Skip to content

Exploding Whale Memorial Park

The City of Florence, Oregon has opened a new park last week. The name of the park may surprise you:

Exploding Whale Memorial Park

The name was chosen via a community vote. The residents of Florence, Oregon chose this name, and for good reason.

On November 12, 1970, a 45-foot, 8-ton sperm whale carcass washed up on the beach near the coast by Florence, and engineers decided the best course of action to remove the whale was to blow it up with dynamite.

Turns out that was not a good idea.

Lucky for us, a television crew was present at the time of the explosion. I recommend watching the entire six minutes, but be sure to at least begin watching at the 2:40 mark and beyond.

The explosion is kind of amazing, but it’s what happens immediately after the explosion that will make you laugh.