On Nov. 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 Nov. 12, the dead whale exploded into history with what has been described as the first-ever viral news story. Watch the special remastered version of the original Exploding Whale report below: