Absurd America - Vol. II

I am not sure why it took so long for me to become aware of the exploding whale phenomenon. In particular, the proverbial "beached whale" near Florence, Oregon in the early 1970's. In this case, the whale carcass had been rotting on the beach for some time before the Oregon highway department decided to blow it up with some (read a lot!) of dynamite. The curious public got wind (no pun intended, really) of this event, and collected around the beach to watch the blubber fly. I believe the highway department's and the public's expectation revolved around some fallacious image of a big boom, a vapor cloud, and a clean, fresh smelling beach - just like it had been before. What happened was quite the opposite. The onlookers were treated to a most foul downpour of rotting blubber and everything that might accompany an occurance that involves explosives and dead decomposing whales. It was fortunate that most people only suffered olfactory offense, with the exception of one car owner, who's Cadillac was crushed by a 300 pound chunk of blubber.

The irony of the use of ambergis, formed in the intestines of sperm whales, as perfume base is not lost on the author.

What I also found in my not so exhaustive research on the subject is the naturally occuring phenomenon of "self-exploding" whale carcasses. In this instance in Taiwan, a carcass was being transported for post-mortem examination. Many people gathered to watch the procession, complete with food and souvenir sales. In this case naturally occurring gasses from decomposition exploded; but, nevertheless, an exploding whale. My favorite quote - the power of understatement:
"This blood and other stuff that blew out on the road is disgusting, and the smell is really awful."
There is even a website www.explodingwhale.com. if anyone is curious.