21 Dead from Molasses

Forget about modern-day terrorists. 94 years ago yesterday (1/15/1919) was the Great Molasses Flood of Boston. 21 people died when a five story high tank holding 2 million plus gallons of molasses came tumbling down in the North End. Just imagine an eight foot tall tsunami of goo coming your way.

For more information on the disaster:

• Molasses floods Boston streets (History.com)
• Boston Massachusetts: The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 (HubPages)
• Boston Molasses Disaster (Wikipedia)
• Boston's Great Molasses Flood: 94 years ago today (WCVB) [great pictures]

Believe it or not but there are actually multiple books out the subject. Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 and The Great Molasses Flood: Boston 1919. The latter is a children's book, targeting grades 3-6.

Listen to an interview with Deborah Kops, author of The Great Molasses Flood, on NPR's Here and Now with Sacha Pfeiffer.

Just think what they could do for the 100th anniversary of the flood.

If you think that was bad, London had a Beer Flood in 1814 that killed 9 people.