Around the world there are hundreds of reports of ghosts and ghouls that leave pungent smells where they roam. And in York, Europe’s most haunted city, such otherworldly odours certainly aren’t in short supply. Now, for the first time, people can buy a copy of this unusual limited edition guidebook and actually experience those paranormal pongs, as the scents of York’s smelliest ghosts have been captured from beyond the grave and infused into the UK’s first-ever olfactory travel guidebook.
Commissioned by Visit York, this quirky guidebook was first piloted earlier in 2014, its aim being to entice new tourists to York by giving readers the chance to embark on an olfactory odyssey into the heart of England’s iconic historic city and its surrounding countryside.
Tourism agency Visit York was inundated with requests for a copy of the world’s first ever scented guidebook earlier this year when 200 trial copies were snapped up within just one day.
As well being infused with the supernatural scents of bad eggs and roses (associated with two of York’s most fragrant phantoms[1]) the guidebook contains the evocative aromas of coal, steam and oil from the golden age of York’s railways, the smells of horses galloping to the finish line at York Racecourse and the fresh fragrance of wild heather growing on the world-famous North York Moors.
Other sweet smells infused into the olfactory guidebook include delicious notes of luxurious chocolate (representing the city’s chocolate making heritage), an afternoon tea of cream cakes and scones and the city’s abundant daffodils which can be seen in springtime.
