Exploding Whale Day is now a thing in Florence, Oregon. Celebrating November 12th, 1970 when a whale carcass was blown up on the beach sending massive chunks of blubber across the area. Here’s the news story from the time a whale being blown up went terribly wrong over 50 years ago
(Un)fortunately, officials in Oregon DO NOT do this sort of thing anymore.)
The Oregon legend was resurfaced in 1990 by humor columnist Dave Barry, but it really blew up (sorry) in the early 2000s, when it became an early viral video sensation, amassing hundreds of millions of views on the pre-YouTube internet.
Now, there is now a park in Florence named after the exploding whale.