On November 12th, 1970, Paul Linnman delivered a legendary news report on a whale carcass that had washed up on the shores of Florence, Oregon.

Authorities somehow thought using dynamite was the best way to dispose of the deceased sperm whale. Things quickly went awry and the infamous news report is often cited as one of the Internet’s earliest viral news clips.

On it’s 50th anniversary, the Oregon Historical Society had the original 16mm footage that Doug Brazil filmed that day with Paul Linnman converted to 4K resolution.

“Linnman and Brazil captured the original unedited footage on 16mm color reversal motion picture film. They recorded the audio track live, on location, on a magnetic stripe directly on the film using an attached microphone,” Matthew Cowan, the OHS archivist for photography and moving images said. “As opposed to the degradation that happens with video tape from making a copy of a copy of a copy, the original 16mm film — what was shot that day on the beach — still projects a crisp image with bright vibrant colors.” [source]