The Earth appeared to shake in parts of southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts Tuesday evening, but it was not caused by an earthquake. A gender reveal party in Kingston, New Hampshire was responsible for the “large explosion” and it was all caught on a doorbell camera. Police said the partygoers used about 80 pounds of Tannerite, an over-the-counter “explosive target” meant for firearms practice, just to reveal to their friends and family that the parents are having a boy.
When police arrived at Torromeo Industries, the scene of the explosion, the people there cooperated with police and revealed they were hosting a gender reveal party. “During the investigation, the detective was informed that the location, a quarry, was chosen as they felt it was a safe location to detonate the Tannerite,” police said in a statement to WBZ-TV.
Videos by PopCulture.com
View this post on Instagram
However, residents in the area did not feel safe. Tina Bouraphael said the explosion even caused cracks in her house’s foundation. “It was just a big boom and crack, it was very loud, it just shook my whole porch,” Bouraphael told WBZ. “It was really very strong… Yeah, the word ridiculous came to my mind, it was just incredible.” Another neighbor, Sara Tatlieri said the explosion was “just absolutely over the top, ridiculous.”
Police said the man who detonated the Tannerite is cooperating with the police. Investigators will decide what charges they might file against him. Authorities believe they only used explosives residents can legally buy and they thought they had permission to hold the party at Torromeo Industries, reports WBTS. “I do think that they should be held responsible for that and I do think Torromeo should as the property owner that allowed this should also be held accountable,” Taglieri told WBZ.
Tannerite sells a gender reveal target which includes 1 pound of explosive material with blue or pink powder. According to the company’s website, its targets are legal because they “fall under the same Federal laws as black powder and all other explosives that are exempt for sporting purposes from the federal regulations of commercial explosives in their unmixed form.”
Gender reveal parties have come under increased scrutiny lately, with many seeing them as getting out of hand. In 2020, California fire officials determined that the El Dorado Fire that scorched over 10,500 acres was caused by a gender-reveal pyrotechnic device, reports CNN. In February, a man in New York and another man in Michigan were killed in separate reveal party accidents. Jenna Karvunidis, the mother whose 2008 gender reveal inspired the trend, has pleaded with people to stop having them. “Stop it. Stop having these stupid parties,” she wrote on Facebook in September 2020. “For the love of God, stop burning things down to tell everyone about your kid’s penis. No one cares but you.”
