Hilarious Story About What Can Go Wrong When You Explode A Whale Marks 50th Anniversary

Oregon is celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the most bizarre and funny stories to come out of the state.

A massive whale washed up on a beach on November 12 in 1970 and there were many ideas on how to get rid of it.

Authorities ended up going with the plan to place a bucketload of TNT next to the carcass and detonate it, hoping it would explode into tiny pieces that would be washed away by the sea and eaten by the seagulls.

Well, safe to say, it didn't happen like that.

Dozens of spectators had gathered along the beach to see this marvellous spectacle take place but they will have quickly regretted their decision to stand so close.

Cameras captured the moment the explosives were detonated, which saw sand and whale blubber shoot sky high. What happened next, no one saw coming.

KATU reporter Paul Linnman perfectly narrated the scene in his news report, saying: "Our cameras stopped rolling immediately after the blast. The humour of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere.

"Pieces of meat passed high over our heads, while others were falling at our feet. The dunes were rapidly evacuated as spectators escaped both the falling debris and the overwhelming smell.

KATU 2

"A parked car over a quarter of a mile from the blast site was the target of one large chunk, the passenger compartment literally smashed. Fortunately, no human was hit as badly as the car. However, everyone on the scene was covered with small particles of dead whale.

"As for the success of the effort...well, the seagulls who were supposed to clean things up were no where in sight, either scared away by the explosion or kept away by the smell. That didn't really matter. The remaining chunks were of such a size that no respectable seagull would attempt to tackle anyway.

"It might be concluded that should a whale ever wash ashore in Lane County again, those in charge will not only remember what to do, they'll certainly remember what not to do."

You can't write this stuff. It's hard to believe that it actually happened, but Linnman says he still get stopped to this day and asked about what it was like to be on those sand dunes.

Topics: Viral, News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie