An Oregon highway engineer who blew up a dead beached whale with a half-ton of dynamite in 1970 has died at the age of 84. George Thomas Thornton gained national attention over the exploding whale, ...

Fifty-five years ago, a dead sperm whale washed ashore near Florence — and what happened next became one of the most infamous moments in state history. Engineers from the Oregon Highway Division, ...

Oregon is known nationally for its trees and outdoor recreation, but what about the exploding whale? In November 1970, a dead sperm whale washed up on a beach near Florence on the Oregon Coast. To get ...

The sleepy town of Florence, Oregon, became the setting for one of the most bizarre news stories in American history. An eight-ton sperm whale washed ashore, measuring a whopping forty-five feet in ...