Whale Go Boom

Today I'd thought I'd bring out an internet classic.

Back in 1970 a whale beached itself on the Oregon coast. The Oregon Highway Division, which at that time was in charge of beaches as well, decided — unwisely — that the best way to dispose of the carcass was to blow it up. The resulting effort blew enormous chunks of flesh over a quarter mile radius, including one hunk that crushed a car.

For a long time this story was considered an urban legend until video of a news report covering the explosion surfaced on the internet in the early 90's. When the World Wide Wed started to take off (circa 1994) this was one of the first popular web memes.

The link, below, connects to a page of video captures (in various bandwidths) of the event. It really does need to be seen to be believed.