Prohibition Era | Clever Ways Booze Was Hidden

From 1920 to 1933, the United States placed a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. But that didn't stop people from smuggling booze in a variety of creative ways. In today's Weird History explainer, we explore interesting facts about the prohibition era and how Americans snuck around the no booze rule.
#prohibition #history #booze

[@milliawinters5231]

One of my history professors told us that his grandfather was a fisher in Michigan. They'd go catch for half a day, but then go to Canada to buy some booze. They'd fill the bottom of their storage with booze, throw the fish ontop of the bottles, and they never had anyone want to walk in or move the fish around to check.

[@pink_kpop709]

i live in michigan 😃

[@mattakubodimasen10]

@@pink_kpop709 random but hey I have the same avatar on facebook! Found a set of 3 similar pics on tumblr! So lovely!

[@evilpimp2475]

Lucky man, i bet he was happy to make it back with all that alcohol

[@robertkruse2360]

@@pink_kpop709 Me too!! GR FTW!!! U?

[@Masonaterx]

awesome. I live in Tawas. From here you can hit caseville, saginaw baycity, and even canada. Definitely an amazing place to live. Would love to here more michigan bootlegger stories

[@cadamyfour9093]

I work in a vintage clothing store and we have a few tail coat jackets that have hidden pockets in the tails for hiding flasks ☺️

[@Snow-ej5fm]

Cadamy Four me

[@braydenyonts3758]

That's such an awesome job. I'm a greaser so it's always nice to see vintage clothing stores. I can't help but stop in.

[@bryansette5053]

you forgot to mention how bootleggers would make their cars faster to outrun the cops and eventually they would form NASCAR

[@phil_cassidy]

I'd say that's a good contender for the most 'Murican thing ever.

[@lilmelon5400]

@@phil_cassidy lmao, ya

[@ryantoomey611]

By pouring moonshine in their gas tank.

[@jaxonh.6330]

@8534964 says the guy who says 'yanks'

[@brandon4391]

Some would know that their trucks wouldn’t outrun the cops so they made them for lower gears in places like Tennessee where there’s more mountains and their grills were made to take out police radiators when they slammed into them

[@aslanhuseynov7714]

In about 100 years they will tell how they transported weed

[@freddymarcel-marcum6831]

Film cannister, nobody ever suspected.

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

Chill out maaaaaaan

[@Moto_Medics]

Up the ole man pocket eh?

[@zoiperi4782]

I dont think it will even take thst mutch time prob 10 or 20 years and itsleagal in allmoust every country :)

[@samanthayi7834]

I was looking for this comment lol

[@nomine4027]

My wonderful Aunt Clara, who lived to be 103, taught me how to hollow out an egg without breaking it in the guise of making Easter ornaments. She loved to tell us how she used to fill eggs with booze and the government was none the wiser. She was the coolest lady ever. RIP.

[@makerhappy6718]

This just proves making something illegal does not stop it.

[@picgmr1575]

so does the war on drugs

[@elpibe3514]

GreatnessGamers and the one against guns,except the guns do actually bring a good part

[@b1ff]

These types of laws aren’t meant to _stop_ usage, like they were in times past, they’re meant to incarcerate, which generates revenue and kickbacks. You know what they say, “If you find it impossible to beat them, profit off of as many of them as possible, for as long as possible.”

[@Lowmandavis]

@@elpibe3514 and other jokes you can tell yourself

[@elpibe3514]

TheNintendoFanatic so the 300k cunts a year that defend their family and themselves don’t count as a good part eh?

[@driveman6490]

I hide my liquor where it belongs........my liver.

[@kp5602]

Fatty Liver

[@CanIHasThisName]

Well, be careful. You wouldn't want to spill it accidentally in public.

[@theworldoverheavan560]

@@CanIHasThisName lol

[@kennymartinez4534]

White boy quotes

[@rattmuffhehe7344]

ok boomer

[@raymurrayie]

How about the sellers of grape juice that had instructions that the bottles were not to be placed in a certain room in a house and that yeast or sugar should not be added because you ran the risk that alcohol would be fermented.

[@ericwoytasek269]

Pretty much the same way I get soda and snacks into a movie theater.

[@eskimoassasin6764]

Don't even bother with movie theaters anymore. Can pirate any movie i want the day it comes out and watch it on my 76inch smart tv. Movie theaters are a ripoff

[@NylaVox]

ligmaballs And you can get up whenever you want without missing anything~

[@eskimoassasin6764]

@@NylaVox exactly

[@garethbaus5471]

My pants have big pockets, I might try this when I finally have enough money to go see a movie.

[@ARedMotorcycle]

Torrents are life.

[@joseisabomb]

We'll never know the best smuggling methods...

[@picgmr1575]

@@hanniballecter4283 duh

[@subarunatsuki4145]

Goddammit..

[@mangot589]

🤔

[@cody181818]

its the butthole

[@generalr1700]

@@cody181818 this is the correct answer.

[@kght222]

"had they been successful" nah, we would still learn about it. smuggling works until it doesn't, so having caught a method doesn't mean that it wasn't successful, just means that it eventually got caught.

[@KingofSchubi]

Yes but the stealthiest method is still the one that no one discovers

[@limaromeo8745]

It’s almost as if prohibition doesn’t actually hurt the consumption of a substance and the government is wasting its time

[@ln7929]

Same. Goes for the drug war

[@craydussy]

@@ln7929 rather deal with a mate thats drunk then a lad thats on herion

[@ln7929]

@@craydussy not saying it should be legal just that were handling it the wrong way

[@craydussy]

@@ln7929 right on mate. How do you belive we should handle it? Ive thought about this ever since i came to america but have never came up with a ripe enough answer

[@rileyodonnell8867]

Lima Romeo the issue was that booze was legal and very popular and the police force was not large enough to search every home. You would see the same results if the government banned soft drinks or burgers

[@arachnonixon]

ridiculous laws force people to do equally ridiculous things. these photos are hilarious

[@triple_gem_shining]

Lool this comment is gold

[@mksabourinable]

I heard of one method where folks in fishing boats from maritime provinces in Canada would transport the booze to New England states in USA, and if police boats came upon them they'd toss their packages into the ocean so there was nothing for em to find. Like they'd do it the second they spotted another boat coming anywhere near em, and they did it carefully and quietly. Thing is? The packages had two parts. The main package with the booze, which had floatation devices, was was attached by a rope to the second part: a salt block. The block which weighed em down, keeping em under the water. BUT, being salt, they would dissolve in the water over time, so the boats just had to wait a bit and grab the packages which were now floating, free from the heavy salt blocks! I don't know if they were ever caught, I heard that story from relatives who are from Nova Scotia, so.

[@krtiticalwatermelon1685]

That is bloody interesting

[@garethbaus5471]

I would think it would be easier to have it in a net or on the end of a line whichever method was used so it could be retrieved faster.

[@brendamurphy8654]

Great Topic & Video!!! Both of my grandfathers transported alcohol during Prohibition. My Canadian grandfather, transported the alcohol on sled, through the wilderness; so to not be caught by the Mounties, to the Irish Mob, at the Maine border...while my American grandfather (who was in the Irish Mafia at the time), would pick up the alcohol coming to the border, from Canada, then would bring it down to Eastern Cities, in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, etc... Neither of them were ever caught! When my parents married, they had no idea that both of they're father's, had done the same thing, during Prohibition, and had possibly met all those years before. Unfortunately my grandfathers never got to meet each other, after my parents met, and were married. My Dad had left Canada, and joined the U.S. Navy, during Vietnam, before he was sent overseas...My parents were married within two months after meeting (They were engaged for less than two weeks, because they wanted to marry, before he was shipped out, and his parents didn't have enough time to get there). My Mom's Dad had passed away, before the War was over, and before my Dad was back in the States. Then my Dad's father passed away, not much long, after he got back to U.S.. Thank We all wonder, that if they'd had the chance to meet back then, if they might have known each other, from the past⁉️ Such a good chance they could have met ...what a crazy, and small world!!! We'll never know...I've always enjoyed all the stories that my grandfathers told to my parents, about the time period, when they were both Rumrunners, on both sides of the countries borders, during Prohibition❣✌😁

[@janeyrevanescence12]

My friend's grandparents had a grocery store during this time and also sold booze. To hide the booze whenever the cops came around, they hid the bottles inside their son's crib. Since it was a cursory glance and people didn't think to look inside a crib, it worked every time. The irony was not lost on them when said son grew up to be a cop himself.

[@NvrchFotia]

The state of Detroit?

[@Ty-yt3lj]

Absolute shithole

[@raghudurina2354]

i actually live in detroit what a idiot

[@JZH10000]

Lmao the state of Detroit guess Michigan doesnt want them anymore

[@poetato4149]

America is my city. Detroit is my state.

[@MrSonnyfy]

@@theworldoverheavan560 not everyone gets shot in Detroit lmao

[@A_Dopamine_Molecule]

Prohibition of any psychoactive substance will hurt more than help. For most people, existence feels awful half the time, and unless you have a lot of discipline, you can't chase all of those demons away without some chemical help. Until we find a way to fix our caveman reward systems for good, drugs and alcohol will always have a market.

[@misfitfromtoyisland.9940]

Of the day??? Women are still way less likely to be searched than men.

[@justinakers3196]

Misfit from toy island. Especially attractive women. The better looking they are the more they’ll probably be able to get away with. Lol

[@liloof5421]

8534964 ok

[@juicyjewels5454]

Unless you are in the airport, tsa is indiscriminately handsy.

[@kjeezy2990]

They just call a female officer here

[@dunbass7149]

Justin Akers yiu sounds really bitter

[@ChairmanMeow1]

The best one is that the Chicago Outfit would set up entire fake funerals to transport a ton of booze in the procession and mainly the hearse itself. That is just gloriously inventive.

[@phayzyre1052]

My grandfather grew up during prohibition. He told me: "Prohibition became a losing battle before the ink on the 18th amendment had time to dry!" He added: "There were liquor stills everywhere in every state and as soon as law enforcement would tear one down probably 20 more would pop up somewhere else."

[@johnathandamron3162]

Its crazy that it became the 2nd largest industry in the State of Detroit. Mostly its power to make Detroit a state.

[@Garf-the-true-and-evil]

My history teacher said he had an uncle who was a bootlegger. It was unspoken amongst his family when his uncle got a new car one day during the great depression. They would cut areas out in the corn for the brewing things so you couldn't see them from the road. One year the corn blew down and they had to take the tanks down.

[@limpnjen]

What a lot of people don't realize is prohibition is what sparked America's addiction to sugar. Businesses replaced booze with soda and other sugary options. If you look at the history of some famous brands still around today, they either started or boomed in the era.

[@amberprechtel8054]

My great great uncle ran booze for capone and ended up on the Florida chain gang. His name is Albert House and he wrote a book about it. My grandmother delivered shine (while delivering milk) to homes when she was a little girl (5yrs old). She would tell me that back then no one would think children would do anything illegal. She was also paid more to deliver shine with the milk.

[@christineferreira2181]

I seem to learn more from Weird History than all my years of school. My HS teacher was a good teacher aside from cursing and smelling like cigarettes and putting booze into his coffee cup. He wasn’t fooling anyone

[@phayzyre1052]

Not just history but the internet as a whole! Not only do I feel as though I've learned more online than I did in HS but more than I did the 4 years I was in college as well. And the best part? It's free!

[@soapftw96]

i saw a girl that had liquor in a sunscreen bottle so she could bring it into a football game.

[@YuvrajSingh-qx1dx]

Faggatron what a story

[@mw33213]

Imagine if you saw someone drinking what you thought was straight sunscreen out of the bottle xD

[@Luna-cx1pp]

That's what a thermos is for.

[@charlesreynolds5323]

@@mw33213 some what related, I'm in trade school and one of my classmates drinks his water out of a bleach bottle. makes all the prospective kids recoil.

[@mw33213]

@@charlesreynolds5323 Oh god. I hope he cleaned it well xD

[@arnaudmenard5114]

My great-grandfather was an engineer. And during the prohibition he smuggled Canadian whiskey by hiding bottles in the water tanks of the steamer he was working on!

[@robbrown3941]

Yup. That’s how the Kennedy Family made all their loot.

[@miniclip7951]

Funny how it's called a Liver when im *killing it*

[@Wla_rudogg]

Almost

[@daddygirlchanelhines4600]

😑😑😑

[@aryyancarman705]

rofl man

[@feestfilmer]

I'm from europe , and i can tell you no one thinks it was a 'noble experiment'. Have a nice day sir!

[@n3v3rg01ngback]

In a hundred years, there will be videos on how kids smoked weed out of carved apples and cut it with lawn grass.

[@stevendoorslinger6306]

8

[@Ottophil]

Who can’t tell what grass is? Use cbd shake

[@alvinpena-reynosa4213]

Awesome video, lots of information I didn't know or see in all those old movies

[@draeco6875]

ah, yes, the beautiful state of Detroit.

[@trishadez2163]

And it is a great and beautiful state

[@wolfancap6897]

The government prohibiting something creates more crime and violence, and people refuse to realise that, so situations like this one happen.

[@blackroyalbrand1287]

_Americans REALLY needed to drink back then_ 😂

[@richtygart6855]

A friend of mine that owns a restaurant in downtown Nampa Idaho had an unused upstairs area that used to be a bar in the 1800's but during prohibition it became a ballroom. He decided to convert that room back into a bar using the original name called the Blue Eye. When we were upstairs remodeling it we tore out a wall and found a fully-working and beautiful bar from the 1800s with little 3x3 hidden door where a sneaky worker could crawl in on his hands and knees and apparently smuggle drinks in and out to the people who were only supposed to be out there dancing.

[@ADRay1999]

🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻🍺🍻 A speakeasy from the prohibition era is still around today, it’s called *The Back Room* it’s located in New York City and just like during the Prohibition era you have to use a password to get inside

[@burnintrees420]

In Portland, Oregon we still have Herbert's. A tavern turned speak easy turned tavern again. The trapped doors to the Shanghai tunnels are even still in tact.

[@trainzguy2472]

Miramar Beach Restaurant in Half Moon Bay (near San Francisco) was once a prohibition roadhouse. It was a hub for smugglers who ran small boats along the coast. Now it's just a seafood restaurant, but there are some cool photos along the walls of what it used to be.

[@ItsAj03]

@@burnintrees420 wait a sec thats a r/boneappletea

[@vr4bastard353]

whats the password?

[@marylinmora35]

Good job snitches

[@ttv7927]

I appreciate how you have good ideas and you give us the answers short, sweet and interesting.

[@Wanking_wanker]

Wow people got really creative

[@hectorrodriguez6843]

Just goes to show you if you make something illegal it will never truly go away. "when theirs a will, there's a way"

[@poopshipdestroy3r]

Thanks for the tips buddy

[@krrrruptidsoless]

6:35 That lady must have been thirsty. What is she holding a gallon wine glass? All the guys are holding like frosted mugs and she's holding a gallon wine glass. 😸😸

[@carryspice1798]

love the channel keep it up gang

[@WeirdHistory]

Thank you!

[@Dogman36]

Illegal Alcohol production meant the creating of Stow-N-Go seating with extra floor compartments and also NASCAR

[@dopamine261]

Thank you, now I can use these tricks to get it around my parents.

[@miacampioni263]

I know that no one will see this but I still wanted to share. During prohibition my great grandmother ran a speak easy and my aunts think that she might have had ‘rooms for rent’. She was eventually caught and arrested. I’m not sure what her punishment was as I have not personally seen the police report and no one in my family bothered to mention it. I am also not sure if my aunts were implying that she was a prostitute or that she was a pimp and I’m not sure which is funnier. The ‘rooms for rent’ is only speculation as that isn’t what she was arrested for.

[@Errcyco]

I love this channel sooooo much.

[@Zeldarw104]

very ingenious & clever when you just gotta get your drink on! Hello!😏 Is that the original O.G. second from the left, in the black & white photograph? Lucky Luciano.😊

[@btetschner]

A+ video! LOVE IT! What a fascinating and unique phenomena!

[@kathryncarter6143]

Dang, the alchoholic torpedo was a new one for me. Had El Chappo been born a bit earlier, he likely would have helped them out.

[@privacyvalued4134]

You missed one form of smuggling: Vanilla and other extracts. It was generally inappropriate for a woman to get drunk. But for baked goods and desserts, you need extracts and therefore most extracts were excluded from prohibition. Extracts are made by steeping an item in vodka or bourbon at around 35%. So some women, to hide the habit, would buy large quantities of vanilla extract with their other groceries. Yup, they upended that bottle if they were desperate. Even today no one gets carded for buying extracts, which I find a fascinating loophole, but it is an expensive and I'd wager a pretty nasty way to get buzzed.

[@thegreaterg8r148]

Fun fact: you can make your own alcohol by putting a spoonful of yeast into arizona tea, then waiting a week!

[@Bro1212_]

How do you store it, Do you put it in the fridge or leave it out in a room temperature environment?

[@thegreaterg8r148]

@@Bro1212_ dont put it in the fridge, it kills the yeast. I always leave it in the closet, because A: it hides it from my family and B: its a cool dark place, which is good for the fermentation. Check out r/prisonhooch on reddit, tons of great info

[@manuelm4815]

thanks for the tips

[@Peter-fo7md]

Thanks for the tips how to smuggle alcohol into school

[@SoapinTrucker]

I used a NyQuil bottle to smuggle vodka into poly high in Long Beach (1980), I just added green food coloring!!!!! 😎👍

[@billschlafly4107]

More freedom has always helped society. Never has it been the case where a government reduced freedom and society improved.

[@johnpossum556]

That's why repealing the 18th ammendment completely is coming soon. Some people even say it's closer now that Sessions has been replaced by some one more pro-cannabis.

[@forgetfulfunctor1]

Lincoln reduced the freedom for states to have legalize slavery *waits for shitstorm*

[@Brent-jj6qi]

forgetfulfunctor1 that was Lincon giving more people freedom

[@forgetfulfunctor1]

@@Brent-jj6qi by taking away the freedom of states to choose slavery. That's how we're taught it, south of the Mason Dixie line

[@Brent-jj6qi]

forgetfulfunctor1 that’s taking away government rights and fuck any government that’s too large

[@kakarroto007]

They couldn't stop our forefathers from getting their drink on!

[@carinsvoice]

LOL - that woman's glass closest to the camera at 6:36. My hero! :) Ah, the Volstead Act was actually started by and named after MN State Representative Andrew Volstead, probably penned in his office in the building that is now the Landmark Center in St. Paul, MN. But St. Paulites were pretty dang savvy at running speakeasies -- there was even one in a cave now known as the Wabasha Street Caves.

[@Liftedpeace61]

My great grandmas brother had bought a truck, it was the first time their farm-house family had ever seen a car. It was a wooden bed truck so they modified it to be able to store alcohol underneath the boards. They never were caught and made enough money to be more than well off.

[@flatplant]

And people act like it would be so unrealistic to amend the constitution now

[@CountryCarReviews]

No one ever said politicians and southern Baptists had common sense

[@starguard4122]

Winos will be Winos. Thanks for making this video :)

[@illogicallyinsane1510]

I have 2 of those canes I figured they were from the 80's coke scene they still have the lil glass vials

[@jakenelson1366]

Sounds like the situation today with psychedelics.

[@JLBREMER]

6:39 wow... I went sober for 130+ days and right now that's how I feel LOL she's my spirit animal

[@Drugaddict22]

Yep,gotta love medical vodka.

[@Elainerulesutube]

The 2020s will be the centenary of the U.S. prohibition era.

[@UkraineJames2000]

I need a monster flask for the occasional hidden sip. Yep.

[@zachyhex1996]

You tell me i can't buy anymore beer... I'll become extremely creative... Believe me lol

[@treborironwolfe978]

Uncanny how similar this video is to recent uploads in Vice channel's "Drug Wars" series, but the time depictions are 100 yrs apart...

[@lahnhedberg3403]

I made a makeshift door inside my wall where the thing to keep the warmth is, had where you opened it be against a corner behind the dresser and no way to see the lines of it because I made the door slanted so it opened down. 14 year old me was quite impressive... 18 now and certainly lack that creativity.

[@joethemallard5514]

My great great grandfather was a moonshiner during prohibition. He often hid his shine under the backseat of his car and put his kids on top. He often openly hit them if they ever complained about it. So often, in fact, that when he abandoned his kids during the Great Depression, everybody on the block threw a grand old party. (With Complimentary Moonshine, of course.)

[@joeyjamison5772]

I carry liquor around in my blood stream.

[@zabidebeaumont]

In Los Angeles, the police and Mayor were running the illegal booze trade during this time lol.

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

Cheers!

[@iampatmac]

My grandma was a bootlegger she hid the beer in the baby carriage and would take it to the bar and sell to the owner. With my mom in the carriage too.

[@c4ble472]

I’m interested in learning more about that WW1 German U-boat they used

[@billyjack8119]

I work in a factory and when they junked out some huge presses they were full of liquor bottles in the pit below.

[@Tooill4daIRS]

I used to do the same with my weed in middle school

[@SoapinTrucker]

In 1978 when I was in the tenth grade some a*****e narc'ed me out for having a bag of parsley!!!!! The thing was I had pot seeds in it, it was just meant to be a joke! I got suspended for three days!!!! "A minor amount of marijuana"! Quartz Hill High.

[@Iwishtheirwasnopain]

I used to work in a place, where behind my office was a real 1920s speakeasy that was reopened a few years ago in full theme

[@magicman9218]

The inderwater cable system is a really great idea, and would work much better nowadays with modern scuba gear to retrieve the deeper objects

[@dufffitzgerald1206]

My ND badlands neighbors were from a Missouri crew, who decided that it would be easy to run it across the Canadian line, getting sophisticated enough to have drop floors in grain silos, and identical cars, so if the dogs came, which was kinda hard to do, anyway, on a fairly open border, in North Dakota's-- well, "border" they would have a really pretty girl, in a really empty identical car, haul ass out of the silo, while they dropped out in the dust and confusion, in the mile or less that the federal fellowship had to catch up- "OH!- I'M SORRY OFFICER! WHY, A GIRL JUST CAN'T BE TO CAREFUL OUT HERE IN THE DARK!--"

[@dufffitzgerald1206]

Pretty girls who can't be too careful- 99%, as legend has it-- feds, considerably less...

[@HatersGonnaHateMe01]

I’m now watching this video about having to hide illegal booze, while quarantined from a global pandemic, shot-gunning wine from a bottle I bought at the gas station. It’s funny how times have changed for the somewhat stranger. But at least we have legal booze to get through it now.

[@misterawesome5723]

Holly shitt. I was unaware that the struggle was so real. Same tactics used today tho. Cargo has just changed

[@johnsheetz6639]

I got an antique globe that opened up and had spots for bottles

[@zoesdada8923]

The best way to hide beer is in your stomach.

[@atompunk456]

*18th amendment passes* Americans: I'm going to do what's called a pro gamer move

[@louiewatson9389]

Hmmm. Wonder if I can get a medical alcohol profile in the army... LOL

[@wendigo6759]

esta chido

[@likahmac]

somethings never change

[@meghanbarton8293]

I would love to hear about Germany 1920-1930s!!

[@NOBLE0307]

Can wait to see a video in 40 years about clever ways people hid weed during weed prohibition

[@btetschner]

Incredible how creative they were when it came to hidden booze!

[@Moto_Medics]

My grandma (who was the first woman sheriff where I’m from) as a kid would help her family do dead drops of shine in the night. She is a fucking badass.

[@chriswright8464]

You booze, you lose.

[@sketchtown6663]

Im from ontario right on the border, you can thank my grandad for a lot of whiskey that came into detroit. Us canadians will always give ya a drink!

[@tomparry20]

2:50, get it, the four swallows ... of *BOOZE*

[@schneir5]

6:40 "...ending what many referred to as America's noble experiment." More like stupid, pointless, or failed experiment.

[@cerebrumexcrement]

we need to bring the alcohol prohibition back. this sounds like fun.

[@sg27182]

5:15 Detroit was a state. I don’t know where I’ve been learning history at.

[@tjnaples]

Now I need to go find out how one of alcohol’s names became “hooch”.

[@SoapinTrucker]

Well, I found this from Merriam-webster.com : "hooch Noun (1) short for hoochinoo, a distilled liquor made by the Hoochinoo (Hutsnuwu) Indians, a Tlingit tribe"