That Time Boston Drowned in Molasses 

That bonus fact made me bonus sad.

That lady and her dog that died would have made better stars than the Titanic's star cast.

The lady who stayed with her dog til the end, is a real one!!!

I actually learned about this on a driven history tour of boston! Another fun little fact is that until around 1970, you could smell molasses on a warm summer day. It was a daily reminder for literal decades.

I remember growing up hearing this story from my mother and grandmother. My great grandfather was present for it, he told my grandmother that it was scarier than anything he'd experienced during the Spanish-American War.

Love that their original solution for the leaks was just painting the whole damn thing brown so it was less obvious that it was leaking everywhere 😂😂

This was kind of a disaster that just happened. London was hit with a tidal wave of beer before. Iirc, Dublin had the same thing that happened and several folk died there in the good ol Irish tradition, alcohol poisoning

greetings from Boston, my Grandmother lived through this, and told me the story as a kid

On hot summers days you can still smell the molasses to this day.

*god bless the woman who stayed with her dog, they will rest, and play in paradise forever*

And that, my friends, is why the rum is gone.

Sounds like a sticky situation.

Sam O Nella and Today I Found Out should do a collab together. It would be awesome

When someone says “slow as molasses in January” ask them “you mean 35 miles per hour?”

I guess you could call it the Boston Molassacre

A friend told me about this years ago. I called foul, googled it, and sure enough.

I’m a retired Boston firefighter. I was a little disappointed that the presenter never mentioned the firehouse that was knocked off its foundation trapping several men under the building and the heroism of the men that worked tirelessly to get them out. In the end they rescued several and one met a horrific death under the building. Read the book Dark Tide by Stephen Puleo for a great account of the disaster.

Now we can't use the phrase, "As slow as molasses in winter."

Hey Simon. Great vid as always mate. Sending love from Australia 🇦🇺

it's going to raise some questions when In ten thousand years geologists discover a strata of rock hard molasses in the fossil record.

I have a book about this event. It must have been so awful for the victims.

That last bonus fact was so heartbreakingly beautiful. I couldn’t imagine leaving my dogs behind in a scenario like that and I can’t put it in to words how I feel about it 😥😭

I recommend everyone check out Sam O’Nella Academy’s video “History’s Worst Non-Water Floods” which contains this story and several other very interesting true tales. Also Sam is funny af!

From what I've read the smell of molasses could be smelled during the summer months for decades after the incident.

I knew about this one, as a Bostonian, but the last time I remember hearing/learning about it was over 10 years ago. I'd completely forgotten until I saw the title of this video, then the memory came right back.

I remember learning about this when i was in the fourth grade!

I live 45 minutes from Boston and have heard the story but thank you for the breakdown!

Its crazy how many times I've heard about this. I've had to have heard this like 15 times already. Suprised how common it is around were I live.

One of my favourite crazy disasters, just unbelievable the first time you hear it.

Thanks for the bonus facts which left me crying.

Yay! Thank you for doing this wickedly weird bit of Boston history!

if i'm not mistaken this was mentioned in a very old National Enquirer years (if not decades) ago...mt grandfather used to get them and saved them... we now have a National Enquirer museum in Pigeon Forge TN...would not be surprised if this event was documented there as well...

Nice way to end that one Simon... I’m gonna go hug my dog now.

I'm trying to visualize a 15 foot tall wave of molasses. Yuck.

welcome back !

I work in Boston's North End and the smell of Molasses is still lingering in basements that I've worked in. Pretty incredible.

Always happy to hear another sweet tale from the Simon.

Simon you are literally a king.

Oh man, one I already new about!

Today I found out that the channel Today I found out finds out about a lot of history! 😅 Props my good chap...👍

I remember reading about this in one of my school books.

I was unaware of this until recently when I read a fiction book, Bowlaway (which by the way, wasn't very good) but it did mention about the Boston molasses disaster in detail and a character died in the mess. So this video was great to see the truth about it and if it really happened.

I remember in college we looked at some archives on deaths in Boston and connected them to the molasses accident based on date and injuries

I literally just watched the Sam O'Nella video about this yesterday

Welcome back.

That bonus fact segment was heartbreaking. 😥

I remember reading a children's book about this when I was very young, I never thought it had actually happened. damn.

"-a dangerous orgy of pops and sparks." may be my favorite phrase from this channel.

During the Big Dig in the 90s when sections of 93 were being moved underground you could definitely smell it and not only when it was hot outside.

If you'd like to learn more, read "Dark Tide" by Stephen Puleo. It's an excellent book on the subject.

Sam' Onella... THANK YOU. TIFO thank you for describing everything in a more... normal manner

Weird one! Where do you find these things! Cheers to you and the crew!

I've never heard anything described so eloquently

Who else heard of this first from Sam O'nella?

I've heard of the molasses flood before and I've heard people say that you could still smell it for decades afterwords.

Hi I love your vids please respond

I lived in Boston for several years and didn't know this happened.

That's a STICKY situation! Tis sad about the loss of life though (all jokes aside). Has there been an episode done on the Halifax Explosion?

simon your mispronunciation of certain simple words never fails to amaze me

When I was a kid in the 70s, on hot summer days you could sometimes smell molasses. Our parents told us it was from the Great Molasses Flood. I was actually from a fruit syrup distributor-but we believed it!

Now that's what I call a sticky situation!

Hey Simon, can you cover the phenomena of Florida Man?

Other people: my home state is known for a big hurricane Me: *Bruh we got a big fucking wave of molasses*

Correction- it was not the preferred sweetener, it was actually used in the manufacture of munitions for the war. The problem was the war had just ended, resulting in a surplus. The tank was actually overfilled which helped contribute to the disaster. The hoop stress in the straps around the tank wasn’t even close to being enough. Engineers around the country learned a valuable lesson.

I found this out a long time ago but it was hidden away in the deep corners of my brain

I would imagine that the survivors of that tragedy have “bitter sweet” memories? The builder of the tank was heard to say, “This sticky mess could have been avoided if someone had only inspected my erection.”

Another Bonus fact.....The kennel was situated in the rear funnel which didn't have a function as a funnel, only as a kennel

I really enjoyed the 1 Million subscriber video now its 2.08 M. Can we get another one? Introducing some authors, telling how the channel got started? A Simon whistler biography? It can start with the decision to become a RU-vidr, doesn't need to contain any private Infos simply how you got to be the face of so many channels

So am I the only person who knows about this because of good eats LOL

I have heard that for years after the molasses flood you could smell it on hot days.

She rather died together with her dog than leaving him behind. Thats love and true loyalty.

$30,000 in 1919 is the equivalent of $444,898.27 today.

when i first of of this disaster, i didn't think you could have that much molasses in one place, so I had a very hard time believing this could happen

That explains why I get bogged down in that section of Boston in Fallout 4.

Omg! This was a sad video all around! Those poor people and horses in Boston drowning in molasses and the people and dogs drowning from the Titanic! It's heartbreaking!

That's a time...When a sweet deal went very sour... Thanks..!

HA! I actually knew about this one, before TIFO released this.

That was the saddest bonus fact you’ve done... 🥺

Top tier analogies

Great video up till the super sad dog story, that was like the begining of up all over again

There is a town in upstate NY, near Syracuse, called Solvay. The home of the factory Solvay Process. arm and Hammer made baking soda there. There was a lot of un useable watste product that was pumped into holing pools One day, around 1935, a pool broke.

I love these videos but I already know of 75% of the happenings er ideas you make videos about... It kinda sucks (because I want to learn interesting things), however at least I get an in depth look or more information on these topics at hand than I learned before..... As far as this fiasco - this is one of the weirdest disasters of all time..... Imagine walking down the street one day just going to the store to grab a newspaper and some milk and bread and you meet your demise by drowning in molasses.... Geez what are the odds of that? crazy....

Swear I must've seen this topic a dozen times now

Everyone gangsta until molasses start walking down the street

That was a sticky situation! (Ducking) 🤪

Now that's what I call *A Sticky Situation*

Am I crazy or do you have a really really quiet background music with vocals?

What a sticky situation

Supposedly on hot summer days you can still smell the molasses in the west end.

It is claimed that on hot summer days there is still a sickeningly cloying sweet smell in the area. I read somewhere that air samples taken on hot days did have minute traces of odorants found in molasses.

I already found this out on a different day.

This case is studied in Law courses as a prime example of "Res Ipsa Loquitor" or"The thing speaks for itself". The tank failed, the owners are liable, period. No amount of excuse making will get them off the hook.

Now that's what I call a sticky situation....

Mad respect for that old lady

Wow!

ah boston, always a weird little city i’m proud to be from

Bonus fact made me sad

Hey TIFO, how about you do a video on that time the US Military lost a prototype super-heavy tank in an open field for several decades. The tank was the T28/T95

Helen Bishop's dog wasn't named Dog. It was a toy dog named Frou-Frou who she left in her first-class cabin. She says that Frou-Frou bit her dress to try to make her stay, but she abandoned them because she thought that dogs wouldn't be permitted on the boats. :(

Delightfully embellished with details! A few you forgot: (a) the tank was specified and designed by a manager who had no qualifications in structural engineering, (b) molasses was a waste product from rum production so they stored it in the tank to simply get the d*mn stuff out of the way, (c) the steel delivered was half as thick as had been paid for with someone raking off the graft, (d) only half the rivets specified were installed, (e) the steel was of lower quality than had been purchased...if this had happened in GB I dare say H.M. The Queen would have had the manager's head in a basket...