Trouble comes to town: When a whale captivated Wrightsville Beach
For immediate release ‐ April 15, 2024
Contact: Jon Pishney, 919.707.8083. Images available upon request
Spectators visit the beached sperm whale known as Trouble, which washed ashore on Wrightsville Beach in April 1928. Its skeleton now hangs in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.
By Owen Hassell
“In the spring of 1928, a quiet morning on Wrightsville Beach turned into a madhouse when word spread of a massive sperm whale dead on the shore.
The 54-foot-long whale, soon to be named Trouble, became a must-see sight for the region, attracting some 50,000 people in a matter of days. Kids climbed on it, cameras took pictures of it and local officials reaped in the benefits of its buzzworthy arrival.
But soon, nature took its toll, and the decaying whale became a health hazard, beginning what would become an exhaustive two-year journey to preserve the whale in the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, where it still hangs today.”
Read the full story on StarNews Online
Hunter Ingram interviewed NCMNS Collections Manager of Mammalogy, Lisa Gatens about Trouble the Whale for StarNews Media’s Cape Fear Unearthed podcast. The podcast “digs into the history books to feature stories drawn from the region’s persisting legends, historical oddities and mysterious figures that have helped shape its legacy and culture.”
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