50 years ago this week, local officials of a small seaside town in Oregon decided to dispose of a long dead beached whale by detonating a charge inside it, hoping to obliterate the bulk of the problem and let seagulls and crabs deal with the rest.
They estimated a half a ton of dynamite would do the trick.
As it turns out, that was overkill. Mammalian marine guts spewed everywhere, raining down on townsfolk. A quarter-mile away, cars were smashed with chunks of cetacean carcass. This story remained a local legend for two decades, until the early ’90s , when the newspaper columnist Dave Barry mentioned seeing footage of the exploding beast. Soon after, this video clip — originally reported by Portland news channel KATU — went viral on the internet, long before “going viral on the internet” was even a thing.
A master class in elegant variation!
George Thornton retired soon afterwards according to local legend.
He was actually promoted.
He died in 2013.
A somewhat apt analogy for the Trump presidency.
OOOOOH! THAT’S where Spielberg got the end of Jaws from.
You were only supposed to blow the bloody fins off
Brilliant
Dorsal, perhaps
Good grief!!
Further evidence that Americans have far too much weaponry for their own good.
I’m all a blubber after that :(
Apparently the explosives expert shouted ” Moby Duck ” but it was too late.
A Brief History of Exploding Whales
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/exploding-whales/361444/