Dutch scientists use smell to recreate JFK, Diana and other famous death scenes
AFP

Princess Diana

Dutch scientists are recreating the deaths of some of the world’s most famous personalities by reconstructing their last moments using scents and sounds.

From the sweet smell of Jacqueline Kennedy’s perfume mingled with the scent of John F. Kennedy’s blood to Whitney Houston’s last drug-fuelled moments in a Beverly Hills bathtub, scientists at Breda university say they offer visitors a unique, if somewhat macabre, historical snapshot.

“We all have seen the images of JFK’s assassination, but what did it smell like?” asks Frederik Duerinck, from the communication and multimedia design faculty of Breda’s Avans university of applied sciences.

To find out, visitors with a sense of the morbid are invited to lie in a series of four silver metal boxes similar to those found in a morgue.

The boxes, which are pitch-dark inside, are rigged with pipes leading to bottles containing pressurised smells.

A soundtrack is played and on queue different scents are released into the box to recreate a specific “final moment.”

For around five minutes, visitors can relive the smells and sounds believed to have surrounded four people whose deaths are etched into the world’s collective memory: Kennedy (1963); Princess Diana (1997); Moamer Kadhafi (2011) and Whitney Houston (2012).

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/dutch-scientists-use-smell-to-recreate-jfk-diana-and-other-famous-death-scenes-50365.php

-- Phuket News 2015-01-02

I wonder what smells and sounds, will scientists create to commemorate my death?

Probably had an EU grant to pursue this ridiculous 'research'

I wonder what smells and sounds, will scientists create to commemorate my death?

Yer trolleys and yer socks!!!

You lose control of your bowels and bladder when you die...do they recreate that smell too?

I believe that is what this kind of research smells like!

These people are sick. Wasn't Dr. Josef Mengele Dutch. I've had to be around the dead and dying in all states of decomposition. The sights, sounds and smells are different and memorable but nothing anyone but the deranged or sadistic would want to sample at their leisure.

I wonder what smells and sounds, will scientists create to commemorate my death?

Yer trolleys and yer socks!!!

Thank you......you're being very diplomatic.

I like people like you.

Thank you!! and a very......................ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος (ef̱tychisméno to néo étos)........... to you too mate!!!

Those Dutch.

Perchance those, ''Dutch scientists are wearing ''Dutch Caps''?

They would indeed be the appropriate headgear for this unique group.

Edited January 2, 201511 yr by siampolee

I hope they do not include Elvis's final smells...

Is this science or pseudo-science crossed with modern art? I am reminded of the Yorvik exhibition in York where a mock up of a Viking village includes simulated smells of the scenes depicted. The smell of the cesspit was not at all realistic, which I suppose was a relief. What I would like to see is the trail of money used to fund this experiment.

Guess they got some climate change research funding.

More good money down the stinking drain. Why not just remember the sweet things about people.? Or is that just too sane?

These people are sick. Wasn't Dr. Josef Mengele Dutch. I've had to be around the dead and dying in all states of decomposition. The sights, sounds and smells are different and memorable but nothing anyone but the deranged or sadistic would want to sample at their leisure.

No, Mengele was a German - and Dutch people hate Germans (like the French do).

Since when has Breda a university. They never had!!! And they never will have !!!

Hoax !!!

Really one of the strangest stories I have ever read.

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First question to leap into my mind was "Why?"

Second was "Don't they have anything better to do?"

Please don't let the Thai police know about this. It will add a whole new dimension to their crime reenactments.

Smells like teen spirit.

I wish historical dramas could have smellovision, considering Europeans lack of bathing not that many centuries ago.... explaining why perfume became such big business in France. Was it Liz first bathed once a month (or was it year?) "whether she needed to or not"?

They want to get a proper job, like Traffic Wardens? Bunch of Useless To $$ ers!