1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: January fifteenth of nineteen nineteen was an unusually warm winter's 7 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: afternoon in Boston. In the North End, near the waterfront, 8 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: workers sat outside to eat their lunches. Firefighters were playing 9 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: cards in the garage of the engine House, and near 10 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: a warehouse on Commercial Street, a group of children were 11 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: gathering firewood for their families when they heard a strange, 12 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: metallic groan. It was come out from the fifty foot 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: tall steel tank full of molasses that towered over the 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: North End. The tank had been built a few years 15 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: earlier by the Purity Distilling Company, and locals were used 16 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: to its regular leaking and rumbling, but this time it 17 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,400 Speaker 1: sounded different. The rapid warming weather was causing the molasses 18 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: in the tank to expand, putting increased pressure on the 19 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: poorly constructed walls. The quiet groan grew into a deep growl, 20 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: and then with a sudden bang, the rivets shot out 21 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: of the tank, ripping the sides open and sending a 22 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:36,920 Speaker 1: twenty five foot wave of molasses crashing down the street. 23 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 1: The sticky brown wave rolled through the North End at 24 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: a shocking speed of about thirty five miles an hour. 25 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: They was powerful enough to crush buildings and knock an 26 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: elevated train off its tracks. The firefighters at the engine 27 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: house ducked for cover as the walls collapsed around them, 28 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: leaving them trapped in a waste deep huddle of molasses. 29 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: A truck was picked up and hurtled all the way 30 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: into to Boston Harbor and down the block. A man 31 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: woke up in his third story bedroom to see a 32 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: flood of molasses several feet deep surrounding his bed. He 33 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: had to climb on top of the bed frame to 34 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: keep from drowning. In total, about two point three million 35 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: gallons of molasses poured into the streets, covering several blocks 36 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: in two to three feet of gooey sludge. Within minutes, Police, firefighters, 37 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: and Navy sailors rushed to the scene. They had a 38 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: hard time maneuvering through the sticky streets. Especially as the 39 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: molasses began to thicken in the cool winter air, but 40 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: they worked through the night, pulling survivors and bodies out 41 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: of the ruins. Despite the best efforts of the rescue crews, 42 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: twenty one people died in the Great Molasses Flood, including 43 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: two of the children who were collecting firewood nearby. Another 44 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty people were injured. It took hundreds 45 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: of workers weeks to clean up the molasses in the 46 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: immediate area, and even longer to clear the residue from 47 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: the rest of Greater Boston. Clean Up crews had to 48 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: fill a fireboat with water from the harbor and spray 49 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: the streets with saltwater to dissolve the molasses. The Boston 50 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: Harbor was stained brown until summer, and for decades after 51 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,840 Speaker 1: the disaster, the syrupy smell of molasses lingered over the 52 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: North End, becoming a distinctive part of the Boston atmosphere. 53 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: In the aftermath of the Great Molasses Flood, survivors filed 54 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: one hundred and nineteen separate lawsuits blaming the explosion on 55 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: the tank's poor design and shoddy construction. This led to 56 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: massive changes in construction laws nationwide, including a new requirement 57 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: that engineers and building inspectors had to sign off on 58 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: every project. More than one hundred years later, those new 59 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: regulations have successfully ensured that such a sticky tragedy will 60 00:03:49,320 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: never happen again. On November fifteenth of nineteen sixty six, 61 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: two young couples were driving past an abandoned National Guard 62 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: armory in West Virginia. It was a dark night, with 63 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: only the headlights on their car to guide them. The 64 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: armory was a strange place. Underground storage bunkers lay covered 65 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: in graffiti, with their big metal doors lying open like gaping, 66 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: yawning mouths ready to swallow someone up. Looking at one, 67 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: you wondered what strange weapons might have been stored inside them, 68 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: and what might remain. West Virginia was already a sufficiently 69 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: spooky place all on its own. The Blue Mountains feature 70 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: deep canyons dotted with thick tangles of trees hiding strange 71 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: monsters and occasionally strange people. It is truly both beautiful 72 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: and sinister, and that night these two couples, Roger and 73 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Malette, were about to 74 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: learn this in spades as they traveled along the highway. 75 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: Something st came into focus. Several feet ahead of them. 76 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: Two bright red pinpricks of light shot out like flares 77 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: in the dark. At first, they thought these might be 78 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: the tail lights of another car, but the red lights 79 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: hovered off the ground as if they weren't attached to 80 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: any vehicle at all. Because they weren't lights. They were eyes, 81 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: buggish orbs set into the gray fur covered head with 82 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: no neck, and below that, a gray bipedal body with 83 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: long insect like wings stretched out hideously behind it. The 84 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,720 Speaker 1: couple screamed and the driver slammed on the gas. They 85 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: plunged forward, growing even more shocked as this hideous creature 86 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: simply jumped up into the sky, turned around and followed them, 87 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: flapping its wings with ease. They drove as fast as 88 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: they could to one hundred miles an hour, desperate to 89 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: escape the strange creature, but it seemed to keep up 90 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 1: with them with no problem. Everyone in the car looked 91 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: eagerly toward the approaching lights of the city. It was 92 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,600 Speaker 1: their last hope. They crossed over onto the main thoroughfare 93 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: and looked behind them, and the creature was gone. The 94 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: most sinister part of this now infamous mothman story isn't 95 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: the eerie details of that first encounter, but the fact 96 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: that several other people claimed to see the exact same 97 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: thing in the coming days. Before the initial sighting was 98 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: well reported on, there was no opportunity for these witnesses 99 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: to corroborate their stories and get the details straight. It 100 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,840 Speaker 1: seems they really did see this creature. One man even 101 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: claimed that it ate his dog. Within a few years, 102 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: a journalist named John Keel traveled across West Virginia documenting 103 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: these strange occurrences. He noted the mothman phenomenon as being 104 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: a part of a larger UFO sighting phenomenon going on 105 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: throughout the United States at the time. But the mothman 106 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: sightings seemed to come to a climax on December fifteenth 107 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty seven. That was when the Silver Bridge 108 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: connecting Point Pleasant to Gallipoli, Ohio, collapsed, killing over forty people. 109 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: There are claims that the mothman was seen flying around 110 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: the bridge just before the accident, as if it could 111 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: predict what was about to happen. John Keel ultimately came 112 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: to a conclusion that's arguably stranger than the initial phenomena. 113 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: He believed that UFOs, the Mothman, and every other strange 114 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: sighting at the time could be attributed to the work 115 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: of extra dimensional beings who were causing people to hallucinate 116 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: all of these different creatures. Of course, nothing has ever 117 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: come of this theory. The bridge collapse can be attributed 118 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: to structural failure, UFO sightings to human aircraft and mass paranoia, 119 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: and the Mothman, well, the Mothman is harder to explain away. 120 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: At the very least, it's difficult to provide a rational 121 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: explanation for those rapid initial sightings when the individuals involved 122 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: had no chance to build off each other's stories. And 123 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: as I mentioned, West Virginia can be a spooky place. 124 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: There's a long tradition in the area of folklore relating 125 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: to different kinds of monsters in the woods. Maybe the 126 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: people of Point Pleasant in the nineteen sixties were just 127 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: primed by those earth stories and ready to create a 128 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: monster of their own after seeing a large owl or 129 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: a crane in the dark. Mothman is now a beloved 130 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: cryptid on par with bigfoots or the Lockness Monster, and 131 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: the people at Point Pleasant have fully embraced the legend 132 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: by erecting a statue in the center of town and 133 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: holding an annual Mothman festival. Still, you're more likely to 134 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: see it depicted as acutesy plushy on Etsy than as 135 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: something sinister. But with no satisfying answers to the original sightings, 136 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: folks always will be curious about whether the monster could 137 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: have been real or not. Maybe it will come back 138 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: one day to chase down some more cars, or to 139 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 1: warn us of impending doom. I hope you've enjoyed today's 140 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,320 Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free 141 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by 142 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by 143 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey and partners with how Stuff Works. I 144 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, 145 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all 146 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: about it over at Theworldoflore dot com. And until next time, 147 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: stay curious.