WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - This Week in History: Nov. 9-15 — Exploding whales, Sesame Street, and WWI

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Join Ava and Alessia as they discuss exploding whales, the end of World War I, and more.

Welcome to This Week in History with Ava and Alessia, your one-stop shop for all things history. Welcome back to This Week in History. Today, we're dealing with the same dates, different centuries, though. Let's see what history has in store for us this week. What's going on in America, Ava? So I'm starting off with a really weird event. So if you're the kind of person who likes collecting random facts, this segment is for you. So on November 12th of 1970 was the Great Exploding Whale Incident. What? That cannot be real. It is real and it happened. So earlier in the month of November, a 45-foot-long eight-ton sperm whale washed up onto the shore of Florence, Oregon. And an eight-ton whale is really hard to get rid of, especially when it's dead. I'll say. Yeah. And the smell of it just

sitting there and rotting on the beach was causing a wave of complaints from all of the civilians of the area, rightly so, because there's an eight-ton whale just decomposing on the beach. Yeah. Yeah. So the Oregon Highway Division thought that the best plan of action was to use half a ton of dynamite to blow up the whale. No way. They thought this was the best possible course of action. They thought blowing up the whale would produce small enough bits that animals would pick up the pieces and what would remain would just get washed out to see. That's so disgusting. However, this is not what happened.

Of course it's not. So when it exploded, the smell was extremely bad and much worse than it had been before because you just blew up a rotting carcass of an eight-ton whale. Even worse, it showered the entire area in blood and giant chunks of whale blubber. Ew. Oh my gosh. Yeah. one of these chunks of blubber was about three feet long and because of the velocity it took up while being exploded and falling back down to earth it destroyed a car's roof and passenger side and the state of Oregon had to pay for all of the damages which they did all of the spectators who gathered to watch this happen this is also filmed like you can go watch this on youtube we're going to be watching this after yeah all the spectators who gathered to watch it got covered

in whale. That's so nasty. And it was like disgusting. Since then, they've found better ways to dispose of large beach sea creatures. Also, funny enough, they've dedicated a park to the incident, calling it, quote, the exploding whale memorial park. Oh, my gosh. But you can hear a clip of the explosion here. Our camera stopped rolling immediately out.

After the blast, the humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere. Pieces of meat passed high over our heads while others were falling at our feet. The dunes were rapidly evacuated as spectators escaped both the falling debris and the overwhelming smell. And if that's interesting to you, you can go watch it. Alessia, do you have a whale exploding incident for American history? I don't. Mine is not nearly as interesting in that weird disgusting way. I have November 12th also, 1954 though, and this is when Ellis Island officially closes. Still seaborne, but not a whale. So true. Ellis Island opened in 1892, and it was where a lot of Italian immigrants and other European immigrants too, but primarily Italian

because this was in the big wave of Italian immigrants coming to the United States right after the whole Italian unification process. Somebody who was, moving to the U.S. would come get off the boat at Ellis Island. You could actually see the Statue of Liberty, which is really cool. And they would go through this really intense process of getting their papers checked. I think they had to do physicals, or maybe it was just medical examinations. I'm not entirely sure. They had to go through this whole process just to be admitted into the country. They basically had nothing and were starting completely from scratch in the United States, not knowing anyone, not having anything. It was just a really rough way to start,

but they were looking for a better life. I couldn't imagine doing something like that myself. I'd just be thinking of the cinematic masterpiece in American Tale and be scared. Oh my gosh. I need to see that movie still. It's a great movie. But let's talk about world history now

because it's a crazy, crazy time. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall officially opened. And you may remember me briefly touching on the reunification of East and West Germany and the opening of the wall from episode five of this show. And you should go check it out if you haven't already. But the opening of the Berlin Wall was one of the big reasons that East and West Germany was reunified in the first place. It was all because of a really sad miscommunication. I might butcher this pronunciation of this man's name, but I'm going to try my best. So it all started when Gunther Schabowski, who was an official for East Germany, said in a press interview that East Germans

would begin to be allowed to travel to West Germany starting immediately. This, however, was not the case, and East Germany had planned on slowly weaning off the travel restrictions, not having an immediate free-for-all. The people heard this and immediately started gathering out at the Wall's checkpoints, and the guards had no clear orders since it wasn't supposed to happen. But with the massive crowds gathering up and just pressing in and screaming and hollering and celebrating the fact that they get to travel again, they just decided to let them through. But there is a massive celebration at the opening of the wall. Some people were climbing up on it. Others took hammers and chipped chunks off the wall as a souvenir of the occasion. And East and West

Germany was eventually reunified on October 3, 1990, which you can learn more about in episode five of the show. That's so cool. It's crazy what a miscommunication. can do. Yeah. Alessia, what do you have for world history? I have a very sad date, but it's also in Germany. November 9th, 1938 is Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass. And this is when a lot of Germans went and attacked Jewish businesses, synagogues, families, etc. This is when the anti-Semitism in Hitler's new regime, I guess, is really starting to seriously ramp up. A lot of people are beaten in the streets by the brown shirts, and it's just utter chaos, and businesses are destroyed. Yeah, it's just a mess.

It's a really sad event. Yeah, that's not a fun time. Let's listen to a clip from an interview of someone who went through Crystal Knotch. I saw uniform people at a store where the glass was broken. We see our neighbors grab it. the things from the store, the uniform people stood in the door and watching it and laughing and having a good turn. I'm Margaret Friedland. I was born in Berlin on the 5th of November 1921. I was on my way to work in the morning and when I came down

I felt that it was not the same as usual. The synagogues were burning. It just really sparked this. I mean, there was anti-Semitism, obviously, but this was like full-on violence breaking out. And it was almost, it was practically state sanctioned too. They literally, they were fine with it. They were like, go for it.

And it would only get worse from here. This was really the beginning of a horrible, horrible, horrible. few years under the Nazi regime. I wonder if anyone knew it was going to get so bad. I mean, I guess the war really expedited that. Like, yeah. I guess the war really made it worse. But I don't know. Or fully possible even. It's crazy how violent and just horrible people can be. It's a little concerning. Yeah. Well, not a little. It's a lot. It's a lot concerning. If you're just tuning in, this is This Week in History with Ava and Alessia on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

Let's move on to military history now. Ava, what's your first date? On November 11, 1918, the war on the Western Front in World War I officially ended. So the Allied powers in Germany agreed to an armistice to end hostilities on the Western Front. And this happened after the Allies had pushed the German line back by about 400,000. hundred miles, which had taken the Germans four years of really hard fighting to gain in the first place. And the Germans knew their situation on the Western Front was dire and most likely would not improve. So they sent a delegation of diplomats to the front to set up an armistice. And the

agreement became official at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of November, which is the 11th month of the year. And the Allies had sacrificed so much for the sake of the war. So there was obviously much rejoicing at the secession of hostilities. And that's the background history for Armistice Day, also known as Veterans Day, which is celebrated as a national holiday here in the U.S. It's such an exciting day. But here's a clip from the rejoicing of the official officialness of Armist's Day. Yay, the war's over. Let's go.

Too bad there would be another one just about yet another war. Yeah, roughly 20 years later. There would be another one. That was really big between the same people. For different reasons. For different reasons. But World War I was really the cause of it. True.

So there was so much celebrating, but little did they know. Alessia, what's on your docket for military history? So we're going to get out of the 20th century here and go to the 19th, 1864, November 15th. This is when Sherman's March to the Sea begins, and he's heading down to Georgia to destroy the Confederacy and break it apart. The Army of the Potomac is fighting in the east, and then he's over in the West working on that piece of the Confederacy. They're really coming down from both sides. And he eventually gets to Atlanta and just destroys the place. This is one of Dr. Smith's favorite people.

Well, yeah. Every time in Gilded Age, the answer was Sherman. He always called on me. And I laughed every single time. I think the whole class did. Did you know that there is actually a song about the March to the Sea? No, wait, that's so cool. We should play it.

We should play it. Pull-rah, hoorah, we bring the jubilee. Pull-la, pula, the flag that makes you free. So we sang the door. From Atlanta to the sea While we were marching to Georgia It's a very American song Yeah

Kind of strange But interesting Did not know that was the thing Yeah, the joys of the internet All right, let's head to pop culture now This is a more exciting category Less depressing, I guess, is to be the word Eva, what do you have?

I actually have a special surprise double feature for you for this one. Oh, yes. Okay, let's go. Because I couldn't decide. So both of these things happened on the same day, but in different years. Okay, cool. So on November 10th, 1969, Sesame Street premiered the hit TV show for children. And on November 10th of 1990, homelands.

alone premiered. I love that movie. That's a great cinematic masterpiece. But that's why I couldn't pick between the two. I understand the issue now. Yeah. I had to share both of them. Because Sesame Street was like my jam growing up. Many day, sweeping the clouds away on my way to where the air is sweet. Can you tell me how to get I had the little my talking Elmo. I had an, my Halloween little trick-or-treating bag was Elmo. Oh my gosh, I love it. It was a furry red bucket with a furry red handle with Elmo's face on it.

I think I still have it somewhere. But did you ever have like a Sesame Street obsession growing up? Not really. Honestly, I don't even remember watching it, which is really sad, especially. I don't know. I was always watching like Winks Club or Scooby-Doo or something. But yeah, I don't actually remember ever watching Sesame Street. Well, I loved it.

Big Bird and Oscar were my favorite. And when I was maybe two or three, I think, my parents took me to see Sesame Street Live. And they were all, it was adults in a musical in these giant mascot suits of the Sesame Street characters. That's terrifying. Looking back at the pictures, it was terrifying. That actually does remind me of another show that I watched, though. Did you ever watch The Backyard Agains? I loved The Backyardigans.

I went to see a show like that with the Backyardigans. I did see Backyardigans live. My other thing, Home Alone, I have a genuine question for you. Okay. And I need you to answer, honestly. I'll try. How does Home Alone rank on your list of favorite Christmas movies? Oh.

Honestly, probably not as high as most people. I don't have an exact number for you, but it's probably not even in the top 10 probably definitely top 20 I would say okay but not top 10 I feel like that's acceptable for me it's definitely in the top 10 it's really good it's just that there's a lot of other

really good movies that's true like the the stop motion ones those have to all be in there for me oh my gosh I forgot about those so there's probably five or ten of those so it just yeah shoot and then there's a couple other ones that I really like like white Christmas oh yes that's clouse

white Christmas could be my favorite Christmas. I think White Christmas is my favorite Christmas movie. It might be mine too. Klaus is good. It's new, but still good, which is shocking. If it's not tied with White Christmas, it's probably my number two. Yeah, it's really up there for me. Definitely top five for me. I cry every time I watch it. Me too. Alessia, round us off with pop culture for the day. I got you, Eva. So on November 10th, 1928, all quiet on the Western Front is published. Yes. I love this book. It's one of my favorite books. Have you seen the new movie? Well, it's not.

new anymore, I guess. The one on Netflix? Yeah. I have watched that movie maybe nine times minimum. I might have, too. And it's not even in English. It's not really. It's not really.

It's not. super accurate to the book but for a movie it's not bad yeah and the images are the cinematography goes hard yeah what's your do you have a favorite part of the book um that's a really hard choice yeah i've also read the book a lot uh one of my favorite scenes that i just think is funny is when um the main character whose name escapes me at the moment him and one of the other people in his unit go and steal a goose from one of the civilians farms. That is so funny. It's so funny.

And they get chased out. Yeah. And then my favorite dramatic scene is when the lead yet again, whose name escapes me at the moment, which I'm going to beat myself up about later, he's actively in the trench and a bombardment starts where they're just getting slammed with artillery. And the book just goes into so much detail of what he's thinking at the moment. and it's just, even though I've never personally experienced war like that, it's just so powerful and moving and you feel like you're there with him.

Yeah, that's one of the best parts of the book is just the incredible amount of detail. What are your favorite parts? I also like when they're going to steal the goose or chicken or whatever it is. But the scene, well, a part of the book that's in the hospital too is really interesting. Because I never would have thought about all the horrors they would have had to face in the hospital. Yeah, that was really just sad. Yeah, like just being mistreated and neglected entirely as a war veteran is crazy. Yeah, because I guess there was just so many people, they just couldn't handle it.

Yeah. Overall, the fact that it's World War I from the German perspective, like, you don't see a lot of that. That book was banned, right? Was it banned in the U.S. or just in Germany? I don't remember. I think it was banned in Germany because it painted Germany in a lot of. less than 100% optimal light. Yeah.

Anyways, so one of Ava's favorite books was published on November 10th, this week in history. And now it's time for everyone's favorite part of the episode. The part of the episode where we may or may not embarrass ourselves about our ability to recall or pull dates out of the air of historical events. Guess that year. Do you remember the score? We're 5.3. You have 5. I have 3. Okay. Every week I ask and every week I still don't remember.

It's okay. Okay. But do you want to go first since you're in the lead? Sure. Let me see what I have. This one could be tricky. It depends. In what year does Jimmy Carter shut down oil imports from Iran? This is really specific. Yeah. But important during your parents' lifetime. Shoot. I want to say, I know it's in the 19s for sure. Oh, yeah. So that at least... I would hope so. I'm going to say 1963. Kind of close?

1979. That's not kind of close. I mean... Yeah, maybe that. 1963 is before my dad was even born. Girl. So I just messed that up a lot, but that's okay. It's okay.

The pressure was on. Sometimes this game makes you lose all sense of time. That is so true. Every time my mind just goes blank. And it's like I don't know anything about history ever at all. I probably don't still, but... It's okay. We're just majoring in it.

It's fine. Yeah. What do you have for me, Ava? On November 10th of what year was the Hope Diamond donated to the Smithsonian? Oh my gosh. Um, can you give me any hint? No. Oh, okay.

Um... But in the grand scheme of American history, the Smithsonian has not been around for that long. Okay. Okay, uh, 1986. 1958. Oh, real. Right century. Yeah. That, yeah. I had no idea. What do you got for me? All right. In what year on November 14th was Herman Melville's Moby Dick published in the United States? At one point, I used to know this because I was tested on it in high school.

I love how you know it's somewhere in your brain, but you just can't find it. 18802 1851 oh shoot right century almost i was in the right half of the dead half of the century yeah okay props for that same day different year November 14th this one is tricky oh no on November 14th of what year was Clement the 5th crown the first of the Avignon popes oh no I'm so cooked um this is the gap in my knowledge of history that's okay that's why i said it's tricky yeah you were right um is there any way i could get a hint of some kind as in like a century maybe or maybe like a time period it's definitely medieval oh well yeah i guess yeah i have no idea pre renaissance okay like 12 15 i don't know well that was the

year that the Magna Carta was signed. It is not the year that Clement V was crowned the first of the Avignon Popes. It was 1305. Okay. I was within a hundred years. That's pretty good for me. Yeah. I'm kind of impressed with myself on that one. Yeah, that's really sad. I need to read more about that, but it's highly uninteresting to me. Thanks for tuning in to this week in history with Ava and Alessia, the show where we talk about all things history. See you next week on Radio Free Hillsdale a 101.7 FM.