Today is the 50th anniversary of the exploding Whale! On November 9, 1970, a 45-foot sperm whale had washed up on the beach near Florence, but as KATU reporter Paul Linnman noted at the time, it later became "a stinking whale of a problem." Three days later, on November 12, the dead whale exploded into history with what has been described as the first-ever viral news story. OMG, the video is crazy – it’s literally raining whale…lol! See the video on my page now. LOL!