I found another interesting old thread. This thread was started on September 14,2012, by ftufe. Ftufe, I believe was the first host of the Traveller. He had a viola with a stench to it.

The title of this Topic is,  "There's a drunk inside my viola", Apparently ftufe got a viola with a terrible smell coming from inside. 

After reading the first post by ftufe, I found replies #17 by Oliver and #19 by Barry very interesting. I did not read any replies beyond the 19th reply. The 19th reply has a nice video, also.

Here is the link to the thread. The original topic thread is on page 71 of the The Violin Topic area of the forum.

There is a drunk inside my viola

Not sure I would want anything to do violin, viola or cello with a rattlesnake tail inside.

Have any of you had this issue. Luckily, even with my pawnshop rescues, I have not had an issue like this.