FLORENCE, Ore. - A group of people plan to gather Monday afternoon on Heceta Beach to re-enact the events of November 12, 1970. 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. This story was used with permission, and originally published here at OffBeatOregon.com. Do you LOVE Oregon? A whale of a deal on a new Oldsmobile! When he is not sharing all the best parts of Oregon online, he is out looking for a new place to explore. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous exploding whale in Oregon. Unfortunately, he guessed wrong about how much dynamite would be needed. Burn it? Don't miss out on discovering the best spots in Yellowstone park. Bury it? We feel it's hugely important to our local economy to still support local business and travel, please keep these places in mind for when this passes. Florence, Ore., Mayor Joe Henry poses in front of the sign welcoming visitors to the Exploding Whale Memorial Park. Twenty 50-pound cases of dynamite sound like a lot, but in the context of eight tons of untamped, rotting meat, they dwindle to insignificance. The Exploding Whale footage was remastered for its 50th anniversary, Woman recreates dance she made as a child for Britney Spears', Donor heart immediately dropped by doctor after being recovered from crashed transport helicopter, Steve Kornacki breaks his brain trying not to say 'Big Dump' of votes, AI camera mistakes referee's bald head for soccer ball. A highway engineer, faced with the need to dispose of an eight-ton whale carcass which had washed up on the beach, tried to vaporize it with a half-ton of dynamite, with results that most people who know about dynamite could have predicted — and did. You’ll also get to see Walt Umenhofer — remember him? A Taxonomy of Cetacean Detonation. The guy who warned Thornton about his plan? On Nov. 12, 1970, the Oregon Highway Division decided to remove an eight-ton sperm whale from a Florence beach by blowing it up with dynamite. The Oregon State Highway Division on Nov. 12, 1970, decided it would rid a beach near Florence of the washed-up sperm whale smelling up the town by blowing the corpse to … Exploding Whale Locator Map. I’ll bet you weren’t expecting that comparison! “I says, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna be the furtherest SOB down that way!'”. The locals grew anxious, and a bit nauseous. The story was considered an urban legend by most people, though. But today, almost 40 years later, even the crankiest among them chuckle about it — sometimes a bit wistfully. The key to the look seems to be symmetry... Judging by how good she is at recreating it, clearly this woman does this dance every night before going to bed. The Exploding Whale Incident was a famous “epic fail” incident that happened in Florence, Oregon in 1970, when a dead sperm whale washed up on a beach. SIGNUP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER AND IMMEDIATELY GET 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER, AND THE BEST OF OREGON WEEKLY. Then sign up for our Newsletter and get Updates on Events, Places to Explore, Discounts, Giveaways and More!Sign Up. Walt Umenhofer sure saw it coming. The Disastrous exploding Whale of Florence, Oregon - YouTube The idea was that rotting whale … The park is named in honor of the 1970 explosion of a … You might even have seen some pictures, but not these. No one seemed to want his advice. ...a half-ton of dynamite was detonated under an 8-ton beached whale. When the whale washed ashore on Nov. 9, 1970, as Linnman reported at the time, it had been so long since the community had encountered a beached cetacean that no one knew how to dispose of the animal. Oregon's 'Exploding Whale' legend turns 50 50 years ago, we blew up a whale and it either went terribly, or very well depending on your perspective. November 12, 1970 Exploding Whale No one knew what to do with an 8-ton dead whale, washed up on the beach, but there happened to be an ex-military guy around who had explosives training. Umenhofer had received explosives training during his World War II service and what he saw on the beach that day made him very, very nervous. 1970 Newspaper Articles "Gulls to dine on whale" "A whale of a whale..." "When they blow up a whale..." "A dead whale is worse..." "Who pays when..." "Flying blubber claim paid" More Newspaper Articles. It's back. Exploding Whale Memorial Park in Oregon commemorates a gory 1970 attempt to remove a whale carcass and is now open to the public. 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You may have heard about the exploding dead whale of Florence, Oregon. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. As one would expect given his young age, Linnman made a minor error reporting the story — assuming that it was a California Gray whale when it was actually a sperm whale — but in his book he more than makes up for it with one line, which you’ll find on Page 77: “Explosions in the movies usually look like a blast of fire and smoke; this one more resembled a mighty burst of tomato juice.” A mighty burst of tomato juice? Linnman’s story was, of course, snatched up by the network and played all over the country. Umenhofer told the Springfield paper he tried to warn Thornton but was blown off. Even though the exploding whale event took place in 1970, Dave Barry didn’t actually hear about it until 1990, after which the incident began to receive much broader attention. Please share your favorite local business that could use some love right now. As it turns out, that was overkill. If you've never seen it, you're either Amish or an infant. Decades later, Thornton was still defiantly sanguine about the whole operation. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s pretty easy to wonder why he didn’t pull someone who knew explosives into the project, even if that someone was a know-it-all stranger with a brand-new Olds parked 450 yards away — a stranger like Walt Umenhofer, who got well away from the blast site himself but neglected to collect his car first. The following article was written by syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry of the Miami Herald newspaper. In light of COVID-19, many attractions featured on That Oregon Life are temporarily closed. He knew project manager George Thornton was not going to get the results he wanted — he either needed a lot less dynamite, so that the whale would just be pushed out to sea, or a whole lot more, so that it would be torn into tiny pieces. And Thornton actually said, on camera, to Linnman, that he wasn’t sure how much dynamite he should be using. By Chas Hundley - Banks Post November 9, 2020 at 8:59am A mother sperm whale and her calf off the coast of Mauritius. Other Websites. George Thornton's Death. On November 9, 1970, a 45-foot sperm whale washed ashore in Florence, OR. Subscribe to our newsletter to download our free tour guide. 5–18. The original story of the exploding whale first appeared on KATU Channel 2 Portland, OR in November 1970. Here come pieces of —”. As the creature decomposed on the beach, a distinct smell wafted into town. But not George Thornton — who was promoted to the Medford office six months later (a cynical observer might characterize this as being “kicked upstairs”). The story was covered for KATU-2, one of the Portland TV stations, by Paul Linnman, then a fresh-faced young fellow in his mid-20s. Weighing in at around eight tons, officials needed to find a way to dispose of the rotting … Herbert Strang), pp. A whale exploded in Oregon in 1970, and the story will blow... We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By Tim Lantz, iHeart Media Nov 13, 2020. Walt appears about two minutes into the video, standing next to his brand-new demolished Oldsmobile. On the day of the blast, he told reporter Larry Bacon of the Eugene Register-Guard, “It went just exactly right. The current response to the coronavirus is like an exploding whale. Soon after, a video clip went viral on the internet, long before "going viral on the internet" was even a thing. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the exploding beached whale incident that took place in Florence, Oregon on November 12, 1970 when highway patrol used way too much dynamite to remove a whale carcass....a half-ton of dynamite was detonated under an 8-ton beached whale. Mammalian marine guts spewed everywhere, raining down on townsfolk. Two’s Company. Contacted by Linnman in the mid-1990s, he refused to be interviewed on camera, and seemed to feel the news coverage of the event had converted a successful exercise into a disaster. He was a businessman who happened to be in town with his brand-new car, an Oldsmobile 88 Regency, which he later told Springfield News reporter Ben Raymond Lode that he’d bought days earlier at Dunham Oldsmobile in Eugene during a promotion taglined — no, really, I’m not kidding, this is true — “Get a Whale of a Deal on a New Oldsmobile.”. Anniversaries. He tried to tell them that 20 sticks of dynamite would do it, if they were placed correctly. With dynamite. The Exploding Whale " Flying blubber claim paid" 11/23/1970 <<< Prev Next >>> About this page... A mere 11 days after a 3-foot chunk of flying whale blubber smashed in the roof of Walter Umenhofer’s brand new Oldsmobile, the State Highway division’s insurer reimbursed him for his loss, as reported in this November 23, 1970, article in the Eugene Register-Guard. 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. Portland: West Winds Press, 2003; The Springfield News archives; The Eugene Register-Guard, Nov. 13, 1970). The dead whale had washed up on a beach near Florence in November, 1970. Its passenger compartment had been flattened by a chunk of flying blubber the size of a small truck tire. Image Credit: YouTube It’s been nearly 50 years since someone thought “hey, dynamite seems like a good way to get this dead whale off the beach,” and now a beautiful park on the Oregon coast has been dubbed “Exploding Whale Memorial Park.” The “Goonies” Cast Reunion: Coming to a Computer Near You December…, Santiam Forest, Abiqua Falls, Butte Creek Falls and Shellburg Falls To…, Gov. The conversation ended on a sour note when Linnman asked Thornton if he didn’t want to tell the public about it — about what had gone wrong that day. Cut it up? It’s a whale of a tale. And so he was. Umenhofer, who still lives in Springfield, now owns and operates “The Baron’s Den,” a gun store and indoor shooting range just south of Eugene, visible from Interstate 5 (it usually sports a bright blue banner reading “SHOOT A REAL TOMMY GUN”). On Thursday, Nov. 12, 1970, an event happened that put the town of Florence on the map. Remember the Montauk Monster? 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