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What were they thinking?? 😬

posted 5 years ago by GlenEllyn (21659)
30 replies | jump to latest

I had never heard this story until today. I had the radio on while I was doing a few things in the kitchen. The program host was playing a game where they asked the contestant to guess which of three tourist attractions was real. One was a water park that had replaced their water with hand sanitizer. The second was Exploding Whale Memorial Park. Sorry, I've forgotten the third option.

The contestant guessed the hand sanitizer water park as being real. It turns out, the real tourist attraction is Exploding Whale Memorial Park in Oregon.

Back in November 1970, a 45-foot, 8-ton dead whale washed ashore near Florence, OR. For whatever reason, local officials decided to blow up the decomposing whale as a way to get rid of it and its nasty stench.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPuaSY0cMK8

Onlookers were kept 1/4 mile away from the blast site, but unfortunately they were still showered with bits of blubber.

I just can't imagine why anyone thought this was a good idea.

[–] ColumboKate (5787) 5 years ago

I saw this tv recently! Because it had never been done before they didn't know how much explosive to use. They used way too much! Shattered windows and covered half the town in decomposing flesh!

[–] GlenEllyn (21659) 5 years ago

I didn't hear about the shattered windows, but it doesn't surprise me. They also ended up with a big chunk of blubber left on the beach that didn't move. Did you notice that guy's car that was partially crushed by a big slab of blubber?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

You’ve got some explosives, you’ve got a whale.............what else are you going to do?

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78580) 5 years ago

I'd bank on this going very well👍

[–] GlenEllyn (21659) 5 years ago

Yeah, my dad would buy into it. He was the kind of guy who, when he learned my brother had a hot-air balloon, wanted to fly it over a lake so he could drop a bowling ball into it - just to see how big the splash would be.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It’s just guys being guys.

[–] GlenEllyn (21659) 5 years ago

Yep. My dad was a very curious guy. "I wonder what would happen if..."

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

He sounds like a fun guy. A lot of great discoveries have been made by people who asked questions like that.

[–] GlenEllyn (21659) 5 years ago

He was. He had a great sense of humor, too. Also a great story-teller.

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 5 years ago

They could have towed it back out to sea.