December 3, 1984 saw the Bhopal disaster: A Bhopal, India Union Carbide pesticide plant leaked 45 tons of methyl isocyanate and other toxic compounds, killing 2,259. Other estimates are as high as 16,000. Over half a million were injured.
A day earlier in Euclid, Ohio, the city and it's children saw a similar but wildly safer incident: The grape Bonkers/Pink Bubble Yum gum spill of December 1984.
Sunday, December 2, 1984 was a dry day with highs in the mid 40's. Trucks hauling massive loads on I 90 have been commonplace since the highway was built, and the Euclid spur is still notoriously congested today. Still, a large truck carrying some sweet freight flipped on the Euclid spur and dumped it's load down the side of the highway, with purple (grape Bonkers) candy and pink (pink Bubble Yum) bubble gum spilling out of cardboard boxes and coming to rest between the Interstate 90's guardrails and Forest Park Elementary school.
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| December 3, 1984 Plain Dealer. Colorized by me. |
Driver Eddie Sims, 36, from Elkhart, Indiana swerved and tipped his tractor trailer to avoid hitchhiker Gregory Monjar, 21, from Goshen, Ohio. Monjar dived over the guardrail when he saw the pink and purple mess coming his way. Both men were treated for mild abrasions.
Now that's definitely Bonkers.
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