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• WRAL-TV reported on Oct. 4 that several drivers along Highway 147 in Durham, North Carolina, had experienced a shower of brown, greasy, bad-smelling liquid hitting their vehicles and subsequently damaging the paint.
"It had sort of a bleach smell," said Heather Toler. "It was raining down on top of the cars. It seems to be acidic based on how it's eating away the paint on the car."
The mystery was solved two days later, when representatives of the chemical wholesale company Brenntag informed WRAL-TV that several of its employees had been depressurizing and disconnecting an empty sulfuric acid railcar at the company's facility next to the highway, causing acid vapor to be released into the air. [WRAL, 10/4/2021]
• This mystery is also solved: Police in Japan have been working for months to figure out why a light pole in Suzuka suddenly snapped at its base on Feb. 18.
Most light poles in the country last for 50 years or more, but this one was only 23 years old.
NBC New York reported on Oct. 1 that forensic scientists found 40 times more urea at the pole's base than was found on nearby poles.
Yep, dog pee killed the light pole: Urea and sodium in dog urine caused the pole to erode.
The new pole is up, but dogs are already marking it with their caustic streams. [NBC New York, 10/1/2021]