The last outbreak in MA that I remember being this bad was back on June 9, 1953 - the Worcester “White City” tornado.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJciyLvvfKI
I’m older than most here, and I remember that tornado in Worcester in ‘53. I was a brand new nurse in Boston and they asked for volunteers to go help in the hospitals, so my roomies and I went. A swath of a flat mess, with the occasional refrigerator still standing. And one home would be wiped out with little or no damage to the one next door. (I’ll take hurricanes anytime!!)
The weatherman on Boston 7 TV just said that 50s tornado was the worst before this one.