Why some people say they can still smell Boston's Great Molasses Flood

A deadly flood of molasses almost sounds like a joke. But the story of the Great Molasses Flood is true. It devastated a community of Italian immigrants living in Boston’s North End, who then fought to establish safety laws we now take for granted. Curiosity Desk Host Edgar B. Herwick III takes us on a journey from the heart of Boston’s Italian community to the labs of olfactory experts to find the answer to this lingering question: 100 years later, can you still smell the remnants of the Great Molasses Flood in Boston’s North End?

0:00 This is The Curiosity Desk!
1:10 Ahh, molasses...
3:07 Boston's Historic North End
5:45 "You're never alone when you're here"
7:25 The Great Molasses Flood of 1919
9:47 A resilient community
12:15 Keeping memories alive
14:31 Fact or folklore?
15:31 The science of smell
22:31 Closing arguments
25:33 "Wow, those things really did happen"
27:05 Credits
27:58 Take our YouTube survey!

For more on the chemistry behind molasses, including a breakdown of the fluid dynamics of the Great Molasses Flood, check out this episode of "Untold" from our friends at PBS Digital Studios:    • The Great MOLASSES Flood of 1919  

Check out these related videos from GBH's Forum Network:
-Molasses: From the Slave Trade to the Great Flood: https://www.wgbh.org/forum-network/le...
-The Great Molasses Flood: Misremembered Molasses: https://www.wgbh.org/forum-network/le...
-The Great Molasses Flood Revisited: Labor and the Molasses Flood: https://www.wgbh.org/forum-network/le...

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