“I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things.”
Since I talk about this disaster rather a lot, I suppose I ought to just record a few basic details so I can refer to them without exaggerating:
On January 15, 1919, a tank of molasses exploded in Boston’s North End. The explosion caused a huge shockwave that was sufficient to knock houses off their foundations. Shards of metal from the tank were found up to 200 ft. away. Right after the explosion this accident took a very strange turn.
The tank was filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses. When the tank exploded, the molasses formed a 25-30 ft. wave, that went through the streets of Boston at speeds of around 35 mph. People caught in the wave were either smashed against large objects, or they drowned in the molasses. This strange accident caused 21 deaths and 150 injuries. Rumor has it that, on a hot day in the North End, the air still smells sweet.
In the Paleolithic days before widespread internet use, this was just a crazy story we once heard about when I lived in Boston, but no one could say for sure if it was an urban legend or not. I’m pretty sure it was Dave who finally cracked the case, coming across a news story about it while gathering clippings at his awful PR job. I love the internet for making it easy to find things like this now.
Here’s an incredible assortment of animated GIFs that may come in handy in many instances of online communication, such as it is. You may wish to refer to the full explanations at Jezebel.
Filed away for future use after all those moments when things get to be a bit much. Thank you, Peggy Olson, for making this visual punctuation mark possbile.
