On the first day, she sadly packed her belongings  in boxes, crates and suitcases.

On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.

On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table, by candlelight. She put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of fancy white wine.

When she finished, she went into each and every room and carefully removed the ends of the large brass curtain rods. She proceeded to stuff half eaten shrimp, all the shells and caviar into the hollow center of the rods. Carefully she replaced the ends of the rods.

She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

On the fourth day, the husband came back with his new girlfriend, and all was bliss…in the beginning…

Then, slowly, the house began to smell.

They tried everything: cleaning, mopping, and airing-out the place.

Vents were checked for dead rodents, and carpets were steam cleaned.

Air fresheners were hung everywhere.

Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which time the two had to move out for a couple of days.

With the smell still pungent, they were forced to replace the expensive wool carpeting.

Nothing worked!

People stopped coming over to visit.

Repairmen refused to work in the stinky house.

The maid eventually quit.

Finally, they couldn't take the stench any longer, and decided they had to move. So, they put their home up for sale with a REALTOR.

After a couple of months, they couldn't find a buyer for their stinky house. So, they drastically cut their price.

Time passed, word got out, and eventually people stopped coming to look at the house.

Finally, unable to wait any longer for a purchaser, they borrowed a large sum of money for a mortgage and bought a new home.

They moved out and left the stinky house behind.

The soon to be ex-wife thought it was about time to call her husband to see exactly how things were going with him and his new 20 year old girlfriend.  He proceeded to tell her the saga of the rotting house. She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting her house back.

He knew that she couldn’t possibly have any idea how bad the smell really was, so he agreed on a price that was only 1/10th of the home’s value. But, he would only agree to this under one condition…that she sign the papers today.

She agreed. Within two hours his lawyers delivered the completed paperwork.

A week later the man and his girlfriend stood grinning ear to ear as they watched the moving company pack all of their furnishings to take to their new home.

In moving, the husband and new girlfriend took everything in the house. 

They even took the curtain rods.

FOOTNOTE:  True story or old wives tale?  I don't know.  Variations of this story have been circulating the internet for years.