The Great Molasses Flood: Boston's Sticky Apocalypse

January 15, 1919. Boston's North End enjoys unseasonably warm weather.

A 50-foot tank holds 2.3 million gallons of molasses.

At 12:30 PM, the tank ruptures. A 25-foot wave surges at 35 mph.

Firehouses swept away. Elevated train derailed. Horses drowned like flies.

21 dead. 150 injured. Rescue impossible as molasses hardened in winter cold.

Cleanup took 6 months. North End smelled like molasses for years.

HistMuse reveals the industrial disaster too bizarre to be fiction.