The Massachusetts Monster - 1953 Worcester F4 Tornado

Comments · 708

• RE

  @Reggeroni · 1 year ago

  My dad was a Mass State Police trooper in 1953 living in Southborough at the time. He was on the front porch as paper, shingles and debris started falling from the sky. Just then a kid on a bike rode into the yard and told my dad "a fireman down the street just heard that a tornado hit Worcester". He jumped in the cruiser and headed to route 9 as the tornado was dissipating. He was awestruck seeing the devastation as he headed towards Worcester.

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• JO

  @JohnShields-xx1yk · 1 year ago

  those photos look like a tornado in the Midwest, the fact it was Massachusetts is insane.

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• CO

  @CorinneEFrier · 7 months ago

  I lived in Worcester during this tornado. I was 11 years old. My father, a Worcester firefighter, was overcome with smoke from fighting fires in the area. The section of Worcester we lived in was fortunately untouched while horror rained all around us. My 16 year old brother a ham radio was called to work with the Civil Defense in the city. My friend and I collected blankets, which were so badly needed by hospitals and first responders. It was said that the skin on some people's bodies was imbeded with sand, dirt, and other debris. I am now 83, years, and remember that time like it was yesterday. Unbelievable.

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• CA

  @carolynnmathisen8754 · 1 year ago

  I was a six year old when this happened.  We lived on the third floor of a three decker house.  My mother was hugely pregnant and she took me into an interior stairwell and we crouched down for what seemed like forever.  All I could hear was golf ball sized hail coming down and the sound of a train.  ( no trains were anywhere near our house).  When it was over the devastation was a nightmare.  Except for shingles and roof tiles we were ok but the house behind us was leveled.  I have no idea how such a thing could have happened but I’ve never forgotten my terror.  My dad was a firefighter and we didn’t see him for almost three days

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• FR

  @fredperrone1737 · 7 months ago (edited)

  It was my 6th birthday party in Worcester. My uncle Joe lived in the Burncoat area, was there, and he started to get worried when the golf ball sized hail started falling. He loaded me and my brother into his pickup truck and we headed over to his house to check on his wife.  Even at age 6, I noticed things were not right when I saw a house with the roof lifted off and sitting intact right next to it!  When we got to my uncle’s house we saw the house across the street was just a pile of rubble with the only recognizable object was a bathtub with the shower pipe intact sitting on top of the rubble. My uncle’s house had a 20 foot hole in the roof and one of the walls torn completely off.  His wife was sitting on the curb, hysterical, but  remarkably uninjured. I will never forget that day!

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• CD

  @CDiPaola04 · 1 year ago (edited)

  This monster was possibly an under reported F5. The damage was unbelievable, unlike anything seen outside of the south/midwest

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• EL

  @Elizabeth-k9j9c · 1 year ago

  Living here in Worcester I can tell you that this history is still very much with us about that storm.

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• PL

  @Plazminx · 2 years ago

  As someone who was told Massachusetts NEVER gets tornadoes (where I live) this is REALLY INTERESTING!! The only tornado I remember around here was the one in Westfield a couple years back, when I was ten. I panicked let’s just say, even though we weren’t there. I’ve been interested in tornadoes for a couple months now and I was almost positive that the June 1st EF3 was the biggest! Thanks for the video bud!!

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• AI

  @aivryjett29 · 1 year ago

  And Worcester just had a confirmed tornado on 9/6/25. Funny how this video was recommended now.

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• RI

  @richt63 · 1 year ago (edited)

  My mother was from Worcester Massachusetts. She died back in 1999 from cancer.Before she died she told me the story of how she and my grandmother encountered very high winds when they were on a bus. So bad was it the driver took refuge under a overpass which at the time they didn't know the dangers of taking such an action. When they got home. They put on a radio and head on a local news station that a tornado had struck the area. Seeing the account of another bus being hit by the Tornado and two people died on it makes me feel fortunate that my mother and grandmother's bus wasn't hit. They lived in Southern part of Shrewsbury..

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• MA

  @marthawoodworth · 2 years ago (edited)

  This tornado chased my dad's Cadillac home. He was a traveling salesman. His route was western Massachusetts, specifically Leominster and Worcester, which he'd just left after a day of calling on customers.  He said he could see the twister in his rear-view mirror, put his mettle to the pedal, and zoomed home to Newton. When he came in the door, he turned on the TV and we all watched the news about the storm.

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• LE

  @leonardhill4440 · 2 years ago

  Definitely some of the best narrated tornado vids I’ve ever seen. This young man’s great great 106 year old war hero vet uncle Pete doesn’t look a day over 60/65?..you and your family are beyond blessed. Seriously great job!

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