Egner’s personal favorite haunted scent experience was another bait-and-switch scene: as visitors approached a dimly lit table, they could smell roast turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and see dishes piled high with food—which turned out, on closer inspection, to be cured hog guts and other viscera. “I’m sure that we ruined somebody’s Thanksgiving that year,” Egner told me gleefully.

The Soap Factory does make visitors sign a waiver before they enter the Haunted Basement. “It’s intense,” Egner said, adding that, most years, one or two patrons vomit during their visit (requiring a sanitary cleanup and adding an extra layer to the smellscape).

— Lillian Egner talks to the New Yorker about the use of smell in The Soap Factory's annual Haunted Basement in New York City. Read more at The Smell of Death.