I recall reading the story in Smithsonian Magazine, and, if I'm not mistaken, the very same article is reproduced here. Here is one of the bizarre details:

"The trouble was that all the rescue workers, clean-up crews and sightseers, squelching through the molasses, managed to distribute it all over Greater Boston. Boots and clothing carried it into the suburbs. Molasses coated streetcar seats and public telephones. Everything a Bostonian touched was sticky. There is a report that molasses even got as far as Worcester. Certainly the inner harbor turned brown as the hoses washed the goo into the bay."

Better read the story before you call anything hyperbole.