BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Whale explodes in Taiwanese city
January 29 was the anniversary of this very bizarre event. The rotting flesh of a dead sperm whale generated so much gas that the beast exploded on the streets of Taiwan while the carcass was being transported to an academic laboratory for the purposes of scientific inquiry.
Yes, as they say always, truth is far stranger than fiction. The Taiwanese who were covered with whale blood, meat and blubber after the explosion will testify to the truthfulness (and even “truthiness”) of the adage.