The Boston Molasses Disaster
I learned about this bizarre, obscure piece of history on a documentary I saw the other night. I stumbled across the program on TV, and initially thought it was a joke because the whole story sounded so strange. On a January day in 1919, a huge, poorly-designed storage tank full of molasses suddenly burst, sending a 20-foot high wave of the thick brown goop crashing through a mixed residential and industrial area. It came with so much force that whole houses were swept off their foundations. Buildings collapsed, crushing people, and other people were swept away. Victims tried to swim in it, but it was too thick, and they drowned. People died, coated in molasses, some of them because the wave had forced it down their throats, suffocating them. In all, 21 people died, with many more injured.
Very creepy.