens to hi at work, at home, in a restaurant. Place doesn't matter.

Anyone else have a smell that seems to follow them - coming and going with no known source?

Yes. The smell of smoke is one of them that I get now and then. I have read where there is a condition called parosmia where people smell bad smells, and commonly smoke. It can be linked to a sinus infection, but also other causes that involve damage to the olfactory nerve. I had this for a period of time when I had a sinus infection, and swore that someone was smoking when they weren't. A couple of times it turned out that I smelled it and there were smokers around, but it was during the same time period. It happened recently, where we walked into a pub, and it was really strong, but that could have been someone smoking outside, as there was a back exit.
The funny thing is, as I am typing this, I am getting a faint smell of cigarette smoke, as well. LOL

There are stories linked to Old Town, San Diego, and the Whaley House that you may have heard of. (I am a San Diego resident and love to visit Old Town). People will smell cigar smoke around the Whaley House which is said to be Thomas Whaley's ghost as he had an affinity for cigars.

Another related phenomenon I get is the feeling of breezes right around my face and shoulders. This happened recently when I was talking with my daughter about my mom and dad, who have both passed on. I asked my daughter to put her hand in the same area a few times while I felt that. She didn't feel a difference, but I continued to feel the breeze for about a minute. Weird.

I think I know what both of you are talking about. If I clean with Clorox, I will later smell Clorox that day in places where there is no Clorox. The smell is in my sinuses or something. Not to long ago, though, I was driving in my SUV and thinking of someone I knew who smoked. Suddenly, I clearly smelled cigarette smoke in the vehicle, even though there has been absolutely no smoking in that SUV since I got it eight years ago. I don't smoke and had been around no cigarette smoke for quite a while. Yes, the person I was thinking of is departed.

We built our current home on a block of land that was once owned by my husbands Grandparents. They owned it for over 50 years and had a few trees on it and a shed that the Grandfather and his children would spend time in. They lived in the house next door to us, which we also lived in whilst our house was being built. They raised their four kids next door and they have all either passed on or are elderly now. Two brothers are late 70's.

My husbands Grandfather smoked. No one here does. Many times I have smelt cigarette smoke in my home. We have been here 15 years and it seems to happen on anniversaries of their deaths or births. I have a great memory for dates, I can remember the birthday of everyone I have met!

We also have a row of Lilies down the fence line between the two properties. No matter what we do to these Lilies, we cannot kill them. They just keep growing back.

My husband's Grandma always wore a certain perfume and on the anniversary of her birth and death, I can smell it wherever I go. Inside, outside, at the shops; doesn't matter. It almost feels like it is everywhere, but others can't smell it. I loved her a lot.

So yes, totally understand that smells without a known source do happen!

A couple of times i have smelt perfume but i had no idea where it came from but i did get a feeling of a powerful energy and presence from it. A few times also i have had not so nice smells which i'm not sure how to describe, i thought they came from the old docks in my town but i noticed them away from there.

The smells with no source can accompany burgouing pychic visions. On the other hand, occasionally it is something medical, light to really severe. There is nothing wrong with getting this checked out by a doctor.

Shouldnt spirit be just energies? How could they produce physical smell?

I think it relates more to the ones who smell than from external factor?

Actually, all the information we experience is interpreted from various signals by the brain. We don't directly "smell" a scent. The information is received and translated into what we perceive as "scent" by the brain. So it is possible for the brain to remember a smell without directly experiencing the actual source.

Mere Dreamer said:

Actually, all the information we experience is interpreted from various signals by the brain. We don't directly "smell" a scent. The information is received and translated into what we perceive as "scent" by the brain. So it is possible for the brain to remember a smell without directly experiencing the actual source.

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But when we smell something, shouldn't we be more sceptical to our brain's interpretation?
What about our own feeling deluded ourselves and THINK we smell something from the spirits, but actually our mind created this imagination? e.g. When we remembering n miss our deceased loved ones and wanted so much get a sign, so our brain start creating this imaginated smell that only us can perceive.

Coz I wonder how spirits send out info to brain for us to perceive their smell? Are they able to remember which brain's frequency for specific smell? As I think it is hard for spirits to practice such things without being tune up with physical bodies.

There is a point where not trusting your mind becomes an obstacle to living. It's one thing to be skeptical of how we interpret a smell, for instance, but we basically have to accept that the smell is an experience or we could easily destabilize our emotions and even our minds with suspicion.

Have you ever walked along a narrow curb? If you step on an unstable portion and it rolls under your foot, you can easily lose your balance. You can always use the rest of your senses to check whether it was you just losing your balance or something under your feet that shifted. This allows you to understand the reason for stumbling. So let's say there really is a crack in the cement of the curb. You might never research the reason why that part was broken, causing you to lose your balance. You don't need to know that somebody used a sledge hammer on that section three weeks ago to know it was unstable to keep an eye out for cracks in the concrete.

But if you start to mistrust your ability to balance entirely, then no matter how steady the curb, you'll start to fall all the time because you'll begin compensating for an imbalance that doesn't exist. Mistrusting your real experience and ability to test possibilities and adjust to what you discover makes you unstable.

The same happens with all of our senses. When we trust ourselves enough to rationally look for explanations when something unexpected happens, then we can learn to remain stable even when the unexpected happens.

Even if we simply decide that sometimes we don't know what caused a smell, but that it always brings up certain memories, that is part of our ability to adapt and find balance. It's okay to acknowledge an experience for what it is, even if we don't understand it or know the complete cause. Maybe it's a medical problem that you can sort out with your doctor. Maybe it's spirits. Or maybe its your own mind automatically associating a scent with a specific memory.

Whatever the cause, you start by believing the scent and the memory are both there, together. Do you see? You can trust your experience without having to interpret it or explain it a certain way. It can simply be an experience to appreciate as it happens.

I understand what u mean, "believe whatever we want to believe".

However, I do think mind is a very powerful tool to create, as we always hear "what you think, what u will become". I would suggest those whoever easily get neg emotions/ thoughts & such perception might give only more unfavorable experience, so I would suggest to try to be more sceptical & not to believe smell from unknown source, to be exactly from invisible strangers, as we should not create unnecessary karma, such as attracting unwanted spirit to start hanging around with you (let's say an angry ex-smoker) as we do believe this being is trying to give a goosebump & give ppl fear, etc. when this soul is in the instable state of afterlife, like can't accept the incident that happened to him & made him lose his life & frustrated.

So even if it's true they are there, they will lose interest, if u ignore them or dont give the attention nor what they want. Law of attraction. The more you believe their existence, the more they are attracted to you & they can't get enough to be around you, as your fear gives what they need.

On the other hand, if you admit such smell just as a one-time experience, for example u need a comfort & confirmation from your deceased loved one to give a sign that he/she's fine & still alive. Such experience gives different impact; it gives a peaceful benefit from both parties, so that human left behind & deceased loved one can move forward to the next level of their own life where the soul knows that their family will do fine without them & they can continue their things & the family know that their loved one is peaceful, so they can continue with their life mission on earth. Don't u think the same as me on this one?

Oh, I agree that being fearful creates problems. I simply think fear is problematic in every part of life not just psychic experiences.

What I was describing in the negative part of the balance illustration was about fear, really. If you're always afraid then you will unbalance yourself even if there's nothing to harm you. Obviously if there is some additional, unexpected problem, the fall will be even harder, too.

The habit of approaching life through a filter of fear needs to be dealt with as a whole perspective, not just assumed to be a supernatural thing. Everything we experience in life is a part of how we live. I don't see much of a separation between the spiritual and the tangible. Both sides of us inevitably depend on developing the same character traits. That's part of why I think people who don't remember past lives, are atheists, or who take alternate spiritual paths (even religions) are probably all making progress in their own ways. We don't even need to experience the supernatural to learn the skills to handle the supernatural if it comes our way.

In the end, no matter how it happens, we eventually discover we can trust ourselves to learn from anything and choose the best perspective in order to make progress and develop as individuals.

Every once in a while I smell amber, and it doesnt really matter where I am. I dont have any amber perfume or anything, but I used to have an amber candle I would burn whenever I was down and needed comfort (even if that comfort was the simple scent of a candle)--I've since burned through that candle and threw its glass jar away. That was several years ago, but since then I'll just get random whiffs of amber, and reading the comments above I wonder if its just my subconcious trying to cheer me up or if it a spiritual thing? I always assumed it was a spiritual thing since I rely on my spirit guide a lot, especially when I'm down about something, and the smell always brings me comfort.

rose. more recent, incense when there is none burning.

when i was younger, i distinctly remember feeling the ends of a woman's hair brush across me. i have always been curious who would be close to me in this way.

phantom scents and phantom touch are an interesting topic. thank you rhi for bringing it back to my attention. amber, i imagine that's a special and comforting experience.

when I had lost someone I love who had died, that is, I would from time to time suddenly smell this person, and I could not make up my mind if it was me doing this or perhaps this person's ghost doing this ?

I know of different smells from my past life than I have smelled in my own life time. I also know voices from past lives that I know I have not heard in this life. So that make me think my soul has restored these smells and sounds somehow and I know them by heart. So I hear things without hearing them, I smell thing without having smelled them. So strange. I don't think one can understand this unless it has happened to one self.

/Jaimie

I often pick up the scent of a floral perfume in my room. Not overpowering, but very distinctive. Can't figure out exactly what it is and there's nothing in my room that's creating that smell.

Yes!!!

When I believed I was being visited by my past life husband's ghost I would in memories smell the scent of what he use to inhale for pain relief and his smoke and his sweat.
I think the smell of sweat is individual. I for one do not know anyone who has the same sweat smell, do you? Am just curious.

The smell of lavender was also something that would suddenly come and go even at work or other places.

Best Wishes

Li La