THE THAMES RAN FOUL: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London breathed in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that scorched 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 845 AD. A chill wind whistled across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent of salt and fear. The Norsemen had arrived, a horde swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like serpents, sliced through the waters, their standards waving in the wind. A city once peaceful now trembled beneath the shadow of Ragnarök. Paris, the