136: The Great Molasses Flood & a Father's Love

It was the winter of 1919, and the folks at the Purity Distilling Company were working their asses off. Prohibition was right around the corner, and they wanted to make as much rum as they could -- while it was still legal. They received shipment after shipment of a key ingredient: Molasses. All of it went in a tank in Boston’s North End. The tank was 50 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter. It held up to 2.3 million gallons of molasses. But the tank had problems. It leaked constantly, and it made strange groaning sounds. It had been poorly constructed. On January 15, 1919, the tank collapsed. Then Brandi tells us about pedofile Jeff Doucet. Jeff ran a karate studio in the 80s, and that’s how he gained the trust of 11 year old Jody Plauche. Over time, Jeff groomed Jody. For a year, he sexually abused the boy. Then, in February of 1984, he kidnapped Jody. Investigators tracked Jeff down to a motel in California, and returned Jody to his parents. Jody’s parents were devastated to hear what had happened to their son. And Jody’s father Gary decided to get revenge. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: The book, “Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919” by Stephen Puleo “The Great Molasses Flood,” by Robert Stanly for New England Today “Why the Great Molasses Flood Was So Deadly” by Emily Sohn for history.com “Great Molasses Flood” entry on Britannica “Great Molasses Flood” entry on Wikipedia In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Survivors Perspective with Jody Plauché” episode, Criminal Perspective podcast “Molested, abducted as a child in infamous Baton Rouge case, Jody Plauché wants his story to help others” by George Morris, The Advocate “A Father’s Justice” by Rick Reilly, ESPN “Man Who Shot Son’s Alleged Kidnapper Pleads Innocent” by Guy Coates, AP “Plauche Pleads No Contest To Manslaughter Charges” by Ray Formaker Jr., AP “Father Who Killed Alleged Abuser on TV Avoids Jail” Los Angeles Times “Gary Plauché” wikipedia.org