A river of blazing whiskey flew through the streets of Dublin in 1875.
This is the unbelievable (but true) tale of the night that Dublin's streets were filled with blazing whiskey - and 13 people died, not from the fire, but from alcohol poisoning. The incident took place on July 18, 1875, when a malt house and a warehouse caught fire in Ireland's capital city. According to reports, the fire ignited over 5000 barrels of whiskey which exploded and left the contents pouring into the streets. In a matter of minutes, the city was plunged into chaos as a six-inch-deep river of whiskey ran through its streets.
The blaze spread quickly and burned down buildings - but that did not deter the people of Dublin. Locals used everything from utensils to their own hats and boots to scoop up the alcohol and drink it. As per a London Times report from that time: "Crowds of people assembled, and took off their hats and boots to collect the whisky, which ran in streams along the streets... Two corn-porters, named Healy and M'Nulty, were found in a lane off Cork-street, lying insensible, with their boots off, which they had evidently used to collect the liquor. There are many other persons in the hospital who are suffering from the same cause."
The fire was eventually contained by the Dublin fire brigade by making a large wall of horse manure in the street. Though nobody died from the fire or smoke inhalation, alcohol poisoning did cause the death of 13 people.
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