The AFU and Urban Legend Archive Animals Exploding Whale whale Select a topic - - - - - - - - Home Searches AFU FAQ - - - - - - - - AFU Animals Books Celebrities Classic Collegiate Death Disney Drugs Food GIF Language Legal Medical Misc Movies Politics Products Religion Science Sex Songs TV - - - - - - - - Other sites

From: macpheat@worldnet.att.net (Dave MacPheat)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Whale destroys car on Interstate 5
Date: Mon, 09 Dec 1996 12:57:46 GMT

cader@netcom.com (Charles Ader) wrote:

>This FAIK is an urban legend:
>A whale has beached on the Oregon (or Washington) coast. The
>unfortunate animal is dead and is emitting a foul odor. The
>story goes on to explain that there are "specialist" that
>use explosives to demolish the carcase to speed decomposition.
>The state highway department says We use explosives all the
>time and we can do the job sooner and cheaper that the "specialist".
>The state guys proceed to set the charges and blow up the
>whale. The punch line is that the whale has not be blown to
>atoms but is in some rather large parts flying inland and
>raining tons of fetid blubber on cars driving interstate 5.
>Does anyone have information to confirm or refute this UL?
>Charles.

The November 1996 issue of_The Net_ magazine came with a CD ROM of dozens of videos available on the net. Included was a video made from a local TV station of the blast, and its results. The video is (was?) also available at

http://www.xmission.com/~grue/whale/whale.qt

Be advised that the file is about 11 MB. It might be better/cheaper to order a copy of the CD ROM ($3.95) from _The Net_.