November 12, 2020 3:20 a.m.

Thursday is the 50th anniversary of the Florence Whale Explosion on the Oregon coast.

On November 12th, 1970 KATU TV reporter Paul Linnman described “a stinking whale of a problem” after a sperm whale had died after beaching itself near Florence. Crews from the Oregon State Highway Department hauled boxes of explosives to the site with the hope that the ocean and scavengers would clean up the pieces after the whale was blown up.

The explosion did not go as planned, and large chunks of whale blubber flew for a quarter of a mile. That sent watchers running for cover. A piece of blubber the size of a coffee table even crushed the roof of a car. The event was captured on film and has been seen by an estimated 350 million people.

Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Linnman, photographer Doug Brazil and Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk will have a virtual conversation to talk about the strange legendary event. The program is free and open to the public. To register in advance go to: https://www.ohs.org/events/the-50th-anniversary-of-blasted-blubber.cfm

The full ten-minute segment can be viewed at: https://digitalcollections.ohs.org/mi11196-whale