Rick’s doing some great research on this hoax.
If you note the upright rectangle! — when I first glanced at it, I thought it might be an upended rail car until I realized the oil traincars are fatter and shorter, and round– and couldn’t be that tall. Instantly I was struck with the thought that it would be a fire/smoke stack– something I’m somewhat familiar with from my workdays at the steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario– in principle– although the flame and smoke coming out of the stack in Lac Megantic is higher volume.
