5 Boston Stories That Sound Fake (But Are Completely True)
The Great Molasses Flood: Boston's Strangest Disaster (1919)
It’s called the Great Molasses Flood, but it should really be called the Great Molasses Explosion. The “x” makes it sound more extreme.
One of the most famous events in Boston Folklore is the Great Molasses Flood. It sounds too bizarre to be true, but on January 15th of 1919, 2.3 million gallons of molasses devastated Boston’s North End.
I’ll set the scene.
Molasses, if you're unfamiliar, is the byproduct of the sugar-making process. When the juice from sugar cane is boiled, the liquid evaporates, leaving behind white sugar crystals (table sugar) and dark, syrupy molasses. Historically, white table sugar was a luxury few could afford. Molasses was the everyday sweetener that the rough and tumble Bostonians of 100 years ago used, and they used tons of it. Literally. The storage tank holding the 2.3 million gallons of molasses weighed about 12,000 metric tons.
Many who tell the story will say that it was a hot day in August when the molasses expanded due to the heat. However, it was actually a warm day in January when the devastating accident occurred. The molasses did expand, not due to heat, but due to fermentation. The safety technicians in charge of monitoring the tank had failed to notice that one of the latches was broken, and outside air containing wild yeast was able to enter the tank. For the yeast, a giant tank of sugar was a dream come true, and it rapidly multiplied on a warm day. As the yeast multiplied, it released gas. The gas built up and continued expanding until…
Boom.
Millions of gallons of molasses suddenly burst forth from its container and engulfed the streets of the North End. Eyewitness accounts from the event said that the waves of molasses coming out of the tank were over 20 feet tall, and the molasses was moving at speeds in excess of 30 miles per hour. Molasses weighs 40% more than water, about 12 pounds per gallon; nothing in its way had a chance. Homes were leveled. Wagons were crushed. Anything not immediately pulverized by the tidal wave was stuck as soon as the molasses leveled out to about waist height.
Sadly, many lives were lost in the flood. 21 Bostonians were killed in the flood, and another 150 were injured in the saccharine carnage. Cleanup was a long and difficult process, of course, because as soon as the molasses settled, it hardened right into the cobblestones. It took weeks, and the Boston Harbor was brown from the molasses until summer.
Today, some residents say they can still smell the scent of molasses wafting up from the cobblestones on a warm day.
Paul Revere owes his fame to President Abraham Lincoln
He also owes me $20.
Paul Revere is one of the most famous figures in Boston History, and also one of the most obscured by myth and legend. The story of his 1775 midnight ride is told by way of the famous poem, Paul Revere’s Ride, penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1860. What?
That’s right. It took almost 100 years before his now-famous midnight ride would come to light. Why? Well, the simple answer is because none of it is true. In reality, Paul Revere was one of dozens of riders, and he never said: “The British are Coming” (because everyone was a British subject at the time).
So why the lie? And how does Abraham Lincoln factor into all of this? Longfellow was commissioned by Lincoln to write a poem that could unify the soon-to-be less united states, something uplifting that could rally the country around an American hero. He was tasked with creating an American legend, and in this, he did succeed. The poem was an instant hit, and although it did not repair the country, it did succeed in making Paul Revere the famous midnight rider.
Boston Buried an Entire Highway Underground
And they spent billions to do it. Also, somebody died.
In the early 20th century, as Boston grew in population and that population began moving further and further from the city, the need soon arose for new and dramatic infrastructure to support commuters who now relied more on the automobile than the transit system. This new infrastructure was very controversial; it was a way in which cars could bypass traffic by going high, a high way. However, because the highway was massive and towered over the residents of the neighborhoods it was meant to bypass, the newly named John F Fitzgerald highway was immediately disliked in Boston
So what to do? The highway was not only sorely needed by the commuters of the city, but it was also in dire need of expansion! The original highway design did not account for explosive population growth in Boston, and by the 1980’s the highway was already obsolete. The city needed a bigger highway, and they also needed to remove the eyesore that it had become. The solution?
Expand the highway, and put it underground. Seriously.
The planning alone took 9 years from 1982 until the start of construction in 1991. The project, now called the Big Dig, was one of the largest civil engineering projects in history at its inception. Originally planned to be completed in 7 years, from 91’ to 98’ and cost a total of 2.3 billion dollars, the Big Dig was a disaster of a project. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Parts didn’t fit and had to be sent back, machines broke down, weather delays, “political delays”, and even one death attributed to a collapsing ceiling.
In the end, the project was finished in 2007 for a total cost of 14.6 billion, and holds the record to this day for the most expensive individual highway project in history.
The Red Sox Sold Babe Ruth to Help Finance a Broadway Show
At least it wasn’t Cats.
Chances are, even if you aren’t a baseball fan, you know who Babe Ruth is. The big bambino. The Sultan of Swat. Babe Ruth is a Yankee legend, if not the single greatest legend in Baseball History. And he could've been a Red Sox legend if the Red Sox owner hadn’t been so strapped for cash.
The year? 1920. The owner of the Red Sox? Harry Frazzee. The Red Sox were a successful baseball franchise, and Babe Ruth was shaping up to be an amazing talent. So amazing in fact, that the New York Yankees, a new upcoming team, wanted to build their franchise around Babe, and offered Frazzee an unprecedented sum for his contract. $100,000, or in today's money, a little over 1.5 Mil.
Fortunately for New York, and unfortunately for Boston, Frazzee had another interest outside the world of baseball. He was a Broadway musical producer. When Frazzee saw the offer for Babe, he saw the makings of his next musical production, and he let the Bambino go to New York. A move that cursed the city of Boston with an 86-year championship drought, one of the longest in professional sports.
Historians differ on which musical was actually funded with the cursed money; for a long time, it was popularly said to be “No, no, Nanette,” but this production wasn’t released until 5 years after the trade. In this blog, I will be the first to claim it was for a “way ahead of its time” production of The Lion King. No more questions.
Boston Hunted Turkeys to Extinction
Now they’re back, and they’re wicked pissed.
It’s no secret that the turkey is one of Boston's, and all of Massachusetts’, most iconic residents. The delicious, giant fowl have been a part of the state's history for as long as anyone can remember, longer even. The pilgrims wrote in their journals of the abundance of turkeys, and the indigenous peoples of the area domesticated and subsisted on turkey as early as 200 AD. The turkey is such an American symbol that Benjamin Franklin even proposed the turkey be named the national bird of the United States instead of the Bald Eagle. It may not have won the federal election, but the turkey was named the state bird of Massachusetts.
So imagine our shame when in 1851 the turkey was declared extinct in the state of Massachusetts.
Our fine-feathered lunch friends were overhunted, and their habitats were destroyed due to human expansion into the forests and grasslands they once roamed. The state bird was no more. Several attempts were made to reintroduce captive turkeys to MA, but they all failed. Generations of Bostonians went by without ever seeing a wild turkey in the state.
Then, in 1972, a group of conservationists released 37 wild New York turkeys into the Berkshires. These turkeys were different from the previous attempts in that they were wild, not captive, so they knew how to survive, and they were also from New York, which meant they knew how to assert themselves in traffic. The turkey population boomed, and they now number in the tens of thousands in MA.
Today, you can see turkeys all over the state. In fact, in Boston, they have almost gotten too comfortable. Gangs of turkeys now patrol certain neighborhoods of Boston, like Brighton and Brookline, and will stand in traffic, attack UPS trucks, and intimidate locals. Turkey attacks on residents began to rise, and in 2010, the Mayor of Brookline released a statement telling his citizens to fight back, for the turkeys had grown too bold and too brazen.
I call it justice. Gobble Gobble.
Want to hear more outrageous and totally true stories? Join us for on our North End Food & History Tour!
Frequently Asked Questions About Boston’s Rich History
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On January 15, 1919, a massive storage tank in Boston's North End burst, releasing 2.3 million gallons of molasses through the streets at speeds over 30 miles per hour. The flood killed 21 people and injured 150 more, and is considered one of the strangest disasters in American history.
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Yes. In 1920, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000. Frazee was also a Broadway producer, and the money is widely believed to have funded a theatrical production — a move that many fans blamed for Boston's 86-year World Series championship drought.
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Yes. After being hunted to extinction in Massachusetts by 1851, wild turkeys were reintroduced in 1972 and have thrived. Today, gangs of turkeys patrol neighborhoods like Brighton and Brookline, stopping traffic and intimidating residents. In 2010, the Mayor of Brookline issued a public statement urging citizens to fight back.
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Boston's North End is the city's oldest neighborhood and its famous Little Italy, packed with Italian restaurants, bakeries, and historic sites. Mostly Accurate Tours runs a food tour through the North End where you can experience the history and food of the neighborhood firsthand, including the site of the Great Molasses Flood.