Massive dead whale drew thousands to NC shore 97 years ago. What happened to it? (2025)

A massive dead whale washed onto the North Carolina shore, drawing thousands to a beach 97 years ago.

Historians believe “more than 50,000 people from at least six states” flocked to see the sperm whale after it was first spotted in April 1928. But eventually, the rotting carcass emitted a powerful stench and presented health risks for coastal residents.

So, what happened to the 55-ton creature? Here’s what we know on the anniversary of its discovery.

How was the whale discovered?

On April 5, 1928, a man was fetching his newspaper when he saw a whale outside his beachfront home. Though his wife was skeptical, the sighting on the shore in Wrightsville Beach was the real deal. The news soon spread beyond the Wilmington-area town, according to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences website.

As the rare “spectacle” drew crowds to the coast, concerns mounted, state historians wrote in a Facebook post. The carcass was bloody, and museum director H. H. Brimley reportedly compared its smell to a “factory for unexpurgated skunks.”

“The Wrightsville Beach mayor initially liked the attention his town was getting, but the whale soon became a nuisance,” N.C. Museum of History wrote on its website. “Before it washed ashore, the whale had already been dead a few days. After three more days lying on the beach, it posed a health risk.”

But there was a huge challenge ahead: what would the town do with the 55-ton carcass? Brimley’s museum, located in Raleigh and formerly called the State Museum, agreed to take the bones.

“Getting it to its final resting place turned into a series of tricky tasks,” historians wrote. “Bad weather, transportation issues, and the lack of equipment needed to move the whale all combined to give Trouble the whale its name.”

What happened to the whale?

A towing crew had been set to move the whale back to the water before it made its way to Topsail Island for preservation. Then as Harry Davis, an assistant to Brimley, prepared the carcass to be buried in the sand in late April 1928, he found one clue that pointed to a possible cause of death. The animal had a 6-inch slit on its back, “presumably from a whaler’s lance,” according to historians.

The science museum said Davis also looked for “ambergris, sometimes called ‘floating gold.’ Ambergris is a rare substance which was worth $80 an ounce in the perfume industry,” but no traces of it were found inside Trouble.

Roughly two years after the whale was discovered on the shore, its skeleton finally got to the Raleigh museum. It took six weeks to mount the more than 100 bones.

“Whale bones are commonplace in museums now, but back then, there were only five sets on display in the country,” historians wrote.

Today, visitors to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences still can see Trouble’s skeleton, though some of the bones are replicas. Trouble’s lower jaw was lost on the beach almost a century ago, and the original skull is now worn out, a museum spokesperson told McClatchy News via email.

“The preservation that began nearly 100 years ago has allowed generations a chance to get up close and personal with a majestic animal that would rarely be seen otherwise,” the history museum wrote.