The Boston Molasses Flood episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 30, 2026 · 9 MIN

The Boston Molasses Flood

from Sidequests

On January 15, 1919, a storage tank in Boston's North End burst open and sent more than 2 million gallons of molasses roaring through the streets at 35 miles per hour. Buildings collapsed. People were buried alive. 21 died. It sounds absurd — and it was also completely preventable. The tank had been leaking for years, the warnings were ignored, and the company painted it brown to hide the evidence. This is the Boston Molasses Disaster: one of the strangest and most consequential industrial accidents in American history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Apr 30, 2026

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The Boston Molasses Flood

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