Strange smell...

I haven't the foggiest clue what you could have smelled but I can relate to the uncomfortableness after smelling something. I was at a friend's house with my family probably about 1985-87ish. We were watching a movie and all the sudden I smelled a sickeningly sweet smell that caught my attention so much I tried to locate the source. I smelled all over the house and determined it as coming from outside, went outside and smelled all around (probably looked like a dog). Considering I was only 8 or 10 and it was late at night I couldn't really follow the scent very far but it was definitely coming from outside.
It filled the air, was all I could smell, an overpoweringly sweet chemical smell that felt like it knocked you down. It scared me, I remember that I felt shaky when I went back into the living room where everyone else was. I asked everybody I was with if they smelled it too but they just shrugged me off and were engrossed in the movie. I was scared the rest of the night, smelled the smell almost until we got home and asked my Mom about it but she just shrugged it off again and assured me everything was okay. I have smelled it a handful of times since and each time it seems to just come out of nowhere and strikes fear in me in an instant. It has never happened at my Grandparents' house and they live out in the country otherwise, I have smelled it in the city, suburbs and in the 'ghetto like area" The first thing that comes to mind when I think about 'the smell' is Cherry Mash, the candy. I have always hated those things with a passion and when I was really little I told my Mom they were chemical poison candy. I don't know where I got that from nor does my Mom but if that description sparks anyone else's memory I'd like to hear about it. So far it has either dissipated in a few hours or I have left the area, never determining it's source.
I've often wondered if it was a smell from some factory or something but after looking in to all factory type places of where I've smelled it (yes, I've done that) I can't find a connection. I now live on a different continent and after 5 years of being here I smelled it about 3 weeks ago. Walking down the same stairs I have been down everyday for 4 years, I smelled it on the 2nd to last flight from the bottom and all the way until I was on the beach where the trade winds were quite brisk, about 50ft. There are absolutely no factories, industry, candy places or anything of the sort anywhere near where I am now so I'm thinking it's not a smell from that. I'm certain it's not an edible food, incense, rotten anything or exhaust smell.
Don't know if its the same kind of smell but at least I got it off my chest.
Hope you find your answers.

Peace & Love