REFINED VICES

Jan 15 1919

In Boston, an immense storage tank alongside a rum distillery suddenly explodes, producing a flash flood of 2.3 million gallons of sticky molasses. Whole buildings are knocked off their foundations and reduced to rubble by an eight-foot wall of liquid traveling 35 miles per hour. 21 killed and 150 injured as a result of this industrial accident.

Read the full story on the frontpage.

Thank you for posting this story. I would have forgot it myself. There are stories that you can still smell the molasses on a hot summer day. Can anyone confirm or deny this urban legend?

Funny, I'm reading the book about this catastrophe and have *just* gotten to the part where the tank fails. I didn't link the date listed in the book to the current date....


As to the urban legend of being able to smell molasses 88 years later, I can say that I have spent a lot of time in that neighborhood - including a couple hours on the exact spot where the tank used to stand - and I have never smelled molasses.

Scottes wrote:Funny, I'm reading the book about this catastrophe and have *just* gotten to the part where the tank fails. I didn't link the date listed in the book to the current date....

Dark Tide?
How is the book so far?

Scottes wrote: As to the urban legend of being able to smell molasses 88 years later, I can say that I have spent a lot of time in that neighborhood - including a couple hours on the exact spot where the tank used to stand - and I have never smelled molasses.

Oh well, makes a good story though!

Count Silvio wrote:Dark Tide?
How is the book so far?

It's OK. A little too much unrelated history - WWI and all that. The writing is OK, but the whole damn story could fit into 10 or 15 pages, so a whole book is a waste. IMHO.