logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2020
18 m

The Great Boston Molasses Flood

The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
About this episode

January 15, 1919. Boston PD receives a call: “Send all available rescue personnel...there's a wave of molasses coming down Commercial Street." The bizarre flood decimated Boston's North End. How did it happen? And why does it still affect us all today?


Special thanks to our guest, Stephen Puleo, author of Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919.


To our listeners, thank you for subscribing to History This Week. We want to hear your feedback: https://bit.ly/3a4FGqJ


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Jul 10
Operation Mincemeat Revisited | Episode + Bonus Interview with Natasha Hodgson
When we first aired "Operation Mincemeat" back in 2020, it was a daring WWII thriller that felt almost too wild to be true. Now, it’s not just history — it’s a hit Broadway musical. This week, we're revisiting our original episode about the ingenious Allied ruse that helped turn ... Show More
54m 46s
Jul 7
Superman Takes Flight
July 7, 1938. Superman has the villain in his grasp. They soar through the air, then slam into the ground. This villain wants to start a war. Our hero won’t let that happen. At this point, Superman only has two comic book appearances. And yet, his legend is already beginning to g ... Show More
39m 14s
Jun 30
The Colosseum Becomes a Wonder | A Conversation with Barry Strauss & Alison Futrell
July 7, 2007. In a dramatic ceremony featuring pop stars, fireworks, and smoke cannons, the Colosseum is named one of the seven new wonders of the world. It’s an appropriately over-the-top blowout for an arena which, centuries before, was home to its own lavish events. How did sp ... Show More
37m 23s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
Boston Molasses Disaster | A Deadly Deluge | 1
On January 15, 1919 a giant storage tank holding more than two million gallons of molasses collapsed, sending a deadly wave crashing into the streets of Boston’s busy North End. The flood was over in minutes, but it left death and destruction in its wake. Victims and their famili ... Show More
41m 10s
Oct 2017
3: "Clean My Sh*t House!" The Boston Massacre
"Damn you, fire, be the consequences what it will!" ​ This is the story of the Boston Massacre. In the aftermath of a second botched attempt to tax the Americans and stop them from smuggling, John Hancock's accused of smuggling and Boston gets occupied by a British army. Then, on ... Show More
1 h
Nov 2023
154.2 - The Boston Tea Party + U.S. Independence from Britain
Boston is situated in present-day Massachusetts, right on the northern Atlantic coastline.  It’s picturesque, it’s lively and it’s steeped in stories of how the United States gained its independence from Britain. Today you’ll hear those tales of organization, patriotism and madne ... Show More
35m 40s
Jul 2019
Tempest in a Teacup
Bohea, the aroma of tire fire, Mob Wives, smugglers, “bro” tea, and what it all means to the backstory of the American Revolution. Malcolm tells the real story on what happened in Boston on the night of December 16, 1773. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodc ... Show More
35m 9s
Dec 2023
The Boston Tea Party
On December 16th, 1773, a band of American patriots quietly boarded three ships in Boston Harbour, under the cover of night. Armed with axes and hatchets, they pried open the crates on board and poured their contents into the ocean. The crates contained tea; black-leaved Bohea an ... Show More
56m 27s
Oct 2017
4: "Boston Harbor A Tea-Pot This Night:" The Boston Tea Party
"We have only been making a little salt-water tea." This is the story of the Boston Tea Party. The East India Company and the needs of the global British Empire are intertwined, and Parliament wants the American colonies to help foot the bill by drinking the company's tea. The Ea ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2023
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have ended without it? Was there an ulterior motive? Would the Americans have dropped a third if they had it? At the end of WWII, the ... Show More
43m 51s
Oct 2021
Boston is Blacker Than You Think
Boston maintains a reputation as one of the most racist cities in America, despite its long abolitionist history and image as a bastion of East Coast liberalism. And in many ways that reputation is well-earned. From the city’s staggering racial wealth gap, to its violent backlash ... Show More
27m 41s
Jul 2023
348: The Boston Tea Party (Part 2)
“Last night three cargos of tea were emptied into the sea. This morning a man of war sails. This is the most magnificent movement of all. There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots, that I greatly admire.”The Boston Tea Party occurs amid the g ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2023
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have ended without it? Was there an ulterior motive? Would the Americans have dropped a third if they had it? To answer some of the qu ... Show More
47m 12s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami