Suspend your disbelief…
MELJEAN’S BOOK IS OUT TODAY. BUY EEEEEEET! Link here!
Ever read a book and thought, “The author is on crack, this would never happen in a million years?” How about movies and cartoons? All those times when the protagonist smashes into some great big reservoir of liquid – jello, or syrup, or some other hilarious substance – and it spills all over the town in a huge flood? About the most ridiculous thing you could ever think up, isn’t it.
Date: 1919
Location: Boston, molasses factory
January 1919 was a bit on the warm side and the giant tank molasses the factory used was a bit on a shoddy side. Shoddy tank + fermentation = you got it, an Earth Shattering Kaboom.
Not only the tank exploded, but an eight foot high wave of molasses shot through town at 35 miles per hour. You’d think that being chased by a giant wave of molasses would be like running in slow motion. Nope, that sucker knocked a train off its tracks, demolished some buildings, and killed 21 people.
More on Boston Molasses Disaster
How about that old gag of a guy walking into an ironing board? You know, Tom chases Jery, Jerry runs under an ironing board, Tom runs into the board… Ouch. Hollywood uses it all the time: the bad guy and the good guy are wrestling on top of the moving train, oh noes, here comes low clearance, and yep, the bad guy’s head is lopped off. Bon voyage.
Date: 1925
Location: Vancouver
A bridge that connected Vancouver to the North Shore just plain made sense. It would alleviate the issue of overworked ferries and let the trains pass over water. All around good idea, so in 1925 the 2nd Narrows Bridge was built. It was a lovely bridge. It even had a bascule, one of those technologically advanced portions of the bridge that rises to let the ships through, wheee!
One small problem: instead of building the bascule in the middle of the bridge, in the center of the river, where you know, ship actually travel, the builders stuck it all the way at the southern end of the bridge. The reason? It was shallower there and the construction was cheaper. Many river captains and people in shipping pointed out that the design didn’t make sense and would lead to accidents. But of course, why listen to people who actually knew what they were talking about? After all, what river captain, approaching the bridge in the dark and knowing that the bridge had a bascule, wouldn’t veer way off his course to the southern end of it instead of going straight ahead?
1927 Eurania, 10,000 ton freighter, plowed into the bridge like nobody’s business.
1928 Norwich City hit the bridge.
1930 Losmar tried to make the bascule, but failed
You’d think by now they would close the damn bridge and redesign it. Nope.
1930 again Pacific Gatherer tries to pass under the bridge in the center (like normal people would) and gets stuck under it. The current hits it, the small ship is pulled free, and one end of the bridge’s center span sinks into the water. It hand there for a while, looking sad, finally breaks off and plunges to the bottom of the inlet.
Four years of lawsuits followed. The bridge was finally rebuilt – with the central bascule. (It was rebuilt again in 1957, but managed to collapse on itself, killing several workers.)
For more on the 2nd Narrows Bridge
How about trash burning? You know you can’t do it within city limits. First, you could cause a fire, and second, people tend to burn all sorts of weird junk and some of it is… wait for it… toxic.
Date: 1962
Location: Centralia, Pennsylvania
The residents of Centralia used a local mine as a landfill and when it became full of garbage, they decided to do precisely what the city ordinances all of the civilized world tell you not to do: they decided to burn it. The trash caught fire, alright, but for some weird reason nobody put it out.
Guess what sort of mine it was?
A coal mine, of course. And was it connected to other coal mines? Yes, it was.
The fire spread through the network of mines and smoldered for years. People began getting sick from toxic fumes. In late 1970′s a gas owner noticed that his fuel tank’s temperature reached 180 F. In 1981 sinkhole filled with toxic fumes and smoke almost swallowed a teenage boy in his own back yard. They tried flooding the mines and removing the burning coal, but the fire continued to grow. Finally the state threw in the towel, condemned the city and relocated all of the residents. The fire is still burning and there is enough coal to keep it going for the next two and a half centuries.
More on Centralia’s Trash Burning
ummm Wow…who knew Hollywood had a basis in reality?
And we wonder why we have global warming and an energy crisis!
LOL
Wow, I am just dumbfounded about the coal still burning! That is nuts.
I theoretically know that human stupidity is infinite, but I never thought that it is sooo infinite.
Nevertheless, still laughing
As a young girl growing up in PA in a mining area I heard about the fire and the attempts to put it out.
I can remember people speculating if it could happen to our town.
The actual cause of the fire was not really meantioned. Now I know why!
I have family that lives near Centralia (no they moved there well after all this got started). It is super creepy driving through there. Smokes rises from the ground and there are bits and piece of abandoned things everywhere.
Next horror movie that needs to save money should go and use Centralia as a location.
It did and its called Silent Hill, they used the pictures as basis for parts of the movie … creeeeepy
Thanks Ilona for the tidbits. Very interesting read. I’m making my way through MelJean’s books. Will get Demon Forged soon (LOVE LOVE LOVE her cover).
How things like this happen is beyond me.
What do those 12 people do in a burned out town? How bizarre!
Now I know where Paolini got his idea for the ‘Burning plains’. Or at least I believe now that it’s actually possible.
The molasses sounds creepy.
And the bridge… No comment
omg. molasses can kill you.
and the bridge!!! thanks for digging these things up, ilona. very interesting.
Watch out everyone! Molasses kills.
That last one creeped me out…2 centuries?? I wonder what damage that’s doing that we don’t know about. What idiot thought that would be a good idea I wonder.
Y’all should try http://www.damninteresting.com. It’s filled with stuff like this. Very cool.
[...] Stupid Things People Do Funny [...]
Was it a maaan who decided to burn the garbage in the coal mine? hehehe
If you are interested in reading the entire history of the Centralia mine fire, check out my new book: Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire, by David DeKok. Available at Amazon.com or, if you live in eastern Pennsylvania, at Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstores. Maybe.
I knew about the Molasses disaster but not the others… hilarious (and sad. Very sad). Thanks for the post!