What is that smell?!

So my nose was working over-time the other day when I walked into a "wall" of funk inside the stairwell to my building. It smelled as if something (or someONE) had died in there. That's when my over-active imagination kicked in. I seriously started considering whether one of my neighbors had died. There is a very elderly lady who lives alone on the first floor. Then there was the fact that B and I had heard some neighbors screaming at one another about their dogs. For all I knew they had gone and strangled the little, yippy things! Ok -- extreme -- I know. But I seriously entertained that thought until today when I saw the little pups running around outside. I haven't seen the elderly lady yet, but the smell is gone, so I guess she's ok, too.