Death by Molasses

The deadly Molasses Flood of 1919 shows what happens when corporate greed goes unchecked

Imagine terrible ways to die. You might think of some pretty gruesome deaths. Yet I bet you never imagined being boiled alive or drowning in thick molasses. Luckily for most of us, this fate is something that could only happen in our nightmares. This wasn’t the case for twenty-one people on January 15, 1919, in Boston.

Purity Distilling was a local Boston institution. The plant made and stored molasses, which was then enjoyed by many Americans. While we know it primarily as a sweetener, in 1919 molasses was used to make alcohol.
Then Congress passed the prohibition.

Manufacturers raced to make as much alcohol as possible before the restrictions came into effect. This meant Purity Distilling raced to produce an excess as well since the factories that produce liqueur were using their premium product faster. This meant that their containers were filled more often to higher levels than they’d before been used to.

First, the tank meant to house the molasses were not built by an engineer with a proper background. Flaws were noted from the first day of their use, like groaning sounds whenever molasses was poured in. Many nearby claimed that in the weeks before the disaster they heard the strange sounds increase in volume. They also started to report creaks, whenever molasses got added to the already very full tank.

The tank broke on January 15, 1919. According to witnesses, there was a crash like thunder. Then those within the splash zone saw a giant forty-foot wave of molasses. The destructive powers from both heat and speed broke houses, railway lines, and people. It annihilated those closest to the vats while causing injuries as it swept through the town.

Before long, several blocks were covered in a sticky thick tar-like substance. Plus because it was winter the molasses hardened…

Related posts:

I am new to Medium. I only recently joined in order to follow my brother, Terry O, who has been writing on Medium over the last year. I’m a little nervous about how to start. I have been occasionally…

What is the purpose of a biopic? Different writers and directors have approached the subgenre with different purposes, and they often function as a means for actors to flex their creative muscles and…

Transactional databases store all changes in a transaction log in order to recover the committed state of the database should the database crash for whatever reason. Log-based CDC takes advantage of…