Have you ever smelled something and been transported back to a specific moment in your life?

Question

The part of the brain responsible for processing smells is also linked to memory and emotion. So it makes sense that a certain scent can bring good/bad feelings or memories.

Staximus · Accepted Answer

There used to be this mall when I was a little kid in Torrance California called the Old Towne Mall, I used to love going there. The place smelled like carmel popcorn, the most amazing smell floating through the air. Whenever I go to a mall that has a place that makes carmel popcorn, it takes me back in time to the early 80's. They had a bandstand in the middle of a big food court and there was an old ragtime style band that would play. The singer was this dude dressed up like an early 1900's policeman and he was called "the singing policeman", big surprise there haha. I remember the last song I heard him sing with the band before they took out the food court and bandstand, it was this song

BruceWayne987 · Accepted Answer

That’s so crazy that you asked this question. The other day I was in the elevator and this woman walked in and I got a smell of her perfume and it smelled just like the perfume that my girlfriend from a few years ago would wear. I asked her if it was by Victoria secret and she said yes… ended up not being exactly the same stuff but smelling it just made me feel like I jumped in a Time Machine and was with her again. Thankfully the woman didn’t find it weird that I asked that question and we had a nice short little convo and went on our separate ways.

IslaTheWitch · Accepted Answer

when I was a kid growing up behind the Iron Curtain I saw, smelled and tasted oranges only once per year - for Christmas... big ships from Cuba were transporting unripped and sour AF oranges to Poland... but the aroma... oranges and tangerines always bring Christmas memories to me... :D

xcheerleader_jessx · Accepted Answer

The smell of a camp fire takes me back to my aunt's little town in mexico. I'd go to some of her acquaintances houses and they have a wood fire going like this one, ready to cook their food and hand made tortillas

WhiteSteve · Answer

Definitely. I don’t know exactly what it is, might be some specific brand or type of janitorial chemical for mopping floors, but I run into it every once in a blue moon, and it brings me back to elementary school, I think late in the day, when everyone was either in class or had gone home, and it was after lunch, so the janitor had just mopped by the cafeteria.

Then mothballs remind me of one of my grandparents’ houses, haha

TrueConfection · Answer

Yes! Walking through a department store like Macys always takes me back to being a young girl and spending hours browsing those beautiful stores. They are not at all what they used to be, but they still smell the same.

Keyboardkat · Answer

I posted this elsewhere on GAG. But one of my most beloved girlfriends from my grad school days used to wear only Emeraude perfume! I can never smell that fragrance without thinking of her, and it's been over five decades!

Simslover92 · Answer

It's weird but sometimes when I workout, I smell the guy I lost my virginity to. He was sort of a gym rat so that might be why lol but he had a specific scent that just transports me back to him and being with him.

sage2021 · Answer

God made our sense of smell with a built in memory. Isn't that cool?

So, yes, I remember the fragrance of my mother's perfume that was her signature. She always smelled like it. Other women wear it as well and every once in a while a lady will pass by me and smell like my mom.

Raphaëlle · Answer

Both good and bad I suppose. One good one is when I made a specific brand of fries and got reminded of a roommate who used to make the same ones. They made them often and our kitchen would smell lol.

Finchie40 · Answer

Oh yes , whether it’s a good smell or a bad smell , I will sometimes have a flash back of where and when I smelled that smell before. Some are good memories and some are bad lol

WhitneySnow · Answer

Yes. One time I smelled coconut and was transported back to a time when I was seven and had a big slice of coconut cake at a restaurant in Delaware.

Booboolove69 · Answer

Yes when I smell honey sickle flowers it brings back happy memories of a particular time when I was young

DryGermanGuy · Answer

The kitchens of my grandmothers with smells of the spice shelf or a freshly baked cake always reminded me of a happy childhood.

Sal_Monella · Answer

Boy, have I ever. I was in some store, and that girl passed by me who was wearing a Cologne that smelled a lot like what I remember was called Tabu by Dana. I spent lots of hours in "close proximity" to my high school girlfriend and she always smelled like that. Fond memories.

Jay-_- · Answer

Yes, I smelled a perfume and it reminded me of this girl I used to know in elementary school, we seen each other after that still on good terms we respect each other, now we're out of touch, just cause of... Life.

exitseven · Answer

When I was a kid I got really drunk and went to McDonalds. I got sick in the bathroom like I never been sick before. Even today all these years later I just have to walk into a McDonalds and I feel like puking.

adventurous-1 · Answer

For me not so much smell as sound, when a oldie comes on the radio it can transport me back to a time place in my past reliving vivid memories.

Caroline91 · Answer

Spiced peaches. My Grandmother used to serve them on the holidays.

MrChinaski · Answer

This is the entire premise of Proust À la recherche du temps perdu, right?

andreasderjuengere · Answer

Your picture suggests it already - wild thyme reminds me of my favourite place in France :)

Anonymous · Answer

I am the Strom that is approaching

AydenHazor · Answer

It may sound odd, but the shell of cow manure brings back positive memories of visiting my relatives' dairy farm growing up.

DrPepper12 · Answer

All the time!! Olfactory is the most emotive sense!!

Miah06 · Answer

No. But i smelled something that made me gag before

KittygosMeoWW · Answer

Yeah my exes cologne that I bought for him 🤢🤮

Lilly1979 · Answer

Yes coffee scent when I finally left my abusive ex.

MemeSupreme · Answer

yeah it be cool or extremely annoying  weird experience either way lol

Miristheiss · Answer

Yes. It happens more with songs but it has happened with scent.

kaucky1 · Answer

Was sweet aroma [forbidden] gotten a body high put me in a trance is forbidden seed fused with white widow pot seed peyote seed fairy dust & Buddha's ashes  ~~> Wylie Coyote<~~~

Anonymous · Answer

Yes And sometimes I can remember a smell unprompted  And I also remember things based on time of year. So it's seasonal.  And can go back many years... To that exact time of year, years earlier

oldpigg · Answer

Invictus perfume reminds me of my high school girlfriend, I used to wear that perfume back then, even though it wasn't even original.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes, it was the smell of one of my favorite childhood chocolate.

Skyros · Answer

Yes, I’ve kept certain candles over the years to take me back.

Wise4myage · Answer

Yes, smells can do that for anyone.

Anonymous · Answer

sometimes farts will bring back childhood memories and i love it

ohsheeT · Answer

All the time I love those days

abc3643 · Answer

Yes, this happens a lot for a lot of people.

DJB72 · Answer

All the damn time

clampfan101 · Answer

My mom’s food smelling like childhood.

Kelly3_ · Answer

Yes sea breeze makes feel at the beach.

FunkyMonkee · Answer

Yes.

Jennz6 · Answer

Yes I have

jahaims · Answer

Proust phenomenon

dudeinohio · Answer

Yes absolutely

eagle1951 · Answer

yeah

Have you ever smelled something and been transported back to a specific moment in your life?

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What Girls & Guys Said

If you could go back to the first time you experienced something in your past, which moment would you revisit and what makes it significant to you?

Have you ever smelled something and been transported back to a specific moment in your life?

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

If you could go back to the first time you experienced something in your past, which moment would you revisit and what makes it significant to you?

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