A widely reported case of an exploding whale occurred in Florence, Oregon, in November 1970, when the Oregon Highway Division (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) blew up a …

The tale of the exploding whale was a cautionary one. In 1979, when forty-one sperm whales beached themselves and died on a beach south of Florence, “the possibility of blasting the …

The in-depth story of the Exploding Whale Incident. In 1970, the sleepy town of Florence, Oregon, witnessed one of the most bizarre news spectacles ever reco...

Nov 12, 2025 · Engineers from the Oregon Highway Division, unsure how to dispose of the 8-ton carcass, decided to blow it up with 20 cases of dynamite. The result: a spectacular explosion …

May 2, 2023 · On November 12, 1970, residents of the small town of Florence, Oregon witnessed a rare sight as an exploding whale sent chunks of meat and blubber soaring 100 feet into the sky.

The original story of the exploding whale first appeared on KATU Channel 2 Portland, OR in November 1970. The story was reported by Paul Linnman with cameraman Doug Brazil who …

With limited precedent and no manual for how to dispose of such a behemoth, officials decided to blow up the whale, hoping that scavenging birds and nature would handle the aftermath.

Sep 23, 2025 · The exploding whale incident was a 1970 event in Oregon where authorities used dynamite to dispose of a dead whale carcass, causing an unexpected explosion that scattered …

On Nov. 12, 1970, it was decided that the rotting carcass of an eight-ton sperm whale, which had washed up on the shore of a beach near Florence, Oregon, had to be removed.

The exploding whale is a piece of Oregon lore that just won’t go away. It’s one of those real-life stories that just sounds too strange to be real.