If you hit the beach in Belmar last weekend, you might've noticed a nasty odor in the air.

Beach chairs lined up on the beach in Belmar
Beach chairs lined up on the beach in Belmar (Bud McCormick)
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Your first guess for the cause was probably a dying animal or raw sewage, but borough officials ruled those ideas out.

Loretta, who called us from Bayville, accredited the sulfurous stench to polluted mud being churned up by storms. The area's water, however, was reported as safe for bathing in a weekly test by New Jersey's Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program, indicating this might not be the case.

The smell disappeared by Monday, according to the Asbury Park Press, but we're still wondering what happened. Share your best hunch by taking the poll and commenting below. 

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