Episode 78 - Oregon's Exploding Whale Incident Of 1970

On November 9, 1970, the carcass of an eight-ton, 45-foot-long sperm whale washed up on the beach near the small town of Florence, Oregon. For the next several days, the whale sat undisturbed on the shore while its rotting flesh sent a putrid cloud into the air. As local KATU news anchor Paul Linnman said at the time, the Oregon State Highway Department “not only had a whale of a problem on its hands — it had a stinking whale of a problem.”

In all, 20 cases of dynamite were used to blow up the whale. Those in attendance watched in awe as the explosion went off and the whale erupted in a blubbery blast – then, the crowd’s fascination immediately turned to horror as massive chunks of flesh started raining down upon them.

In the words of newscaster Paul Linnman, “The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds.”

https://allthatsinteresting.com/exploding-whale

credits: https://allthatsinteresting.com/podcast-credits

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