50th Anniversary of the Funniest Thing That Ever Happened–Oregon’s Exploding Whale – IOTW Report

50th Anniversary of the Funniest Thing That Ever Happened–Oregon’s Exploding Whale

PJM:

I can’t believe I missed the celebration of this uniquely Oregon tradition, but November 12 marked the 50th anniversary of the funniest thing that ever happened. A 45-foot dead Pacific Gray Whale washed ashore in Florence, Oregon, on November 9, 1970, and sat there for three days, rotting and stinking. The decision on how to discard the thing is the stuff of legend.

The plan, conceived by the Oregon Highway Division in consultation with the U.S. Navy, was to use sufficient dynamite to blow the carcass to smithereens small enough that seagulls and other scavengers would clean up the remaining mess.

That’s not exactly how it went. Despite the fact that the Highway Division used a half-ton of dynamite, most observers said the crews needed more. Instead of obliterating the carcass, the dynamite sent large chunks of blubber and flesh flying sky-high—and then rained down on everything within a quarter-mile of the blast. Reporters and lookers-on were covered. Cars were destroyed.

Whale flesh ended up everywhere.

To mark the occasion, the Oregon Historical Society used the original footage, shot on 16mm film, to remaster a 4k video of the report.

19 Comments on 50th Anniversary of the Funniest Thing That Ever Happened–Oregon’s Exploding Whale

  1. I have NOTHING nice to say about Oregon right now…I have leftist family living in Eugene and I am currently involved in a major cross country FIRE FIGHT, as we SPEAK.

    Sorry to be a Kiljoy on the thread…

    BTW, another beautiful state RUINED, I have been there MANY times but I ain’t going back…no real need to.

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  2. MJA

    Used to be a parody news show from Kokadjo Village on Moosehead Lake for WTOS radio up here in North Maine.
    The guy who did the show always signed off with “Don’t get none on ya”

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  3. My Petey B and I are going to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary the way we celebrated our first. By him aggressively consummating my unbleached elastic starfish!

  4. Jethro If I remember right it was a friend of Doc’s.
    He talked about it last year.
    I lived in Oregon when this happened it was a hoot.
    Years later we had 48 whales beach themselves went down to see that. They drilled holes in the whales to help them breath. Did not work.
    A sad sight, nothing could be done, you can not move tons of whale sunk down in the sand.

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