Today is the 104th anniversary of the Boston Molasses Flood.
...How the hell has this never been in a movie?
(Transcript of plaque: "BOSTON MOLASSES FLOOD -- On January 15, 1919, a molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people. A 40-foot wave of molasses buckled the elevated railroad tracks, crushed buildings and inundated the neighborhood. Structural defects in the tank combined with unseasonably warm temperatures contributed to the disaster. --The Bostonian Society")
Ordinary Reactions to Extraordinary Events (2001) ed. by Ray Browne and Arthur G. Neale
Here is a book on popular culture edited by our founder, Ray Browne. From the summary:
The essays in this collection present communities beset by unexpected social and physical events. Some outline immediate responses that soon pass and some that will not go away. Who, for example, while the Western World was awash in the tears flowing from the death of Princess Di, would have predicted that she would soon be forgotten in a desert of embarrassment over the immediate furor? Who in his lifetime would have foreseen that Elvis would be a phenomenon apparently as lasting as the faces on Mount Rushmore? Cultural history will not allow us to forget the H. G. Wells account or the Martian attack, nor can we ever forget the continued terror of the Chernobyl explosion.
Of relevance to Tumblr is the chapter by Susan Doll and David Morrow titled: "The Great Boston Molasses Flood: Newspaper Coverage and the Shaping of an Extraordinary Event."
The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States. Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.