Trail Off Tuesdays: The Exploding Whale of Oregon

Ever wondered what happens when well-meaning bureaucrats tackle an eight-ton problem with half a ton of dynamite? Welcome to the legendary tale of Florence, Oregon's exploding whale disaster.

November 9, 1970 started like any other day until a 45-foot sperm whale corpse appeared on the beach. As curious locals gathered, fascination quickly turned to disgust as the massive carcass rotted under the autumn sun, producing a stench so powerful it clung to clothing long after leaving. The Oregon Highway Division faced a colossal dilemma – how do you remove something so enormous from a public beach?

This catastrophic failure became an unexpected gift to history – one of the internet's first viral videos and eventually a tourist attraction with its own memorial park. Join us for this wild ride through one of history's most spectacular public mistakes that reminds us what happens when big problems meet bold solutions without adequate planning. What strange piece of forgotten history should we uncover next?

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Transcriber's Name. Reviewer's Name wwwintervoicescom. Welcome back to Trail of Tuesdays, the short, strange detour on the Clue Trail where we dig up the weirdest, most unbelievable true stories the history has to offer. Today's tale starts with a bank, and a real one. It involves a dead well, a beach in Oregon and dynamite. What could possibly go wrong? This is the legendary true story of the exploding well in Oregon. It started on 9th of November 1970, when a 45-foot-long sperm whale washed ashore near Florence, oregon. The whale was already dead, weighing over 8 tons, and quickly began to decompose in the autumn sun. At first, curious locals came down to the beach to see the whale up close, but fascination quickly turned to disgust. The smell was horrific, with the mix of rotting fish, sulphur and seawater that clung to the clothes and hair long after leaving the beach. Something had to be done, and fast. Beach Something had to be done and fast.

Speaker 1: 1:51

But removing a well that size isn't as simple as dragging it away. The options were limited. They could have buried it, but the sand was too soft and they feared it would resurface or still smell, maybe burn it Again. This wouldn't work. It would be too dangerous and nobody wanted a whale-sized bonfire. Cut it up and haul it away. Well, that was technically possible, but the idea of carving up eight tons of rotting blubber wasn't appealing to anyone. So the Oregon Highway Division was tasked with solving the problem. That was despite having no well removal experience, and after much debate, officials settled on their solution Use dynamite to blast the whale into small, manageable pieces, leaving the seagulls to handle the rest. Spoiler alert that's not how it worked out.

Speaker 1: 3:10

The plan seemed simple on paper. It starts with half a ton of dynamite which would be placed beneath the well. Then the blast would scatter chunks far out to the sea, leaving nothing but sand behind. For this, a demolition expert, formerly with the military, was brought in. He calculated the amount of explosives needed, although later he admitted that it was more art than science.

Speaker 1: 3:42

And with all the preparations in place, on the day of the event, word spread quickly through town. Hundreds of people gathered on the dunes. Some brought picnics and lawn chairs to watch the spectacle. Even local TV crews set up cameras. This wasn't just a well disposal, this was entertainment. The well was stuffed with 20 cases of dynamite, wires were set and the crowd moved back To what officials called it, a safe distance Of about a quarter mile and at 3.45pm, with reporters rolling and spectators holding their breath, the plunger was pushed.

Speaker 1: 4:34

The explosion was everything people expected. For about three seconds, a massive plume of sand, smoke and whale parts erupted into the sky and for a moment the crowd cheered. But then came the blubber rain. Chunks of well, some weighing several hundred pounds, shot high into the air. Hundreds of feet away from the blast site, one enormous piece crashed directly onto a brand new car, completely flattening its roof and destroying it. Smaller pieces rained down on onlookers, forcing them to scatter, and the stench was overwhelming. Just imagine hot, rotting, well-kneed raining from the sky on a cold November day. Beneath raining from the sky on a cold November day, Reporters later described people running, screaming and holding jackets over their heads for protection. And the worst part of all this ordeal Most of the well didn't even budge. The explosion had blasted some chunks into the ocean, but a huge portion of the carcass remained on the beach, now spread out, stinky and far more unpleasant than before. As reporter Paul Lindman famously said in his TV segment, the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds.

Speaker 1: 6:21

In the aftermath, cleanup crews had to do exactly what they hoped to avoid removing the remains by hand and with heavy machinery. Eventually, bulldozers buried what was left of the well under tons of sand, and the seagulls meant to be. Nature's cleanup crew didn't arrive right away. For days, the beach was left with an unforgettable stench.

Speaker 1: 6:51

Later on, the Oregon Highway Division admitted the plan didn't go as expected. Oregon Highway Division admitted the plan didn't go as expected. Officials later joked that they used too much dynamite or perhaps not enough. Either way, it was agreed that exploding wells was not a recommended disposal method. In the end, the incident faded into local memory for years, but in the 1990s, old TV footage of the blast resurfaced online and went viral. Long before viral videos were even a thing, the story of the exploding well became an instant piece of internet folklore, retold in books, documentaries and even comedy sketches.

Speaker 1: 7:40

By 2020, 50 years later, the town of Florence embraced its bizarre claim to fame, officially opening the exploding well Memorial Park. A plaque now marks the spot, honouring not just the well, but what might be the most famously bad idea in a beach cleanup history. Since that day in 1970, no one has attempted to remove a well this way again. Today, scientists and environmental agencies use other methods, like burying wells deeper in stable sand dunes or toying them out to sea to decompose. Naturally, occasionally they might be using heavy machinery to cut and transport the remains for disposal or study. But the Florence well left a bigger mark than just a cleanup history. It's a story about what happens when big problems meet big ideas without big planning.

Speaker 1: 8:56

Thanks for joining me on this wild ride through one of the strangest stories ever to come out of Oregon, where good inventions, bad math and half a ton of dynamite made history. This was Exploding Well of Oregon. If you enjoyed today's story, this was Exploding Well of Oregon. If you enjoyed today's story, follow Clue Trail, leave a review and share this episode with a friend who loves weird true tales. And if you know a strange story that deserves its moment on Trail of Tuesdays, send it my way. See you next time.