Several New Hampshire towns were rocked by a ground-shaking blast Tuesday night that was later chalked up to a family using explosives to reveal the gender of their unborn baby.
The Kingston Police Department said it received reports of a loud explosion around 7 p.m. Residents in a number of neighboring towns and as far away as northern Massachusetts reported hearing the blast. Police said it was caused by the detonation of approximately 80 pounds of Tannerite, an explosive target typically used for firearms practice, on the site of a construction business, Torromeo Industries, news station WBTS reported.
The people on site told authorities they had been having a gender reveal party, and detonated the explosive near Torromeo’s quarry, which they believed would be a safe location to do so.
Sara Taglieri lives next to the quarry with her husband, Matt. “We heard this god-awful blast,” she told Boston’s WBTS in an interview. “It knocked pictures off our walls.”
Her husband said the explosion cracked the foundations of their neighbors’ homes. “I don’t know how that’s right,” he said.
When police confirmed it was a gender reveal stunt, locals were confounded.
“Are you kidding me?” Sara Taglieri told WBTS. “I’m all up for silliness and whatnot, but that was extreme. It was ridiculous. I don’t have any other words for it.”
Police have reportedly viewed the video of the reveal and noted: It’s a boy. The person who bought and detonated the explosive is cooperating with authorities and could face charges pending results of the investigation.
Gender reveal parties, which started out with attractions like cutting blue or pink cakes or popping balloons filled with colored confetti, have become dramatically more extreme. The sometimes outlandish demonstrations have led to a number of serious accidents, damage to property and even deaths. In 2018, a Tannerite explosion at an Arizona gender reveal event set off a 45,000-acre wildfire.