if SAD wasn't already bad enough...they are now tainting us with hunger!

The Maple Syrup Smell... is Back for 2009!

In a city full of foul aromas, a mysterious sweet smell is receiving a lot of attention after residents throughout Manhattan began reporting it Thursday night. Calls have been pouring in to the city's 311 hotline and to 911 from Manhattan residents wondering just what the smell is. Many describe it as smelling like maple syrup. Other say it smells like flavored coffee or roasted nuts.

"It started at work about 8:30 Thursday night,” said one aroma-witness. “I was at the computer and I felt like, I don't even know, maybe someone had some maple syrup and they were typing away and I was typing and it got on me somehow. I was laying in bed last night and I felt like I had maple syrup in my nostrils."

Officials from the Office of Emergency Management have been running tests all night to try to figure out just what the smell is. A spokesman says air samples aren't showing anything hazardous, the source of the smell is still not clear.

In the past hour, we've received five emails alerting us to the alarming news: The sticky sweet scent of maple syrup has made its 2009 debut! So far, the smell appears to concentrated on the Upper West Side, but please let us know if you've suddenly gotten hungry for pancakes because the scent of breakfast has been so overpowering.

Previous maple syrup incidents: October 2005, March 2006, November 2006, November 2007, and May 2008. Plus a November 2007 cameo on 30 Rock.

Update: We added two more smellings (one at West 80th & Amsterdam, the other on East 82nd between Park and Lexington).

Update (11:15 p.m.): More smellings added to the map-"We thought at first it was her neighbors doing something kinky, or that it was a new form of bioterrorism!"

Update (11:34 p.m.): "In Tudor City, 43rd and 1st. I thought it was my own sweet bo at first!"

I myself, smelt the sweet aroma on my way home last night...this is no joke my friends...