The mystery globs that washed up on the shores of Canada’s Atlantic island province of Newfoundland off Placentia Bay for weeks in September have just been demystified by Australian authorities.
Black balls also marred the beaches of Sydney, Australia, turning away beachgoers on 17 October. A team of scientists at the University of New South Wales that investigated the phenomenon recently released their findings as to what those globs were.
What were initially suspected to be tar balls turned out to be fatbergs or solidified sewer deposits after lab tests. They were lumps of “human feces, methamphetamine, human hair, fatty acids, and food waste, among hundreds of other vile and befuddling substances,” CNN reports.
“They smelled absolutely disgusting, they smelled worse than anything you’ve ever smelled,” lead investigator Associate Professor Jon Beves told CNN affiliate 9News.
Tests on the fatbergs, however, could not establish their origin, though passing ships are suspected of spilling them.
Meantime, there was no explaining what the brown liquid was that burst out of a pipe and shot up as high as the nearby buildings on a Moscow street last month.
Witnesses recorded the fountain and posted the spectacular videos on Telegram.
Anton Geraschenko, advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said in a post on Telegram the sewage system in Moscow had broken down.
Ukrainians, who are in a war with Russians, appeared pleased, with Geraschenko describing it as “a sh*t show,” yahoo! news reports.