A Brief History of Exploding Whales

Appealing to our comedic side, the thought of an exploding whale paints an entertaining picture. The picture is not as absurd as you might think, this very thing has occurred more than once. The reasons behind the events are both natural, and by the hand of man. The first recorded incident was the 1970 explosion of a whale in Oregon. More recently, in 2004 a dead whale spontaneously exploded while on the back of a truck in a Taiwanese City covering the street with whale guts.

The Oregon whale explosion is the most well known case of an exploding whale. The whale at the center of the incident was a deceased beached sperm whale. It washed up on a relatively popular beach, and after the original spectacle of it all wore off, getting rid of the whale was a serious issue. The stench of the rotting blubber made the beach unusable much to the frustration of locals. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department was called in, since responsibility for beaches fell under their jurisdiction. After consulting with the Navy, the head engineer, George Thornton, decided that the best way to remove the whale was a 1/2 ton of dynamite. The explosion would break the whale up into small enough pieces that it could easily be washed away by the weather or picked up by hand.

Thorton considered burying the animal, but worried shifting sands would expose the whale after a short bit of time, putting them back at square one. He was also unsure of how much dynamite to use. Thorton figured that 1/2 a ton wouldn't be enough, but it would be easy to set up a second explosion if needed.

On November 12th, 1970 the explosives were set. After the detonation, things did not look good. Most of the whale remained exactly where it started, and small portions of blubber covered everything in sight. A large piece of blubber even landed on a car far outside of the blast zone causing serious damage.

For almost two decades, the event was actually considered an urban myth. It wasn't until 1990 when Dave Barry of the Miami Herald wrote that he had video footage of the event, that it was confirmed to be more than just folklore. With the advent of the internet the video eventually became one of the first viral-videos, circulating around the globe.

The Oregon explosion was not the only whale explosion, nor the most interesting. In 2004 a dead whale washed up on a Tiawan shore. The whale was being transported to the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan for examination into the cause of it's death. Once there, the school refused to examine the whale and it was turned back. Before it could leave the city, disaster struck. A buildup of gasses from decomposition in the belly of the whale was ignited (most likely) by a bystanders cigarette. The explosion split up the whale's stomach and covered the street, the cars on it, and even the store fronts with whale guts. No one was seriously hurt and damage was minimal.

Controlled explosions of whales has actually become a frequent occurrence of sorts. Several countries have implemented policies of towing dead beached whales out to sea and using explosives to sink them. With nothing but water for miles the chances of damage are slim and the strategy has been proving effective.

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