There was a big problem 50 years ago this month on an Oregon beach near Florence, when a long-dead 45-foot, 8-ton gray whale washed up on shore. It had been so long since a dead whale had showed up on a Lane County beach that nobody could remember how to get rid of one.
Burying the huge mammal was ruled out, as it was thought it would soon be uncovered. It was suggested it could be cut up, then buried. But nobody was willing to do that. So there the whale stayed, rotting and smelling increasingly foul. Curious locals and tourists showed up to see the whale, but didn’t stay long because it smelled so bad.
Finally, it was concluded that the best way to get rid of the beast was to dynamite it — blow it up into tiny pieces that the gulls, crabs and other scavengers would gladly devour. And so, a half ton of dynamite was strategically placed by the creature, hoping to send most of its blubber flying back into the ocean.
Bystanders were moved a quarter mile away when the time came to detonate the explosive.
And that is all we will say. If you want to see what happened, watch the three-minute video. And just be glad you were not there!
##RVT974b
Good grief, even 50 years ago they could of asked for help on a better solution than this.
But then we wouldn’t still be talking about it 50 years later. 😆 —Diane at RVtravel.com
File this under “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Paul Linnman was a noted talent on KEX radio 1190 a.m. He was fortunate to have been on this story from the start. What a shock afterwards when all that smelly blubber finally came back to earth and scared the seagulls away.
Now THAT’s funny!
Now that should have been a “We are Farmers” commercial. Wow!
Yeah, can you picture the owner of that smashed car trying to explain that one to his insurance company.
https://www.theexplodingwhale.com/ All the clips and all the news articles.
Yep, de government always knows best!
The beach was less than 50 miles from our house when we lived there in 2003-2007. Always a good remembrance of the story!