# The Amazing Exploding Whale **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129 "2003-04-07T18:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sgdought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@sgdought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sgdought)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/1 "2003-04-07T18:58:33Z")
Don’t know how old this video is, but I found it EXTREMELY amusing: [http://perp.com/whale/video.html](http://perp.com/whale/video.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/2 "2003-04-07T19:04:58Z")
Why for this in Pit? ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/3 "2003-04-07T19:22:18Z")
It’s ancient, but I’m sure lots of people haven’t seen it. It is a prime example of group stupidity…what the hell did they THINK was going to happen? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/4 "2003-04-07T19:31:22Z")
Is this the one Dave Barry wrote about? I haven’t seen the video, but his commentary was hilarious!!! ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/5 "2003-04-07T19:37:36Z")
It’s from 1996, so it’s been around a while. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/6 "2003-04-07T19:41:22Z")
“Hey y’all…watch _this_!” ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/7 "2003-04-07T22:34:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > It’s from 1996, so it’s been around a while. Actually, I think that incident took place in 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/8 "2003-04-07T22:38:59Z")
Off to MPSIMS, forum of exploding mammals. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/9 "2003-04-07T22:42:22Z")
That was just the coolest thing ever! When I came in to the tread, it was in the Pit but when I left it had been moved! I think I may swoon! Thanks **Coldfire**. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/10 "2003-04-07T22:44:38Z")
Yer welcome. Making people swoon is what we do! Well, that, and talking about exploding mammals. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/11 "2003-04-08T04:17:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FlyingDragonFan \* > \*\*Actually, I think that incident took place in 1970. \*\* Yep, Novemeber 1970 according to [this site](http://www.hackstadt.com/features/whale/). I never get tired of watching that video. 🙂 Eric ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/12 "2003-04-08T04:36:23Z")
Ah, yes, I remember it well. We were living in Eugene, Oregon at the time, only about an hour away from the beach at Florence. A Eugene station showed the footage and we hooted for minutes. It also appeared in the Eugene daily, The _Register-Guard_. The reporter, Paul Linnman, is still with KATU. In 1995, on the 25th anniversary of the event, they ran the piece again on their evening news. In the late 1980s, when I briefly sold insurance, I used to use that story to illustrate “comprehensive” versus “collision” damage to a motor vehicle. Imagine the poor guy calling up his insurance agent to file a claim. “You got hit by a _whale_? Call back when you’re sober.” ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/13 "2003-04-08T05:14:09Z")
I’ve always thought it remarkably fortunate that this was captured on film for posterity…I mean, how often does anyone get the chance to blow up a whale carcass? If it were to happen 10 times, surely some other, presumably stupidity-free, non-detonating solution would be arrived at 8 or 9 of those times. Plus, it records for the benefit of future generations exatly what _not_ to do in such a case… ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/14 "2003-04-08T05:21:42Z")
Very nifty video. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/15 "2003-04-08T10:49:27Z")
Can someone give this person sitting at the end of a very narrow pipe some idea of what’s so Og-damned funny about the video? How did they blow up the whale? ---
**Author:** ![Fingolfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@Fingolfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fingolfin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-amazing-exploding-whale/167129/16 "2003-04-08T13:12:48Z")
A classic! You know what’s funny, the same thing happened in **Ocean City, Maryland** back in the 1920s. I can’t find a cite online, but it’s in one of my Ocean City history books. Yes, I have Ocean City history books. 😉 Anyway, they did the same thing; they strapped a ton of dynamite onto the whale and blew it to smithereens! My books says that the entire southside of the town smelt horribly for weeks because so many pieces of whale landed on roof tops and stayed there for so long! LOL!