01-19-2025 - On This Day in Insane History

On January 19, 1955, the peculiar tale of the "Great Molasses Flood" found its legal resolution when the Superior Court of Massachusetts awarded nearly $1 million in damages to the victims of Boston's most viscous catastrophe. Two years earlier, on January 15, 1919, a massive molasses storage tank at the Purity Distilling Company in the North End neighborhood had spectacularly burst, unleashing a 15-foot-high wave of sticky, sweet destruction that raced through the streets at roughly 35 miles per hour.

This saccharine tsunami killed 21 people and injured 150 others, crushing buildings, toppling horses, and trapping victims in a glutinous nightmare. Witnesses described the scene as hellish, with people and animals alike struggling to escape the rapidly hardening syrup. The tank, owned by United States Industrial Alcohol, was later proven to have been structurally unsound, with investigators finding numerous design flaws and signs of metal fatigue.

The court's decision was groundbreaking for its time, establishing important precedents in industrial liability and workplace safety. Workers compensation and corporate responsibility would never be quite the same after this remarkably bizarre industrial accident that literally drowned a neighborhood in molasses.