Comments on: 3 Weird Disasters Involving Food

By: The Dean

The Dean — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:16:16 +0000

It should be noted that two of the guys that drowned in the London beer flood obviously didn’t suffer much since they swam out of the flow twice to go to the bathroom…

By: PartiallyDeflected

PartiallyDeflected — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:45:24 +0000

nothing about the 30,000 pounds of bananas incident on the hill coming into Scranton Pennsylvania!

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:44:07 +0000

There is SO much more to the great molasses flood. It’s funny to think about a wall of molasses going down the street, but it was actually moving at 30 miles per hour and devastated a section of Boston. The events leading up to it tie in with the slave trade, munitions, alchohol, and the Italian anarchist movement. There is a book by Stephen Puleo called “Dark Tide” that weaves it all together beautifully. The full story is just incredible.

By: Nerak

Nerak — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:03:16 +0000

The Beer Flood was featured in a past Mental_Floss article: “5 Drinking Stories That Put Yours To Shame”.

By: Emili

Emili — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:00:22 +0000

I recall several years ago when a butter plant caught fire in New Ulm, Minnesota, causing burned and melted butter to flow into the streets. When it cooled, it was over a foot deep in some places.

By: Rance

Rance — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:27:37 +0000

I’ve heard that in Bostonm, on damp days, you can still smell molasses where it ran into the basements.

By: Mavis

Mavis — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:25:17 +0000

I find the Londoners flocking to the spilled beer to not be that unbelievable.

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:21:41 +0000

…I have never wanted Pudding so much in my entire life.

By: NateH

NateH — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:56:28 +0000

If you poke around in the North End for awhile, you can still find buildings stained with molasses.

By: Bell Pepper

Bell Pepper — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:53:27 +0000

I think the writer has confused Molasses with Maple Syrup.