The Infamous Exploding Whale

Alex

In November 1970, the Oregon State Highway Division got a whale of a problem: a dead 45-foot 8-ton whale was found washed up in a beach near Florence, Oregon.

So, what did they decide to do to get rid of it:

.. [The carcass] couldn't be cut up and then buried because no one wanted to cut it up. And it couldn't be burned. So dynamite it was, some 20 cases or a half ton of it. The hope was that the long dead Pacific gray whale would be almost disintegrated by the blast and that small pieces still around after the explosion would be taken cared of by seagulls and other scavengers ...

Here's the infamous exploding whale video clip - see what happened: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - Thanks Arturo Fernández!


Comments (7)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

Money, I think. Since no one wanted to cut it up (at whatever price the city was offering) I'm guessing no one wanted to wrap a dead, rotting, 8-ton whale in chains and then haul it out to sea. Dynamite was cheaper.
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old but still LOL.
when I see that video, I always recheck that link for a good second laugh:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4096586/

aaaahhh... exploding animals and satellizing squirrels... life is good...
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It's a food trough for goats that are on a diet. When they get too fat, their stomachs get poked by the sharp spikes and discourage over-eating.
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Hi !
It's an ancient scoop designed to pick up lost buttons in the woods.
Bad design anyway, it often picks up lots of berries and no button at all.
So, you need to throw the berries away every minute, but still no button !

Playing Schrodinger, Large, Grey, please.
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It's a shovel for encouraging five-year-olds to help with gardening. "Ye're an excavator, Harry. Now dig me a hole."

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BraveStarr, Ladies fit M, please (:
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Actual Use Guess: Might be for harvesting huckleberries, or some such.

Attempt at Humor: Industrial Size Nitpicker, every boss I've ever had possessed one.

Lesser of Two Weevils, Size XL, any color
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This is a scale model of the non-mechanized backhoe model of the 1930s, designed to give more people jobs as they did manual labor during the Great Depression.
http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Great-Vocab-Didnt-Save-The-Thesaurus-From-Extinction M
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This is the manual roto-tiller for hipsters who think using a gas-guzzling machine to make their organic gardens is too mainstream.
http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Great-Vocab-Didnt-Save-The-Thesaurus-From-Extinction M
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This is a pooper-scooper designed to spear & scoop up the turds, but let more sand & earth fall back to the ground.
http://www.neatoshop.com/product/Great-Vocab-Didnt-Save-The-Thesaurus-From-Extinction M
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It is the "Wilson Scoot Around": the deceptively simple portable rig they used to bring the animatronic head of the next door "neighbor" from the classic ABC sitcom "Home Improvement" around to boat shows and monster truck rallies for promotional purposes.
Viva Twin Peaks 2x
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It's a grooming tool for your pet Rancor!! It helps scrape off dead skin and dirt and leaves them with the healthiest of skin!

The Hound Pistols (censored) Small
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Ostrich neck basket! Their head fits through the slot on the top and it slides down their neck and rests on their chest. They can guard your valuables and no one goes near it because of the spikes, and o yea it's hanging from the neck of a big angry bird.

The Hound Pistols (censored) Small
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A fine folk art example of an Italian spaghetti harvester. Just run the serrated scoop through the spaghetti trees to remove the ripe pasta.

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Offworld Colonies -- Black -- XL
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