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23rd Apr 2021

Gender reveal party using 80 pounds of explosives sets off earthquake reports

Charlie Herbert

The man responsible has turned himself into police

A man in New Hampshire managed to cause reports of an earthquake after setting off 80 pounds worth of explosives as part of a gender reveal party.

Police in Kingston, a town close to the Massachusetts border, were called to Torromeo quarry after receiving reports of a loud blast on Tuesday evening. At the quarry they found people who acknowledged holding a gender reveal party with explosives.

The family had lit 80 pounds (36 kilograms) of Tannerite at the location, according to the police. Local TV reported that the blast rocked some people’s homes and even caused some property damage.

One nearby resident, Sara Taglieri, told the television station NBC 10 Boston, per the Guardian: “We heard this God-awful blast.

“It knocked pictures off our walls … I’m all up for silliness and whatnot, but that was extreme.”

Her husband said that their neighbours had suffered cracks in the foundations of their homes.

Luckily no injuries have been reported, but the man who bought and detonated the explosives has handed himself in to the police. He has not been identified.

And just in case you were wondering… it was a boy!

This just the latest in a trend of gender reveal parties becoming even more stupid and, worryingly, even more dangerous.

In March this year, two pilots were killed when their plane crashed whilst they were streaming a pink substance as part of a gender reveal. In 2020 a gender reveal party caused a fire in California that damaged more than 7,000 acres of land, and in April 2017 an off-duty US border patrol agent caused $8 million of damage to 47,000 acres of land after shooting a target full of blue-coloured explosive as a way of announcing his child’s gender.