In November 1970, the small town of Florence, Oregon wrote themselves into the history books after local authorities decided the best way to dispose of a dead whale was to blow it up.
No, we’re not joking. This is a true story.
So what the hell actually happened?
The bizarre story of the Oregon exploding whale
Considered by many to be one of the earliest instances of a viral news story, authorities in the small coastal town were struggling to dispose of the decaying body of an eight ton dead sperm whale, which had washed ashore and was now decaying.
You can imagine wasn’t doing much for local tourism in the area. Not wanting the smell of rotting whale to plague their town any longer, the Oregon Highway Division made the decision to simply blow the carcass up, dispose of the remains and forget about the whole sorry saga.
Oh, how wrong they were.
Confident that the plan would work, the Division rigged the whale up with 450kg of dynamite, while a small crowd of onlookers gathered at a safe distance, curious to see what an exploding whale would actually look like.
Authorities were expecting the whale to explode into tiny pieces and becoming food for the local wildlife.
But unfortunately, fate had other plans and the whale instead exploded into much larger chunks. The remains were catapulted 150 feet (45m) into the air like a cursed volcano and pelted the gathering crowds in chunks of whale blubber.
I’m sure you can imagine that the whole sorry scenario didn’t smell particularly nice either.
Fortunately, no one was hurt by the exploding whale, with the casualties of the day standing at one completely crushed car after a three-foot chunk of whale carcass landed on top of it.
The baffling story has, of course, been covered countless times in popular culture, with the KATU news report still available on YouTube.
However if the original video doesn’t do it for you, then Zack D. Films, aka the internet’s number one simulation creator, has recreated the moment for you here:
Unlike the original news report, Zak’s recreation offers us an insight into how gathering crowds would’ve reacted to falling chunks of whale blubber hitting them in the face.
“‘They filled the beached whale with dynamite…’ What a great way to start a conversation,” one person replied in the comments, while a second joked: “Bro really said ‘you’re going down with me’.”
The clip even found its way to the people of Oregon, who revealed that locals ‘love’ sharing the story with people.
“This guy never fails to traumatise us with my 3am imaginations,” a fourth added.
The moment would even make its way into The Simpsons in 2010, allowing the exploding whale to be introduced to another generation.
