VIDEO: Watch 45-foot dead whale in Oregon explode 50 years ago | The carcass became ‘a stinking whale of a problem’

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Islanders and beyond are still abuzz about last Friday’s discovery of a humpback whale carcass floating in the waters off Staten Island, which scientists from the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS) are studying for causes of death.

Meanwhile, some may recall that 50 years ago on Nov. 9, 1970, a now-infamous, 45-foot, eight-ton dead whale washed up on Heceta Beach, in Florence, Oregon, and became a “whale of a problem” when it started to decompose and stink.

Three days later, on Nov. 12, the dead whale was exploded by the Oregon State Highway Department (now the Oregon Dept. of Transportation), to dispose of the whale carcass. A half-ton of dynamite was used.

Unfortunately, the explosion did not go as planned, as chunks of whale flesh rained down everywhere. The plan was that the whale carcass would be obliterated by the explosion and seagulls would snack on any post-blast remnants.

Moments after the blast, they realized that the pieces were not exactly bite-sized. Watch the 1970 video below, remastered for the Nov. 12, 2020 golden anniversary of the whale explosion.

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF EXPLOSION GONE AWRY

Paul Linnman, a KATU reporter at the November 1970 explosion, said on the blast’s golden anniversary on Nov. 12, 2020: “The carcass became ‘a stinking whale of a problem.’ ” He and former KATU photojournalist Doug Brazil were reporting on location.

The engineers intended for the carcass to be thrown into the ocean in pieces. Instead, pieces of the rotting whale flew beachside, into town, and other far-flung sots, some bits landing down on curious spectators and crushing cars a quarter-mile away.

“I was asked about it, virtually every day of my life, or commented on it, by everybody, strangers alike,” added Linnman said to KATU. “I’d come out of Starbucks at 7 a.m., run into someone, they’d say. “Hey, I bet no one’s mentioned the whale to you yet.”

Linnman and Brazil, captured and immortalized the 1970 detonation, at which throngs of onlookers suddenly realized, moments after the explosion, that the putrid whale blubber flying through the air would soon plummet down upon them.

“Here come pieces of … uh … whale,” a woman said, her tone ironically calm as the blubber came hurtling down to the ground. Linnman, in his news report, said “the blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds.”

Although the story was well-told in Oregon, it didn’t garner renewed spotlight until 20 years later, when Miami Herald humorist Dave Barry found a copy of the video and called it “the most wonderful event in the history of the universe.”

YouTube screen shot: The Oregon Historical Society recently had the original 16mm footage that Doug Brazil filmed that day with Paul Linnman converted to 4K resolution. “Linnman and Brazil captured the original unedited footage on 16mm color reversal motion picture film. They recorded the audio track live, on location, on a magnetic stripe directly on the film using an attached microphone,” Matthew Cowan, the OHS archivist for photography and moving images said. “As opposed to the degradation that happens with video tape from making a copy of a copy of a copy, the original 16mm film — what was shot that day on the beach — still projects a crisp image with bright vibrant colors.” (YouTube)

YouTube screen shot: The Oregon Historical Society recently had the original 16mm footage that Doug Brazil filmed that day with Paul Linnman converted to 4K resolution. “Linnman and Brazil captured the original unedited footage on 16mm color reversal motion picture film. They recorded the audio track live, on location, on a magnetic stripe directly on the film using an attached microphone,” Matthew Cowan, the OHS archivist for photography and moving images said. “As opposed to the degradation that happens with video tape from making a copy of a copy of a copy, the original 16mm film — what was shot that day on the beach — still projects a crisp image with bright vibrant colors.” (OHS)